RAF West Malling over the Channel. The three surviving aircraft were rescued only when the fight was joined by Hurricanes from No. 111 Squadron. The remainder of the unit returned north to RAF Prestwick on 25 July due to the ineffectiveness of the Defiant against single-seat fighters. No. 29 Squadron flying Bristol Beaufighters arrived for its first tour of duty on 27 April 1941. One of the Squadron's pilots, Guy Gibson VC, later officer commanding 617 Squadron on the Dambusters Raid, said of the station "Of all the airfields in Great Britain ... we have the most pleasant". A regular and long-standing inhabitant,
RAF Pembrey RAF Pembrey Royal Air Force Pembrey or RAF Pembrey was a Royal Air Force station located near the village of Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, north west of Burry Port and south of Carmarthen, Wales. Construction of the airfield for RAF Flying Training Command started in 1937. The airfield opened in March 1939, and by September 1939 the RAF's No. 2 Air Armament School was the first unit to be stationed at the airfield. During the Second World War, RAF Pembrey was the airfield base for many of the period's flying aces, and Wing Commander Guy Gibson of the Dambusters. By May 1940,