RAF Cleave

RAF Cleave
IATA: none ICAO: none
Summary
Airport type	Military (former)
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force
Location	West of Kilkhampton
Built	1939
In use	1939-1945
Elevation AMSL	400 ft / 122 m
Coordinates	50°53′08″N 04°33′00″W
Map
RAF Cleave Location in Cornwall
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 06/24 2,250 656 Grass 18/36 2,700 823 Grass

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

History

RAF Cleave was conceived as 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 was 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 used	duties
1 AACU (D, G & O Flights)	- 31 October 1942	Hawker Henley, Westland Wallace	target towing
1602 (AAC) Flt	1 November 1942 – 1 December 1943	Hawker Henley	formed from D Flight 1AACU, target towing
1603 (AAC) Flt	1 November 1942 – 1 December 1943	Hawker Henley, Fairey Battle	formed from G Flight 1AACU, target towing
1604 (AAC) Flt	1 November 1942 – 1 December 1943	Hawker Henley, de Havilland Tiger Moth	formed from O Flight 1AACU, target towing
1618 (AAC) Flt	1 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

Current use

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

Bibliography

• Jefford, C G (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Lake, A (1999) Flying units of the RAF, Airlife Publishing, Shrewsbury, 316pp & 16 App, ISBN 1-84037-086-6.
• Smith, G (2000) Devon and Cornwall Airfields in the Second World War, Countryside Books, Newbury, 288pp, ISBN 1-85306-632-X.
• Willis, S and Holliss, B R (1987), Military airfields in the British Isles 1939-1945 (Omnibus Edition), Enthusiasts Publications, Newport Pagnell, 283pp, ISBN 0-907700-12-8.

External links

• RAF Cleave — web page with extensive descriptive photo gallery, at AtlantikWall.co.uk
• web page showing many photos of the remaining RAF Cleave implacements around the Morwenstow site — at DerelictPlaces.co.uk