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In the
autumn of 1944 work began on a new purpose built Fighter
Direction School for the Royal Naval at Kete, ½ mile down
the coast from R.N.A.S. Dale (H.M.S. GOLDCREST) on the
Pembrokeshire coast. A Fighter Direction School had been
operating at R.N.A.S. Yeovilton (H.M.S. HERON) since 1942
but demand for Air Direction Officers could not be met by
the existing school which was a lodger at an already crowded
station. The site at Kete was chosen for its good radar
characteristics with a wide sector over the sea, suitable
conditions for air interception exercises and freedom from
enemy interference during war-time.
Early days - the 'D course'
On completion the establishment was known as the RN Aircraft
Direction Centre (RNADC) and it was under the control of
H.M.S. GOLDCREST. It is not clear when the establishment was
opened for business but on August 30th 1945 No. 790 Fighter
Direction Training Unit, moved into R.N.A.S. Dale from
R.N.A.S. Zeals (H.M.S. HUMMINGBIRD) to provide live
interception flights for the Air Direction School. This
squadron operated a variety of aircraft types including
Anson, Dominie, Firefly I, Mosquito FB.6 & B.25, Sea
Mosquito TR.3, Oxford, Seafire (various Mks), and Wildcats.
Ground
instruction for trainee Direction Officers was a fairly
primitive form of synthetic training but very effective; the
equipment used where tricycles (adapted from the Wall’s
mobile Ice-cream tricycle) outfitted with a metronome, radio
receiver, and compass and had a very restricted field of
view, their visibility reduced to a couple of yards by
screens. One tricycle, manned by a Wren, represented a
‘Bomber’ or enemy aircraft and was pedalled in time with the
metronome across the training area; her course was
triangulated and reported to a dummy Fighter Direction
Office. A second tricycle, the ‘Fighter’, was manned by the
trainee Fighter Direction Offer who was in turn controlled
by a fellow trainee in the ‘Fighter Direction Office’ and
vectored to the ‘Bomber’ by radio. The system had been
developed early in the war at R.N.A.S. Yeovilton and was
utilised to train RNVR officer cadets in maritime navigation
at H.M.S. King Alfred, and it continued in use until it was
replaced by one using controllable synthetic radar echoes in
the 1950s.
Expansion
Initially
training was for Air Direction Officers only, referred to as
the ‘D course’, but Kete was soon to expand to house two
other ‘schools’, the RN School of Meteorology and the RN
Radar Plotter Training School. The first part of the expansion was the arrival in October
1946 of the RN School of Meteorology. Like the ADC this
school was initially for officer training only, the task had
been relocated from the RN College at Greenwich were all RN
Met officers had been trained during the war years. This
school was very small when it opened, with only three
members of staff; the Officer in Charge was Instructor
Commander A R Edwards, assisted by PO Wren Elizabeth Baldwin
and AB (Met) B L Morris. The first forecasters course (M0)
lasted for three months and was the last course to train
midshipman. Training of other ranks began in 1947 when the
WRNS and rating (Met) courses moved here from R.N.A.S.
Lee-on-Solent. It was also during this year that the Naval
Airman (Met) branch as formed part of the Fleet Air Arm.
Commissioned
The Fighter Direction Centre was commissioned as an
independent command as H.M.S. HARRIER, on February 1st 1948;
both Dale and it's satellite, Brawdy were to be reduced to
Care & Maintenance Status on March 31st 1948, 790 squadron,
Fighter Direction Training Unit, had already relocated to
R.N.A.S. Culdrose on December 13th 1947, when Dale was
closed to flying, but continued its interception operations.
The next school to arrive was the Radar Plotter Training
School which transferred to Kete from H.M.S. WILDFIRE in
Sheerness in September 1949.
790 squadron disbanded at R.N.A.S. Culdrose on November 15th
1949 and the task of providing live intercept flights was
given to a civilian contractor, Airwork Services, in January
1950 operating out of R.N.A.S. Brawdy and its satellite
airfield at R.N.A.S. St. David’s. This unit initially flew
Sea Mosquito TR.33 and Auster Vs, these later gave way to
Sea Hornets, Attackers and Sea Venoms. t
Closure
From late
1959 the establishment began to run down to closure; the Met
school was the first to relocate moving to RNAS Culdrose in
Cornwall, rating training went first in 1959, followed by
the rest of the school and officers courses in 1960. In July
1960 Radar Plotter Training moved to HMS Dryad and the end
of the year Aircraft Direction Officer Training returned to
R.N.A.S. Yeovilton.
RNADC Kete was paid off on January 2nd 1961. The site was
later sold to Dale Castle estate.
Click here for a list of
Primary sources
Additional sources:
Admiralty Fleet Orders:
Confidential Admiralty Fleet Orders:
National Archives
WO 32/20873 RN Aircraft Direction Centre (RNADC),
Kete: sale to Dale Castle estate
Web site
CLOUD OBSERVERS An Association For Retired
Meteorological Observers Accessed 29 April 2015
Thanks to Mrs. Julie Gracie for supplying documents
belonging to her late father Radar Plot 3 Norman Hiles.
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