RNAS Charlton Horethorne (HMS Heron II) is a former Royal Naval Air Station in the hamlet of

Sigwells Sigwells is a hamlet located in an area rich in archaeology remains, overlooking Cadbury Castle in Somerset, England. It was the target of research by the South Cadbury Environs Project, which produced significant Early Bronze Age and Middle and ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. It opened in 1942, as a flying training base under the administrative care of HMS Heron. It closed in 1948 and has since been returned to agricultural use.

History

The site was originally planned as a satellite station for

RAF Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

for No. 10 Group of

RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Britai ...

. Construction started in the summer of 1941. The landing strip was grass rather than tarmac and few permanent buildings apart from the

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

and two

blister hangar A blister hangar is a novel arched, portable aircraft hangar designed by notable British airport architect Graham R Dawbarn patented by Miskins and Sons in 1939. Originally made of wooden ribs clad with profiled steel sheets, steel lattice ribs a ...

s, with aircraft being protected by

blast pen A revetment, in military aviation, is a parking area for one or more aircraft that is surrounded by blast walls on three sides. These walls are as much about protecting neighbouring aircraft as it is to protect the aircraft within the revetment ...

s. Ground defence was provided by the Somerset Light Infantry. It opened as an RAF station on 10 July 1942 and was made available for use by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and

886 __NOTOC__ Year 886 ( DCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March – A wide-ranging conspiracy against Emperor Basil I, led by John Kourkouas, is uncovered. * ...

and

887 __NOTOC__ Year 887 (Roman numerals, DCCCLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * November 17 – East Frankish magnates revolt against the ...

Squadrons, who flew Fairey Fulmars were the first to occupy the site, soon to be replaced by

790 Naval Air Squadron 790 Naval Air Squadron (790 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land a ...

. Various squadrons subsequently used the station either while undergoing training and preparation for service or for fighter interception training for Air Direction Radar operators or flight controllers who were trained at

RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron) Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, or RNAS Yeovilton, (HMS ''Heron'') is an airfield of the Royal Navy and British Army, sited a few miles north of Yeovil, Somerset. It is one of two active Fleet Air Arm bases (the other being RNAS Culdrose) ...

. In August 1942

891 Naval Air Squadron 891 Naval Air Squadron was a fighter squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during World War II. In August 1942 the squadron transferred from RNAS Lee-on-Solent where it had been formed in July to RNAS Charlton Horethorne with six Sea Hurri ...

transferred from

RNAS Lee-on-Solent Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent (HMS ''Daedalus'') was one of the primary shore airfields of the Fleet Air Arm. First established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, it later became the main training establishment and ad ...

where it had been formed to Charlton Horethorne with six Sea Hurricanes to prepare for carrier operations, later transferring to RNAS St Merryn and then embarking on HMS Dasher to take part in

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

. Other squadrons posted to the base during 1942 included: 782, 879 and

809 Naval Air Squadron 809 Naval Air Squadron (809 NAS) is a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm of the United Kingdom. It was first formed in 1941 and flew in the Soviet Union, the Mediterranean and the Far East during the Second World War. After active service during the S ...

s. On 1 December 1942 Charlton Horethorne was formally transferred from the RAF to the Admiralty and designated as HMS Heron II, which had previously been at RNAS Haldon. In 1943 a new watch tower was built, more runways laid out in the grass and further hangars built. Further squadrons were temporarily stationed at the base with 780 Squadron staying the longest. In 1945 the base was taken over by RAF Maintenance Command who used it for storage until the end of 1947. It then became a satelitte training field for

RAF Old Sarum Old Sarum Airfield is a grass strip airfield north-north-east of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. The adjacent areas are a mix of vacant land, residential and industrial sites. Residential areas are to the south and east, occupying the old air ...

and kept on a Care and Maintenance basis until it was de-requisitioned and returned to farmland. A number of units were here at some point:

Post closure

The control tower was converted by Norman Clothier a local builder in Charlton Horethorne in the sixties. The old control tower still stands and has been converted into a domestic dwelling.

References

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History

Post closure

See also

References