Afternoon Pilgrimage to RAF Portreath

Afternoon Pilgrimage to RAF Portreath

Talk and Tour to cover the site’s history from World War Two to the Present Day

On the cliff top between Porthtowan and Portreath is a cordoned off area which is RAF Portreath. It was here on the 11th June that a group from the Old Cornwall Society met for a fascinating afternoon pilgrimage. On being greeted by RAF personnel we were shown a video presentation of the site. The building of RAF Portreath was started in 1940 and opened in early 1941 as an RAF Fighter Command station. From late 1941 it was used as a ferry stopover for aircraft to and from North Africa and the Middle East. It was also used as a temporary stopover for USAAF and RCAF units and then finally as a Coastal Command Station. After the war it was run down and eventually in 1950 was handed back to the government by the RAF. The area then reverted to its original name and was known as Nancekuke. It became an outstation of the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down. It was here that Sarin was manufactured and quantities of the nerve agent were stock piled during the period of the Cold War. In 1976 transfer of the work was moved to Porton Down with the decommissioning of Nancekuke. A remediation project was then carried out and the ground landscaped, cleared of any contamination and put back to nature.

In 1980 the area was reopened as an RAF radar site. There are now 20 full time staff providing a 24 hour, 365 days a year cover of the south western approaches. Unknown aircraft are monitored as they approach UK airspace. Together with RAF Boulter and Alnwick, decisions are taken as to what action is considered necessary. This could ultimately result in the scrambling of two RAF Typhoon jets together with the refuelling aircraft to intercept the intruders. 

Following the video presentation we were given a tour of the site where we were shown the radar installation within its protective housing and the associated monitoring equipment contained in a small building nearby. The rest of the site is virtually unused except for a radio antenna and some small buildings. As we neared the end of the tour we stopped and entered a large bunker which was in use during the Cold War. Bomb proof and underground, all that remains are half empty offices with telephones and alarm systems now silent together with standby generators ready to provide power in an emergency!