Royal Air Force St Mawgan or more simply RAF St Mawgan is a

Royal Air Force station The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates several stations throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training air bases, support, administrative and training stations with no flying activity, unmanned airfields used fo ...

near

St Mawgan St Mawgan or St Mawgan in Pydar ( kw, Lanherne) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The population of this parish at the 2011 census was 1,307. The village is situated four miles nor ...

and

Newquay Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England. In 2008 the runway part of the site was handed over to

Newquay Airport Cornwall Airport Newquay is the main commercial airport for Cornwall, United Kingdom, located at Mawgan in Pydar, northeast of the town of Newquay on Cornwall's north coast. Its runway was operated by RAF St Mawgan before 2008, and is now o ...

. The remainder of the station continues to operate under the command of the RAF. RAF St Mawgan used to have the widest military runway in the UK (300 ft) and was the home of the

Cornwall Air Ambulance The Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust is a charity that provides a dedicated helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The service also has two critical care cars that operate when the helicopter is unable ...

service and more recently 505 (Wessex) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF).

History

Second World War

Opened as a civilian airfield in 1933, it was requisitioned at the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and named RAF Trebelzue, initially as a satellite of nearby

RAF St Eval Royal Air Force St. Eval or RAF St. Eval was a Royal Air Force station for the RAF Coastal Command, southwest of Padstow in Cornwall, England, UK. St Eval's primary role was to provide anti-submarine and anti-shipping patrols off the south wes ...

, but was expanded with twin concrete runways. In February 1943 it was renamed RAF St. Mawgan and in June 1943, the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

took over and carried out a number of major improvements, including a new control tower and a further extension of the main runway. The airfield was put under care and maintenance on 1 July 1947.

Cold War

In 1951, it reopened as a

Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

base for ASWDU (Air Sea Warfare Development Unit) where trials of new electronic equipment were carried out, to ascertain the suitability of the equipment for general use in Coastal Command, and for maritime reconnaissance, flying mainly

Avro Shackleton The Avro Shackleton is a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) which was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a devel ...

aircraft, with support from a few

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...

aircraft. In 1956, No 220 and 228 Long Range Reconnaissance Squadrons were renumbered Nos 201 and 206 Squadrons and joined by 42 Squadron in 1958. RAF St Mawgan also became the Headquarters of 22 (Helicopter) Squadron. In 1965, 201 Squadron and 206 Squadron moved to

RAF Kinloss Royal Air Force Kinloss or RAF Kinloss is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near the village of Kinloss, on the Moray Firth in the north east of Scotland. The RAF station opened on 1 April 1939 and served as a training establishme ...

and were replaced by the Maritime Operational Training Unit. In 1956, the last Lancaster in RAF operational service left RAF St Mawgan after a brief ceremony conducted by the then Commander-in-Chief of Coastal Command, Air Marshal Sir Bryan Reynolds. The Lancaster was an MR3 variant from the School of Maritime Reconnaissance. 7 Sqn, flying

English Electric Canberra The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havil ...

s, operated at RAF St Mawgan as target tugs from 1970 until 1982, with 22 Squadron moving out in 1974. 42 Squadron and 236 Operational Conversion Unit moved to

in 1992, taking away RAF St Mawgan's fixed-wing station-based aircraft, the

Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod is a retired maritime patrol aircraft developed and operated by the United Kingdom. It was an extensive modification of the de Havilland Comet, the world's first operational jet airliner. It was originally designed ...

s which had been at the station since 1969. In 1976 some scenes in the film '' The Eagle Has Landed'' were filmed on the camp. Nuclear depth charges intended for anti-submarine use by the US Navy

P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) shore terminal commissioned 5 April 1974, had been transferred and the sea systems had been remoted to the new JMF. The SOSUS fixed bottom surveillance system had been augmented by mobile, towed arrays and the combined system renamed Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) in 1984. The JMF was an IUSS facility jointly operated by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. It was announced in early 2009 that the JMF would close in order to save the US Navy £6.5 million per year, losing 22 jobs in the process. RAF St Mawgan was the last remaining US Navy installation in the U.K. The systems at the JMF were remoted to the Naval Ocean Processing Facility (NOPF), Dam Neck, Virginia with the remaining personnel from JMF at RAF St Mawgan moved to the Virginia facility. The NOPF is a joint United States and United Kingdom, forces operation (the largest such contingent in the U.S.) under Commander, Undersea Surveillance.

21st century

In 2005, RAF St Mawgan was one of the airfields shortlisted to house the new

Joint Combat Aircraft The Joint Combat Aircraft (JCA) is the official designation of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence used for the F-35 Lightning II. The F-35, formerly the Joint Strike Fighter, is the result of the Joint Strike Fighter programme. JCA has be ...

(JCA) in 2013, but in November 2005 it was announced by Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram, that it would be going to

RAF Lossiemouth Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland. Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. In November 2006,

No. 1 Squadron RAF Regiment No. 1 Squadron RAF Regiment is a field squadron of the RAF Regiment in the Royal Air Force. Its mission is protection of RAF bases from ground attack, and patrolling a large area around main operating bases abroad, in order to defend aircraft o ...

moved to

RAF Honington Royal Air Force Honington or more simply RAF Honington is a Royal Air Force station located south of Thetford near Ixworth in Suffolk, England. Although used as a bomber station during the Second World War, RAF Honington is now the RAF Regim ...

and No. 2625 (County of Cornwall) Squadron

Royal Auxiliary Air Force The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), formerly the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), together with the Air Force Reserve, is a component of His Majesty's Reserve Air Forces (Reserve Forces Act 1996, Part 1, Para 1,(2),(c)). It provides a primary rein ...

(RAuxAF) was disbanded. Helicopter maintenance (HMF) also ceased here in that year. Until May 2008, RAF St Mawgan was primarily used as a Search and Rescue training camp and was home to 203(R) Squadron, equipped with Sea King

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s. The SAR Force HQ was also located here. Both 203(R) Squadron and the SAR Force HQ moved to

RAF Valley Royal Air Force Valley or more simply RAF Valley ( cy, Llu Awyr Brenhinol Y Fali) is a Royal Air Force station on the island of Anglesey, Wales, and which is also used as Anglesey Airport. It provides both basic and advanced fast-jet training ...

. On 1 December 2008 the airfield part of the camp (including the civilian side) closed but the RAF still remain on a reduced area. This was to allow full control of the airport to be handed to

Cornwall County Council Cornwall County Council ( kw, Konteth Konsel Kernow) was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Cornwall in south west England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1889 and was abolished on 1 April 2009. History Cornwall County Counc ...

, with work including a new ATC tower and runway lights. The airport received a full CAA licence to operate in December 2008. In February 2013, £11 million was invested in the base to develop a new survival training facility providing key training areas for visiting task groups. In March 2015 the former airfield of the base became a strong contender to be the first UK spaceport for horizontal take off and landing after being shortlisted by the government. The plans have since changed, but Spaceport Cornwall has now been established at

and is expected to launch its first satellites in 2021, as the result of a partnership with Virgin Orbit. March 2016, RAF St Mawgan completed a brand new guardroom block, built by Babcock adjacent to the old guardroom but much larger with: car parking, office facilities and accommodation.

Role and operations

Defence Survival Training Organisation

RAF St Mawgan is currently home to Defence Survival Training Organisation (DSTO), which is a tri-service unit that teaches '

Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract The Defence Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract (SERE) Training Organisation (DSTO), is a military training organisation based at RAF St Mawgan, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. It is tri-service and trains personnel in Survival skills, survival tec ...

' (SERE) methods for the Armed Forces in support of operations and training. They also conduct trials and equipment development. It was formerly known as the School of Combat Survival and Rescue and moved to St Mawgan from

RAF Mount Batten RAF Mount Batten was a Royal Air Force station and flying boat base at Mount Batten, a peninsula in Plymouth Sound, Devon, England. Originally a seaplane station opened in 1917 as a Royal Navy Air Service Station Cattewater it became RAF Cattewa ...

in 1992.

Other operations

The Royal Air Force maintains a small workshop on the station, enabling construction of components for the upgrading of aircraft for all three services. Accommodation on the airfield is often used by students of Agusta Westland's training facility at

. Other units located here at St Mawgan are 505 (Wessex) Squadron

(RAuxAF). The

gate guard A gate guardian or gate guard is a withdrawn piece of equipment, often an aircraft, armoured vehicle, artillery piece, or locomotive, mounted on a plinth and used as a static display near to and forming a symbolic display of "guarding" the main ...

was an

aircraft which was sold and moved in December 2015. From February 2016, 120

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operation ...

(RMP) officers of the 1st Military Police Brigade,

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, were being hosted by the base in a new police investigation unit that will be capable of managing complex police investigations. The main investigation will look at British troops' conduct in Afghanistan. Their facility, known as major incident room (MIR), will replicate the benefits of major incident rooms used by Home Office police forces when conducting complex investigations. It will use the same Home Office Large Major Enquiry System (HOLMES) for analysing and linking evidence. The RMP will come under the command of the Provost Marshal (Army). RAF St Mawgan was chosen over other locations for its availability of office and living accommodation. Married personnel and their families will be accommodated in the married quarters sites at Treloggan,

St Eval St Eval ( kw, S. Uvel) is a civil parish and hamlet in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The hamlet is about four miles (6.5 km) southwest of Padstow. The parish population at the 2011 census was 960. Much of the village land was ac ...

(Officers) and St Columb Minor (Sergeants), which were recently renovated. Single accommodation will be provided on base in spare capacity blocks.

Based units

Notable units based at RAF St Mawgan.

Royal Air Force

No. 2 Group (Air Combat Support) RAF * No. 505 (Wessex) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force No. 22 Group (Training) RAF *

Defence Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract Training Organisation The Defence Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract (SERE) Training Organisation (DSTO), is a military training organisation based at RAF St Mawgan, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. It is tri-service and trains personnel in survival techniques, evading ...

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

** Plymouth and Cornwall Wing Headquarters ** Regional Activity Centre

British Army

Adjutant General's Corps The Adjutant General's Corps is a corps in the British Army responsible for many of its general administrative services, named for the Adjutant-General to the Forces (now the Commander Home Command). As of 2002, the AGC had a staff of 7,000 peopl ...

( 1 Military Police Brigade) * Royal Military Police Major Incident Room

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:St Mawgan, RAF Royal Air Force stations in Cornwall Airports in Cornwall Military history of Cornwall Newquay Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom