THE vital role played by Wales and Pembrokeshire in the Battle of Britain will be remembered at an event in Cardiff on September 16.

The exhibition, to be held at City Hall, will tell the story of Battle of Britain fighter aces and commanders from Wales who defended these islands from Nazi attack and the Welsh airfields which trained fighter pilots.

It will feature pilots like Flying Officer Robert Voase Jeff DFC and Bar, a pilot from Tenby.

He joined the RAF in October 1936 and flew Hurricanes with No 87 Squadron in the Battle of France. On November 2, 1939, he destroyed a HE 111, the first enemy aircraft to fall on French soil in the war, for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the DFC.

He went on to destroy four more enemy aircraft in France up to end of May, being awarded a Bar to his DFC. He fought with his Squadron in the Battle of Britain.

Jeff was reported ‘missing’ on August 11, last seen diving to attack enemy aircraft off Portland Bill. He has no known grave and is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial. Aged 27.

His RAF pilot brother, JEP Jeff, was killed in his Hampden aircraft on May 2, 1941 over Hamburg.

Also mentioned in the exhibition is Sergeant John Anthony Hughes-Rees, of Newport, Pembrokeshire. He enlisted in the RAF in 1939 and joined 609 Squadron at RAF Middle Wallop on September 22, 1940.

He claimed a Me110 fighter destroyed on September 25 and destroyed a Me109 fighter on October 7. The Spitfire he flew during the Battle of Britain (serial number X4590) is preserved at the RAF Museum at Hendon.

The Battle came close to West Wales in other ways with Wales' only RAF fighter station sited just over the Pembrokeshire-Carmarthenshire border at Pembrey.

While the Battle of Britain raged overhead, the RAF in Pembrokeshire was embroiled in a second critical struggle – the Battle of the Atlantic.

RAF Coastal Command was fighting to protect shipping and sea lanes bringing vital supplies to Britain from the menace of German U-boats.

RAF Pembroke Dock was one of eight Coastal Command stations in South Wales, which were on the frontline. In the summer of 1940, many squadrons were based there flying the Short Sunderland.

The Sunderland had a crew of 13, a range of nearly 3,000 miles, and could stay airborne for over 13 hours. They patrolled far into the Atlantic, the Bay of Biscay, and along the Western Approaches, attacking any U-boats that were sighted.

Squadrons at RAF Carew Cheriton also played their part in 1940, patrolling the Western Approaches and Irish Sea in Avro Anson and Bristol Beaufort aircraft. These patrols were extremely hazardous, with long missions and poor weather often being as dangerous as the enemy.

The presence of Coastal Command stations in South Wales made it a legitimate target. On August 19, 1940, the Admiralty oil tanks near Pembroke Dock at Llanreath were attacked from the air, causing a fire that burned for 18 days and destroyed 33 million gallons of oil. Five firefighters were killed.

The exhibition will be launched on Thursday, September 16, with a parade and flypast outside City Hall with VIPs including Secretary of State for Wales Rt Hon Simon Hart MP.

Originally scheduled to be held for the 80th anniversary of the battle in 2020, the event was postponed due to coronavirus and is being held a year later in the week of Battle of Britain Day. That day – September 15 – is seen as the decisive day in 1940 when Nazi aircraft losses were so high that they knew they could not defeat the RAF and proceed with an invasion of Britain.

Once the exhibition has been opened in Cardiff it will then go on tour across Wales, giving everyone the chance to see and find out more about the ‘Welsh Few’. Dates for this will be published shortly.