‘Like a breath of wind gone in a fleeting second only the memories now remain’

On this day in 1941, the RAF Predannack aerodrome on the Lizard peninsula was commissioned.  Now operated by the Royal Navy as a satellite airfield to RNAS Culdrose it was originally designed as a satellite airfield to RAF Portreath.

By 1944 some three thousand personnel staffed the airfield.  Some were accommodated on site but many were billeted on local families whilst the senior officers resided at the Mullion Cove and Polurrian Hotels.

The first squadron to arrive was 247 Squadron which employed Hawker Hurricanes and specialised in night defence of the South West’s towns and ports.  Radar monitoring of the skies was provided by RAF Treleaver near St. Keverne, which after the war was designated as a nuclear bunker and is now an artisan brewery.  In 1943, 304 Squadron transferred to Predannack from RAF Davidstow Moor in December to perform operations against German U-boats.

RAF Predannack was attacked by the Luftwaffe three times and with increasing threats the airfield’s role changed from defensive to offensive operations  over  France and the Bay of Biscay.  In preparation for Operation Overlord (D-Day), two squadrons (No. 1 and No. 165) of spitfires were given responsibility for deterring Luftwaffe attacks on shipping and providing air cover for the enormous invasion convoy assembling around Falmouth. Meanwhile, Wellington bombers, flown by 179 Squadron and the Czech-crewed 311 Squadron, equipped with Liberators, undertook anti-submarine patrols.

After the war, the squadrons largely departed and it was intended to decommission the airfield. It was saved, however, when Dr. Barnes Wallis, working with Vickers-Armstrong on variable geometry (‘swing wing’ where the wings can be swept back after take off for reduced air resistance) aircraft, was given permission to build a new runway for experimentation.  The first trial occurred in 1952 and continued until the project was discontinued in September 1957.

On December 15^th 1958, RAF Predannack was taken over by the Royal Navy and was renamed RNAS Predannack. It now serves four roles: providing emergency landing facilities, flying training, servicing the RN Fire Fighting School and the Royal Navy School of Flight Deck Operations for aircrew rescue operations.  On the west of the airfield, are a pair of cottages, the last remaining homes of the Jollytown community, one of which was occupied by the artist, Bryan Ingham (September 22^nd) from 1958 until his death from cancer in 1997.