Anniversary of day Welsh activists set fire to RAF bombing school near Pwllheli

Yesterday was the anniversary of a significant event in Welsh history. On September 8, 1936 Saunders Lewis, Rev Lewis Valentine and D J Williams, a university lecturer, Baptist minister and school teacher, set fire to the partly built RAF aerodrome, near Pwllheli on the Llŷn Peninsula in north-western Wales. Welsh newspaper the Daily Post recounted the events of that day in an article yesterday. 

There had been strong local opposition to the Ministry of Defence’s plans to build RAF Penrhos in 1936 on anti-militaristic, linguistic and environmental grounds. During June 1935 the Caernarfonshire committee of Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru objected to the setting up of the aerodrome and received support from Caernarfonshire Baptists’ Association, other religious organisations and the Caernarfon branch of the Arfon Union of the Unemployed. There was a campaign for the government to set up industries creating permanent and civilised employment, as an alternative to spending money on militarism. However, by late September 1935 it was revealed that the Air Ministry had bought 700 acres of land for the construction of the airfield.

Saunders Lewis gave a speech in Caernarfon on February 29 he said: “In the name of God’s moral law, in the name of Christianity, in the name of Wales, I call on you to oppose this accursed establishment to the utmost of your power and in every possible way, and if it is not prevented, then to destroy it.” In July Goronwy Owen MP presented a 5,200 name petition to Parliament. But by September work has begun on the site.

In the early hours of Setember 8th 1936 Saunders Lewis, Rev Lewis Valentine and D J Williams drove to the airfield. They set two buildings on fire. After they had committed the act, the three men then reported their actions to the police at  Pwllheli and handed a letter to an Inspector acknowledging their responsibility for the damage caused. They were arrested, kept in the cells overnight. They were later charged with  causing damage, valued at £1,000, later increased to £2,671, under the Malicious Damage Act 1861. They appeared at Pwllheli Magistrates Court and released on bail. A subsequent trial was held at Caernarfon Assizes on October 13, 1936, but the jury failed to agree a verdict. A second trial took place, this time at the Old Bailey, London on January 19, where the jury found them guilty. They were sentenced to nine months imprisonment.

On their release they were greeted as heroes by 15,000 people at a rally in Caernarfon. The fire turned out to be the final act in an unsuccessful 18-month battle to prevent the building of the airfield.  RAF Penrhos was operational from February 1937 until October 1946 for armament training, air observer, bombing and gunnery schools.