No. 47 Squadron RAF Army support role. The Squadron moved to RAF Disforth in September 1948, where it became the first RAF Squadron to receive the Handley Page Hastings four-engined transport. The conversion process was rushed as the aircraft were needed to support the Berlin Airlift, with the Squadron moving to Schleswigland, near Kiel in West Germany on 1 November 1948. The aircraft was mainly used to carry coal, carrying out 3,000 trips to Berlin and carrying 22,000 tons of supplies. When the blockade ended the Squadron returned to the United Kingdom, moving to RAF Topcliffe on 22 August 1949, operating in support of
Coal industry in Wales export of coal and iron from South Wales. By 1840, the network of canals and railways enabled 4.5 million tons of coal to be mined and transported. Of this, about half was used by the steel industry, about 750,000 tons went for export and the rest was used for other industrial and domestic use. By 1854, coal production had nearly doubled, and 2.5 million tons was being exported. In North Wales, the Flintshire manors of Ewloe, Hopedale, and Mostyn and the Denbighshire manor of Brymbo were reported to be making profits from trading coal during the 14th and 15th centuries.