Royal Air Force Bolt Head or more simply RAF Bolt Head is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

satellite airfield south west of

Salcombe Salcombe is a popular resort town in the South Hams district of Devon, south west England. The town is close to the mouth of the Kingsbridge Estuary, mostly built on the steep west side of the estuary. It lies within the South Devon Area of ...

on the south

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

coast,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from 1941 to 1945. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it was used as a satellite 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 ...

. There were two runways, of 3,680 ft at 45° and 4,200 ft at 120° The Ground Control Interceptor Station (GCI)

RAF Hope Cove Royal Air Force Hope Cove or more simply RAF Hope Cove is a former Royal Air Force radar station. It is located about south west of Salcombe on the south Devon coast, England, co-located with the former RAF Bolt Head airstrip, which was the R ...

was established on the northeast side of the field in 1941 to direct fighter operations in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. Unlike the airfield, Hope Cove remained in use into the 1990s. Today the World War II buildings are almost all gone but a memorial to the airfield's war-time history exists in the centre of the site, two notable post-war buildings survive including a large R6 Rotor bunker (used until 1994 as a Regional Seat of Government) and a grass airstrip is still used occasionally by light aircraft. The landowners also hosted an air display there in 2009 which saw a Hurricane and Spitfire visit the airfield for the first time since the war.

RAF units and aircraft

The following units were here at some point: * Detachment from No. 10 Group Communication Flight RAF (February - October 1943) * No. 2704 Squadron RAF Regiment *

No. 2715 Squadron RAF Regiment This is a list of units of the Royal Air Force Regiment. The RAF Regiment is the ground fighting force of the Royal Air Force and is charged mainly with protecting military airfields, among other duties. First formed in 1942 to protect the airfi ...

No. 2738 Squadron RAF Regiment This is a list of units of the Royal Air Force Regiment. The RAF Regiment is the ground fighting force of the Royal Air Force and is charged mainly with protecting military airfields, among other duties. First formed in 1942 to protect the airfi ...

* No. 2953 Squadron RAF Regiment * No. 4179 Anti-Aircraft Flight RAF Regiment During the Second World War, 17 personnel operating from RAF Bolt Head were killed in action or died on active service.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *Howell, Christopher (2009) ''RAF Bolt Head'' (privately published, no ISBN) * *

External links

RAF Bolt Head on Devon Airfields

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolt Head Royal Air Force stations in Devon Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom