Manorbier
MANORBIER: Military aerodrome
Note: This picture was obtained from Google Earth ©
The outline of the airfield can still be made out. Roughly a back-to-front 'L' the upper limit is approximately the A4139, ending at Lydstep village, and the western edge is the B4585 with the 'toe' of the 'L' below where it turns to the west.
Military users: WW2: RAF Fighter Command 70 Group
AA Co-operation Unit
Note: Use of pilotless Aircraft Unit (Queen Bees - Radio controlled Tiger Moths)
Location: E of Manorbier & SW of Lydstep villages, S of A4139 & 4nm SW of Tenby
Period of operation: 1935 to 1946
Runways: WW2: NW/SW 686 grass NW/SE 457 grass
E/W 732 grass
NOTES: It can’t have been much fun based here in WW2, in later stages of 1944. For example only 188 RAF personnel are listed as being on station with no WAAFs.
INFORMATION ON THE 'QUEEN BEE'
An article in Light Aviation (June 2012) explains that strictly speaking the pilot-less and radio controlled DH.82B Queen Bee was not a Tiger Moth because the fuselage was based on the Moth Major. It also explained that most Queen Bees were fitted with floats and launched from a catapault.
Presumably because it was much easier to become airborne, and, if it survived the target practise, (which they often did), it was much easier to land the aircraft on a large expanse of water rather than an aerodrome. Incidentally, “When operated remotely, a clever automatic landing system would sense when the aircraft was near the surface and allow the craft to touch down without any human intervention.” This should not be confused with an autopilot system, which is something entirely different.
AN EARLY UAV?
These aircraft were first introduced in 1935, and in mass produced form at any rate, quite possibly the first example of what we would term today a UAV (Un-manned Aerial Vehicle).
But, unlike modern UAVs they had the front cockpit configured normally so the aircraft could be retrieved,ferried around, etc by pilots. The radio gear and controls were in the rear cockpit where the handling pilot normally sits in aircraft of this configuration. Quite why this configuration was decided upon appears to defy rational explanation. Or, was it simply a weight and balance issue?
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