| Summary : RAF Bolt Head military airfield and the RAF Hope Cove Ground Control Intercept (GCI) radar station (NMR Monument 1308020) were established in different phases between 1941 and 1942. The airfield was decommissioned in 1947 and the GCI continued until 1957. The northern part of the site site was subsequently used as a South West Regional Seat of Government until it was sold in the early 1990s (see NMR Monument 1308030). The area of the airfield reverted to farmland after WWII, with most of the field boundaries re-instated. The south coast location provided proximity to the continent and RAF Bolt Head was established as a basic airfield in 1941 and expanded in 1942. Various squadrons flew out of RAF Bolt Head using Spitfires, Lysanders, Typhoons and Supermarine Walrus Air Sea Rescue flying boats amongst other craft. The airfield was at its peak in the build up to D-day in 1944, reverted to care and maintenance in 1945, and closed in 1947. Air photographs taken in 1942, 1944 and 1946 record the main WWII structures associated with the airfield. Annotated Air Ministry plans from 1941/2, 1943 and 1944/5 (available from the RAF Museum at Hendon) provide information on the location and type of structures associated with RAF Bolt Head and RAF Hope Cove GCI. The air photographs supplement the 1945 plan and recorded structures outside the perimeter of the airfield. Air photographs also recorded adaptations to the airfield illustrating, for example, the lengthening of the runway after March 1944. The air photographs recorded more ephemeral features such as the barbed wire enclosure in the centre of the airfield in 1942 or the football pitch near the NE-SW runway in 1944. The aerial photographs provide a snapshot of the airfield while it was operational recording, for example, parked aircraft The airfield has been mapped from aerial photographs as part of an English Heritage survey. |
More information : The Willis and Holliss gazetteer records Bolt Head airfield at SX 710 373. It was opened in 1941 and closed in 1947. The landing surfaces were made using Sommerfeld Track. In 1944 there were 2 blister hangars and temporary accomodation for 474 male and 133 female personnel of 10 Group Fighter Command. The source notes that by 1985 the site was used for agricultural purposes, but see source 2 below. The source includes a location map showing the site just inland from Bolt Head, near a group of farms with the place name element "Sear-" (rendered as "Soar" on the OS map.) (1)
A web site concerned with Devon airfields notes that Bolt Head has a grass airstrip in use (web site accessed 2003). The web page also notes that it was a former RAF station active during the war, after which it was "on care and maintenance" ie dormant status. (2)
The Defence of Britain Database records RAF Bolt Head as a World War Two period airfield at SX 713 373, Salcombe, Devon. It is actually in the civil Parish of Malborough. (3)
RAF Bolt Head airfield and the RAF Hope Cove Ground Control Intercept (GCI) radar station (NMR Monument 1308020) were established in different phases between 1941 and 1942. The airfield was decommissioned in 1947 and the GCI continued until 1957. The northern part of the site site was subsequently used as a South West Regional Seat of Government until it was sold in the early 1990s (see NMR Monument 1308030). The area of the airfield reverted to farmland after WWII, with most of the field boundaries re-instated.
The south coast location provided proximity to the continent and RAF Bolt Head was established as a basic airfield in 1941 and expanded in 1942. Various squadrons flew out of RAF Bolt Head using Spitfires, Lysanders, Typhoons and Supermarine Walrus Air Sea Rescue flying boats amongst other craft. The airfield was at its peak in the build up to D-day in 1944, reverted to care and maintenance in 1945, and closed in 1947.
Air photographs taken in 1942, 1944 and 1946 record the main WWII structures associated with the airfield. Annotated Air Ministry plans from 1941/2, 1943 and 1944/5 (available from the RAF Museum at Hendon) provide information on the location and type of structures associated with RAF Bolt Head and RAF Hope Cove GCI. The air photographs supplement the 1945 plan and recorded structures outside the perimeter of the airfield. Air photographs also recorded adaptations to the airfield illustrating, for example, the lengthening of the runway after March 1944. The air photographs recorded more ephemeral features such as the barbed wire enclosure in the centre of the airfield in 1942 or the football pitch near the NE-SW runway in 1944. The aerial photographs provide a snapshot of the airfield while it was operational recording, for example, parked aircraft .
The airfield has been mapped from aerial photographs as part of an English Heritage survey. Most of the buildings and structures are within the Air Ministry boundary, defined by a fence during the war. There are a number of structures and buildings which are outside this boundary but which are thought likely to relate to the airfield. A circular struture in the middle of the Warren, due south of Middle Soar, is centred at SX 7112 3682. A cable trench extends west from this to SX 7152 3681. The structure has gone but the cable trench can still be seen on the ground. A possible structure, at SX 7092 3678, with a linear feature extending to the NW, may have had a military function. Three tracks, half a dozen structures and some possible shell craters are situated just beyond the south east corner of the airfield perimeter. These are presumably related to defences for the airfield. Buildings around East Soar Farm and adjacent to boundaries to the east are also assumed to have a military function associated with the airfield. Structures and tracks on South Down also seem to relate to the airfield, or possibly to a lookout that once stood on Bolt Head cliff.
(4-7) |