July 2026
Written by David Smith
A few hundred yards uphill from the rear of the Ponderosa Cafe on the Horseshoe Pass is a strange brick structure with supports apparently for an aerial system once fitted there. Research has identified it as a navigational aid known as a Track Guide. Much of the wartime RAF’s training took place over and around the Irish Sea by day and night The surrounding high ground in Wales, the Lake District and southern Scotland was a constant hazard to aircrews, with very many fatalities.
The losses were so bad that in April 1944 a scheme was devised for the provision of a chain of radio track guides extending over the British Isles. It was aimed to provide navigational assistance for all aircraft fitted with Standard Beam Approach (SBA) equipment. Most importantly, it would enable training aircraft to fly with safety in and above cloud and to provide a safe means of breaking cloud at any time during flight. This would permit training to be carried out in worse weather conditions than was then possible. At that time training was confined, with certain exceptions, to flights below cloud, because of the danger involved in breaking cloud without adequate radio navigational assistance.
The one on the Horseshoe Pass was known as Llangollen and its beam evidently intersected with a similar site at South Barrule on the Isle of Man. The latter is known to have been active until at least July 1946, as presumably was the Llangollen site. It is likely that the Track Guides were not decommissioned for several years after that, becoming redundant when the UK’s fixed route system known as ‘airways’ was created in the early 1950s. The routes were delineated by radio beacons at regular intervals.
The surviving brick structure once supported three aerials as in the 1944 photo. Further down the hill, the hut for support staff and what is probably a generator were surrounded by brick walls. This area has long since been cleared, leaving only some remnants of the walls still visible.
Gorffennaf 2026
Ysgrifennwyd gan David Smith
Cymorth Mordwyo Awyr Anghofiedig
Ychydig gannoedd o lathenni i fyny’r allt o gefn Caffi Ponderosa ar Fwlch yr Horseshoe mae strwythur brics rhyfedd gyda chefnogaethau, yn ôl pob golwg, ar gyfer system awyr a osodwyd yno ar un adeg. Mae ymchwil wedi’i nodi fel cymorth mordwyo o’r enw Canllaw Trac. Cynhaliwyd llawer o hyfforddiant yr RAF yn ystod y rhyfel dros ac o amgylch Môr Iwerddon yn ystod y dydd a’r nos. Roedd y tir uchel cyfagos yng Nghymru, Ardal y Llynnoedd a de’r Alban yn berygl cyson i griwiau awyr, gyda llawer iawn o farwolaethau.
Roedd y colledion mor ddrwg nes ym mis Ebrill 1944 y dyfeisiwyd cynllun ar gyfer darparu cadwyn o ganllawiau trac radio yn ymestyn dros Ynysoedd Prydain. Ei nod oedd darparu cymorth mordwyo i bob awyren a oedd ag offer Dull Trawst Safonol (SBA). Yn bwysicaf oll, byddai’n galluogi awyrennau hyfforddi i hedfan yn ddiogel yn ac uwchben cwmwl ac i ddarparu ffordd ddiogel o dorri cwmwl ar unrhyw adeg yn ystod yr hediad. Byddai hyn yn caniatáu cynnal hyfforddiant mewn amodau tywydd gwaeth nag oedd yn bosibl bryd hynny. Bryd hynny, roedd hyfforddiant wedi’i gyfyngu, gydag eithriadau penodol, i hediadau o dan y cwmwl, oherwydd y perygl o dorri cwmwl heb gymorth llywio radio digonol.
Roedd yr un ar Fwlch yr Horseshoe yn cael ei adnabod fel Llangollen ac mae’n amlwg bod ei drawst yn croestorri â safle tebyg yn South Barrule ar Ynys Manaw. Gwyddys bod yr olaf wedi bod yn weithredol tan o leiaf Gorffennaf 1946, fel yr oedd safle Llangollen, yn ôl pob tebyg. Mae’n debygol na chafodd y Canllawiau Traciau eu datgomisiynu am sawl blwyddyn ar ôl hynny, gan ddod yn ddiangen pan grëwyd system llwybrau sefydlog y DU o’r enw ‘llwybrau awyr’ yn gynnar yn y 1950au. Roedd y llwybrau’n cael eu hamlinellu gan oleuadau radio ar adegau rheolaidd.
Ar un adeg, roedd y strwythur brics sydd wedi goroesi yn cynnal tair awyren fel yn y llun o 1944. Ymhellach i lawr y bryn, roedd y cwt ar gyfer staff cymorth a’r hyn sydd, yn ôl pob tebyg, yn generadur wedi’u hamgylchynu gan waliau brics. Mae’r ardal hon wedi’i chlirio ers tro byd, gan adael dim ond rhai olion o’r waliau yn dal i fod yn weladwy.