RAF Cleave


RAF Cleave is a former Royal Air Force station located 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 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, 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

Current use

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.

Citations