RAF St. Mawgan

United Kingdom / England / Newquay /
 airport, Second World War 1939-1945, military
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RAF St. Mawgan is a Royal Air Force station near Newquay in Cornwall.

Opened as a civilian airfield in 1933, it was requisitioned at the outbreak of World War II and named RAF Trebelzue, initially as a satellite of nearby RAF St. Eval but was expanded with twin concrete runways. In February 1943 it was re-named RAF St. Mawgan. In June 1943, the United States Army Air Forces took over and carried out a number of major improvements, including a new control tower and a further extension of the main runway. The base was put under maintenance on 1 July 1947.

In 1951 it reopened as a Coastal Command base used for maritime reconnaissance, flying Avro Lancaster and Avro Shackleton aircraft. In 1956 with 220 and 228 Long Range Reconnaissance Squadrons. These Squadrons were later renumbered 201 and 206 and joined by 42 Sqn. It also became the Headquarters of 22 (helicopter) Sqn. In 1965 201 and 206 Sqn moved to Kinloss and in came the Maritime Operational Training Unit. 7 Sqn Canberras operated here as target tugs from 1970 until 1982, with 22 Sqn moving out in 1974. 42 Sqn and 236 OCU moved to RAF Kinloss in 1992 taking away its fixed wing station based aircraft, the Nimrods which had been at the base since 1969.

Unit is now currently due to close 2010.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newquay_Cornwall_International_Airport
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   50°26'18"N   5°1'5"W

Comments

  • Doubles up as Newquay Airport. Newquay Cornwall Airport (IATA: NQY, ICAO: EGDG) is the main commercial airport for Cornwall located a few kilometres northeast of Newquay in England, UK. It is based at RAF St. Mawgan, utilising the RAF's runway, and fire service. The airport is conveniently located close to attractions such as The Eden Project, National Maritime Museum Cornwall and Tate St Ives. The runway is able to take the very largest and fastest of civil and military craft, having been built and maintained for decades as a USAAF strategic nuclear bomber base[citation needed]. With the end of the cold war and changes in American political priorities the Americans will be pulling out all involvement in the base by the end of 2008. British government policies and resources alone could no longer sustain the RAF involvement but Cornwall has been left with a spectacular facility, with the runway cabable of handling aircraft such as the A380 and Boeing 747.
This article was last modified 7 years ago