MEMBERS of Wales’ only RAF Reserve unit marking their 80th anniversary remembered a man from near Dinas Powys who was the squadron’s first to be killed in action.

Number 614 (County of Glamorgan) Squadron was founded in 1937 at what was then RAF Pengam Moors in the Tremorfa area of Cardiff.

Flight Lieutenant Norman Merrett from Michaelston-le-Pit died in 1940 while the squadron was patrolling against the expected Nazi invasion.

On the site of the squadron’s former home, which was also Cardiff’s first airport, is a housing estate which has streets named after the aircraft they flew and notable people from their history, including Flt Lt Merrett.

Members of the squadron and pupils from the local Willows High School, also built on the site of the former airfield, laid a wreath at the squadron’s memorial stone which is sited near where the runway once stood.

A squadron member at the ceremony was Flying Officer Martin Wade from Dinas Powys. He said: “It was an honour to be there and mark this important year and pay tribute to members of the squadron who served and never came back.” During the Second World War 118 members of the unit were killed.

Also present was Caroline Wright, who, while serving in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force at RAF St Athan in the late 1980s helped revive the squadron association. It was they who erected the memorial at the squadron’s former home. She said it was “an honour to be there”.

A year nine pupil from Willows High School, Nevaeh Hamilton, laid the wreath at the memorial. She said: “It was very special to do this today. It felt really respectful and I didn’t know our school was on the site of the airfield”.

When the squadron was formed in 1937 its members were mostly drawn from the South Glamorgan area and all served in their part-time.

They flew aircraft like Hawker Hectors, and Hinds, Lysanders and Halifaxes - all names recalled in street names of the Pengam estate, as well as Merrett Court, after Flt Lt Merrett.

When war came in 1939, it moved to Scotland from where it patrolled against Nazi invasion. It later joined the 1,000 bomber raids over Germany and served in North Africa before taking on the elite Pathfinder role in Italy in 1944 until the war’s end. Returning to Wales they flew Spitfires and Vampire jets at Llandow again becoming a part-time squadron.

Disbanded in 1957 it reformed in 2014 and now has members who fulfil roles in the RAF including technician, intelligence analyst and photographer.