CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

RAF Holyhead

RAF airbase

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 19, 2026
Entity authorityQ7275385
Source-derived summary

Royal Air Force Holyhead or more simply RAF Holyhead is a former Royal Air Force station situated at Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales. The former headquarters building was Porth-y-felin House, a Grade II listed building that was sold by the Ministry of Defence in the 1990s.

Units

No. 52 Air/Sea Rescue Marine Craft Unit was formed at Holyhead on 28 March 1942 and was based until disbanded in May 1942.

No. 1113 Marine Craft Unit RAF which was formed at Holyhead on 1 July 1954 and was based until it was disbanded on 1 April 1986.

See also

Anglesey Airport

RAF Valley

RAF Mona

References

Sources

Sturtivant, Ray (2007). RAF Flying Training and Support Units since 1912. Air-Britain. ISBN 978-0-85130-365-9.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “RAF Holyhead” as rAF airbase. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1942, 1113, 1954, 1986—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Holyhead and airbase can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as rAF airbase. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7275385. Authority coordinates are 53.318, -4.647. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1942, 1113, 1954 and 1986.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “RAF Holyhead”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow RAF Holyhead primary sources, RAF Holyhead archive and Holyhead research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “RAF Holyhead”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from RAF Holyhead” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.