Royal Marines Base Chivenor is a British military base used primarily by the Royal Marines. It is situated on the northern shore of the Taw estuary, on the North coast of Devon, England.

Originally a civil airfield opened in the 1930s, the Royal Air Force took over the site from May 1940 for use as a Coastal Command Station, calling it RAF Chivenor. After World War II the station was largely used for training, particularly weapons training. During the 1960's one of the RAF's Tactical Weapons Units (TWU) used Hawker Hunter aircraft for training. In 1974 the station was left on 'care and maintenance', though No 624. Volunteer Gliding School continued to fly from there. The TWU returned flying BAE Hawks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Hawk) in 1979 and 1981. In 1994 the TWU left Chivenor merging with No 4 Flying Training School at RAF Valley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Valley), with the RAF handing the airfield over to the Royal Marines. The Marines have an existing equipment testing base at Arromanches Camp, in Instow, located across the Taw Estuary and approximately two miles from Chivenor.

The RAF still has a the 'A' flight of 22 Squadron Search and Rescue, with two Sea King (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Sea_King) helicopters based there, and No. 624 Volunteer Gliding School operating Vigilant T1 motor gliders.

In a spending review that was announced over the summer of 2004, the presence of 22 Squadron at Chivenor was under review. After the flooding at Boscastle, this threat has been rescinded. However, spending cuts may still see the withdrawal of the Royal Marines and the closure of the fixed-wing airbase.

Trivia

When Peter Carter is washed ashore in A Matter of Life or Death (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Matter_of_Life_and_Death), the filming location was Saunton Sands, the seaward (westward) portion of Braunton Burrows dune system. As he talks to the shepherd boy, the Mosquito that (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Mosquito) flys over him, almost certainly has just taken off from RAF Chivenor, which borders the dune system to the east.

External links

• 624 VGS (http://pages.zoom.co.uk/624vgs/history.html)

• 22 Squadron (http://www.raf.mod.uk/squadrons/h22.html)

• BBC News, 15th October 2004 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/3746844.stm)