RAF St Mawgan is a 22 Training Group Station commanded by Wing Commander Marshall Kinnear MA RAF and is situated 5 miles Northeast of Newquay. Originally a flying station the airfield element of the camp was sold to Cornwall County Council and is now used as Newquay Cornwall Airport.
Primary Role
As a consequence military flying operations ceased in 2008 with the Station being converted in to the home for the Defence Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract (SERE) School, locally referred to as DSTO.The primary role of the station is to provide administrative support to the school and ensure the delivery of up to 5000 SERE trained personnel per annum in support of current operations. However, the footprint of DSTO is such that were they to be the only residents on the Station then much of the estate would lay unused. Instead, in order to deliver value for money to the tax payer a number of other units are located on the Station.The largest of these units is Defence Training Estates (DTE) who started to use the spare barrack buildings in April of this year and plan, over the year, to accommodate 90,000 defence personnel and cadets while they conduct various types of training both here on the Station and throughout Cornwall. Other Units located on the Station are the Air Training Corps who have created a brand new Regional Training Centre and Augusta-Westlands who use some of the barracks to house their students. Also, later in the year the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps will conduct a large scale Headquarters level command and control Exercise which will be closely followed by another similar exercise but this time by the United Kingdom’s Permanent Joint Headquarters.
Support
The support provided by the Station is not confined to its perimeter but extends throughout Devon and Cornwall. The Station provides administrative support to RAF Personnel located at Remote Radar Head Portreath and 22 Squadron A Flight (Search and Rescue) at Royal Marine Base Chivenor, as well as number of other RAF personnel located in the region away from any other RAF station. In addition, the Station’s armoury supports the weapons of all Air Cadets units across Devon and Cornwall.
Manufacturing Components
Finally, the Station has retained a small workshop facility and manufactures components to enable modifications to helicopters and aircraft across all three services.