RAF St Mawgan |
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Near St Mawgan, Cornwall in England | |
Shown within Cornwall
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Coordinates | 50°26′05″N 005°00′47″W / 50.43472°N 5.01306°WCoordinates: 50°26′05″N 005°00′47″W / 50.43472°N 5.01306°W |
Type | Royal Air Force station |
Site information | |
Owner | Ministry of Defence |
Operator | Royal Air Force |
Site history | |
Built | 1939 | /40
In use | 1940-Present |
Airfield information | |
Identifiers |
IATA: |
Royal Air Force St Mawgan or more simply RAF St Mawgan is a Royal Air Force station near St Mawgan and Newquay in Cornwall. In 2008 the runway part of the site was handed over to Newquay Airport. The remainder of the station still continues to operate under the command of the RAF. RAF St Mawgan used to have the widest military runway in the UK (300 ft) which is the home for the Cornwall Air Ambulance service and more recently 505 Wessex squadron RAF Reserves.
RAF St Mawgan is currently home to Defence Survival Training Organisation (DSTO), which is a tri-service unit that teaches 'Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract' (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 Mountbatten in 1992.
The Royal Air Force maintains a small workshop on the station, enabling construction of components for the upgrading of aircraft across all three services. Accommodation on the airfield is often used by students of Agusta Westland's training facility at Newquay Airport.
Other lodger units located here at St Mawgan are Plymouth & Cornwall Wing of the Air Training Corps and 505 (Wessex) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF). The gate guard was an Avro Shackleton aircraft which was sold and moved in December 2015.
As of February 2016, 120 Royal Military Police (RMP) officers of the 1st Military Police Brigade, British Army, will be 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 (Officers) and St Columb Minor (Sergeants), which were recently renovated. Single accommodation will be provided on base in spare capacity blocks.