RAF Brawdy
RAF Brawdy is a former Royal Air Force station situated on the dramatic Pembrokeshire coastline of southwest Wales, near the village of Brawdy and the market town of St Davids. Although no longer an active military airfield, the site retains considerable historical and cultural significance as a place that played a meaningful role in British and NATO military operations throughout much of the twentieth century. Today, much of the former airfield footprint has been repurposed as the Cawdor Barracks, home to various Army units, while parts of the broader site and its surroundings attract visitors curious about its layered past and the stunning natural landscape in which it sits.
The origins of RAF Brawdy stretch back to the Second World War, when it was constructed in the early 1940s as a Coastal Command base tasked with maritime patrol operations over the Western Approaches of the Atlantic. Aircraft operating from Brawdy played a part in the Battle of the Atlantic, conducting anti-submarine patrols and convoy escort missions at a time when the threat from German U-boats was acute. The runways and dispersal areas were carved out of the windswept Pembrokeshire plateau, and the base became one of several strategically vital installations dotting the Welsh coastline during the war years.
After the war, Brawdy passed through several phases of use. It was home to Fleet Air Arm operations under the Royal Navy, known for a time as RNAS Brawdy, and served as a base for carrier-borne aircraft training. In its most notable Cold War incarnation, the station became home to the United States Navy under a bilateral agreement, operating as a key SOSUS-related facility — part of the vast underwater Sound Surveillance System used to track Soviet submarine movements in the North Atlantic. This secretive mission gave the base an air of intrigue that has lingered in local memory long after the Americans departed in the early 1990s.
Physically, the former airfield is a broad, largely flat expanse of the Pembrokeshire plateau, sitting at modest elevation above the surrounding coastal cliffs and farmland. The infrastructure of the Cold War era remains partly visible: sections of runway, hardstandings, utilitarian military buildings, and perimeter fencing that speaks to decades of restricted access. The atmosphere is simultaneously austere and strangely grand, with wide open skies above and the persistent Atlantic wind sweeping in across the headlands. On clear days the views toward the Pembrokeshire coast and St Brides Bay to the south are remarkably expansive.
The surrounding landscape is among the most spectacular in Wales. The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park encompasses the shoreline just minutes from the airfield boundary, and the dramatic sea cliffs, hidden coves, and wildflower-rich clifftop paths of this stretch of coastline are world-class. The tiny cathedral city of St Davids — the smallest city in Britain — lies only a few miles to the north, drawing pilgrims, walkers, and heritage tourists throughout the year. Nearby Newgale, Nolton Haven, and Solva offer beaches and sheltered inlets that reward exploration, while the Pembrokeshire Coast Path passes through the area, making the region a magnet for long-distance walkers.
Access to the former station itself is restricted as it remains an active military site in the form of Cawdor Barracks, and casual visitors cannot enter the main compound. However, the roads and footpaths around the perimeter afford views of the site, and the surrounding countryside and coastal paths are entirely open. The nearest significant settlement is Haverfordwest, around fifteen kilometres to the east, which has rail connections to Cardiff and London and serves as the main service hub for this part of Pembrokeshire. The A487 road links the area to St Davids and to Haverfordwest. There is no public transport directly to the base, and a car is the most practical way to visit the vicinity.
One of the more compelling hidden stories of RAF Brawdy involves the remarkable scale and secrecy of the American SOSUS operation conducted here during the Cold War. The US Navy personnel stationed at Brawdy were engaged in monitoring hydrophone arrays laid across the seabed of the North Atlantic, listening for the acoustic signatures of Soviet submarines. The work was classified for many years, and the local community had only a partial and sometimes speculative understanding of what was happening behind the fences. When the Americans withdrew in 1992 following the end of the Cold War, they left behind a community of mixed feelings — the base had been a significant local employer and had woven itself into the social fabric of the area over three decades.
The airfield's aviation history also produced a remarkable chapter during the Fleet Air Arm years, when Brawdy was associated with advanced jet training and, at various points, with some of the most capable aircraft in British naval service. The Hawker Hunter was a particularly prominent type associated with the station during its operational flying years, and the sight and sound of fast jets operating above the remote Pembrokeshire headland must have been an extraordinary contrast with the timeless medieval character of St Davids just a few miles away. That juxtaposition — ancient cathedral city and Cold War military technology — speaks to the layered complexity that makes this corner of Wales so quietly fascinating.