RAF Cleave

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RAF Cleave
Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg
Kilkhampton, Cornwall in England
Target Dossier for Cleave, Cornwall, England - DPLA - 1e4c6a8333ef8cc3a95344f840c437de (page 1).jpg
RAF Cleave on a target dossier of the German Luftwaffe, 1940
Site information
Type Royal Air Force station
Owner Air Ministry
Operator Royal Air Force
Controlled by RAF Fighter Command
* No. 10 Group RAF [1]
Location
Cornwall UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
RAF Cleave
Shown within Cornwall
United Kingdom adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
RAF Cleave
RAF Cleave (the United Kingdom)
Coordinates 50°53′08″N04°33′00″W / 50.88556°N 4.55000°W / 50.88556; -4.55000
Site history
Built1938 (1938)/39
In useMay 1939 – November 1945
Battles/wars European theatre of World War II
Airfield information
Elevation122 metres (400 ft) [1] AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
06/24656 metres (2,152 ft) Grass
18/36823 metres (2,700 ft) Grass

Royal Air Force Cleave or more simply RAF Cleave is a former Royal Air Force station located 4.2 miles (7 kilometres ) north of Bude in Cornwall, England, which was operational from 1939 until 1945. [2] Despite a few periods of intense activity, it was one of RAF Fighter Command's lesser used airfields.

Contents

History

RAF Cleave was conceived as a housing target and target support aircraft for firing ranges along the north Cornwall coast, and land was acquired from Cleave Manor.

In May 1939, two flights of No. 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit RAF (1 AACU) with the Westland Wallace, and a naval steam catapult were soon erected near the cliffs for the pilotless Queen Bee aircraft due to be stationed there. Aircraft were initially housed in temporary Bessonneau hangars (type H of World War I vintage), and later replaced by more permanent structures.

In December 1943, the four flights were amalgamated into 639 Squadron, which served at Cleave for the remainder of the war.

The airfield was placed under care and maintenance in April 1945, and later became a government signals station.

Posted squadrons

unit dates stationed aircraft usedduties
1 AACU (A, D, G, K, O & V Flights)– 31 October 1942 Hawker Henley, Westland Wallace target towing
1602 (AAC) Flt1 November 1942 – 1 December 1943 Hawker Henley formed from D Flight 1AACU, target towing
1603 (AAC) Flt1 November 1942 – 1 December 1943 Hawker Henley, Fairey Battle formed from G Flight 1AACU, target towing
1604 (AAC) Flt1 November 1942 – 1 December 1943 Hawker Henley, de Havilland Tiger Moth formed from O Flight 1AACU, target towing
1618 (AAC) Flt1 November 1942 – 1 December 1943 de Havilland Tiger Moth, de Havilland Queen Bee target towing & pilotless targets
639 Sqn 1 December 1943 – 30 April 1945 Hawker Henley, Hawker Hurricane formed from 1602, 1603, & 1604 Flts [3]

Current use

Remains of an RAF Cleave gun emplacement, with the modern satellite dishes of GCHQ Bude behind Cleave Camp, old gun emplacement and dish, December 2013.jpg
Remains of an RAF Cleave gun emplacement, with the modern satellite dishes of GCHQ Bude behind

Apart from an undisturbed piece of the grass runway to the north, a very short section of concrete perimeter track, and a few of the married quarters accommodation on Cleave Crescent, the site has been almost completely re-modelled as GCHQ Bude.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Falconer 2012, p. 66.
  2. ↑ "RAF Cleave". RAFweb.org. RAFweb – Air of Authority. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  3. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 101.

Bibliography

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