RAF HARROWBEER, the guardian of the south west and the RAF Station of Dartmoor. The Ted Coningsby Squadron bring back to life the RAF Station of Dartmoor which was built in the town of Yelverton.
The Air Ministry did not think that Plymouth would ever encounter a threat to bombing but this wasn’t true. This is why most defences and airfields can be found to the east of England, the closer you are, the closer you are to your enemy. The problem was, as Germany were conquering land through Europe and advancing, the western parts of England got closer and closer. The Plymouth Blitz began on the 6th July 1940, so the construction of the new base on Dartmoor was given the go ahead.
The Air Ministry had decreed in 1940, that all new airfields would be equipped with tarmac runways, (because of the difficulties experienced by squadrons on all grass airfields) and RAF Harrowbeer was built with three tarmac runways using the very rubble from the blitz of Plymouth.
RAF Harrowbeer had a few challenges, even down to the naming of it. You see RAF Harrowbeer was built within the infrastructure of the town of Yelverton. This was a problem calling it RAF Yelverton as it sounds very similar to Yeovilton. So a decision was made to name it to the nearby village of Harrowbeer instead of Yelverton. The other problem was the height of the surrounding buildings are all buildings could not be more than two stories high, which you can see today in the town of Yelverton, especially the shops.
RAF Harrowbeer was operational in 1941 and the airfield was under the control of No. 10 Group which was never assigned a station badge. From the very first squadron to operate, 500 squadron with their Bristol Blenheims, to Spitfires, Whirlwind Fighter-bombers to the Hawker Typhoons of 193 Squadron.
The role of the base was to escort shipping in the English Channel, offer protection against German U-boats, escorting bombers to France and back and to protects the south coast between Lands End and Dorset.
Many countries were based at Harrowbeer such as 302 Squadron (Polish), 312 Squadron (Czechoslovakia) and American, French and Canadian Squadrons too. It was also home to 276 Squadron Air Sea Rescue (ASR). October 10th 1942 saw the arrival of No.175 Squadron with their Hurricane / bomber aircraft which were to carry out low level shipping strikes.
Formed at RAF Harrowbeer on the 18th December 1942, 193 Squadron which took delivery of four new Hawker Hurricanes and were originally designated as a fighter/ground attack unit, they became operational with the Hawker Typhoon in April 1943. The squadron carried out many ground attacks and the Typhoons were modified to carry bombs.
The Typhoon was considered to be a little unreliable with difficulties starting it up, but it was to play an effective part in the battle of Normandy in 1944 and was used in a ground attack role.
In 1943 Whirlwind fighter bomber which was used effectively on strikes on enemy ships. In 1944 RAF Harrowbeer was involved in Operation Overlord and played a key role in the forthcoming invasion of occupied Europe. It was after this operation that RAF Harrowbeer was to see its end of days. August 1944, the station became a satellite of Exeter and the 329 Squadron (France) was the last operational unit to use the field, flying Spitfire Mk. IX fighters until June 1945
After the end of the war in Europe, RAF Harrowbeer had fulfilled its role, playing its invaluable role but sadly was no longer required. RAF Harrowbeer was nearly kept alive by becoming a local airport but this was declined. What remains are the runways, hanger bases and blast pens. This is a former base that is very accessible even by car as a reminder that freedom was a victory but we must never forget those that gave their lives for this very freedom.
Useful links
RAF HARROWBEER
https://www.rafharrowbeer.co.uk
Knightstone
https://rafharrowbeer-dartmoor.org.uk
Hawker Typhoon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Typhoon
Special thanks to Airframe media for the drone footage
https://airframemedia.co.uk
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noTEDS
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