Royal Air Force Chivenor or RAF Chivenor was a Royal Air Force station located on the northern shore of the River Taw estuary, on the north coast of Devon, England. The nearest towns are Barnstaple and Braunton. Originally a civil airfield opened in the 1930s, the site was taken over by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in May 1940 for use as a RAF Coastal Command Station. After the Second World War, the station was largely used for training, particularly weapons training. During the 1950s and 1960s, No. 229 Operational Conversion Unit RAF (229 OCU) used Hawker Hunter aircraft for training. In 1974 the station was left on "care and maintenance", though No. 624 Volunteer Gliding Squadron (624 VGS) continued to fly from there. The RAF returned in 1979, forming 2 Tactical Weapons Unit (2 TWU) which flew BAE Systems Hawks, from 1979 until the unit was renamed as No. 7 Flying Training School RAF (7 FTS) in 1992. In 1994, 7 FTS left Chivenor, merging with No. 4 Flying Training School RAF (4 FTS) at RAF Valley, and the airfield was handed over to the Royal Marines. The Marines have an existing equipment testing base at RM Instow, in Instow, located across the Taw Estuary and approximately two miles from Chivenor. No. 22 Squadron RAF (22 Sqn) operated a Search and Rescue flight at Chivenor from 1956, flying Westland Whirlwind, Westland Wessex and Westland Sea King helicopters. 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 After the flooding at Boscastle, this threat was rescinded. "A" flight of 22 Squadron was disbanded in October 2015, with the search and rescue role being assumed by Bristow Helicopters on behalf of Her Majesty's Coastguard. In 1995, the site became Royal Marines Base Chivenor primarily used by 3 Commando Brigade. Etymology The name Chivenor is first attested in 1285, as Chivenore. This is thought to originate in Old English as a personal name, Cifa, in its genitive form Cifan, combined with the Old English word ōra ('flat-topped ridge'). Thus the name once meant 'Cifa's flat-topped ridge'. The ridge in question runs from west to east along the north bank of the River Taw, from Heanton Punchardon to Tutshill Wood on the northern fringe of Barnstaple. Like Heanton Punchardon, RM Chivenor lies at the west end of the ridge. History