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Royal Air Force Bolt Head or more simply RAF Bolt Head is a former Royal Air Force satellite airfield 1 mile (1.6 km) south west of Salcombe on the south Devon coast, England from 1941 to 1945. During the Second World War it was used as a satellite for RAF Exeter. There were two runways, of 3,680 ft at 45° and 4,200 ft at 120°[2]

RAF Bolt Head
Salcombe, Devon in England
RAF Bolt Head
Shown within Devon
Coordinates50°13′24″N 003°48′21″W
TypeSatellite Station
CodeOH[1]
Site information
OwnerAir Ministry
OperatorRoyal Air Force
Controlled byRAF Fighter Command
* No. 10 Group RAF
* No. 11 Group RAF
Site history
Built1941 (1941)
In use1941-1947 (1947)
Battles/warsEuropean Theatre of World War II
Airfield information
Elevation128 metres (420 ft)[1] AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
00/00 1,121 metres (3,678 ft) Sommerfeld Tracking
00/00 1,280 metres (4,199 ft) Sommerfeld Tracking

The Ground Control Interceptor Station (GCI) RAF Hope Cove was established on the northeast side of the field in 1941 to direct fighter operations in the English Channel. 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


Unit Dates Aircraft Variant Notes
No. 16 Squadron RAF 1940–1941 Westland Lysander III Detachments from RAF Weston Zoyland.[3]
No. 41 Squadron RAF 29 April-16 May 1944 &
24 May-19 June 1944		 Supermarine Spitfire XII Attended APC Fairwood Common, 17–23 May 1944.[4]
No. 234 (Madras Presidency) Squadron RAF 1944 Supermarine Spitfire VI [5]
No. 257 (Burma) Squadron RAF 1942 Hawker Typhoon IA and IB Detachments from RAF Exeter.[6]
No. 263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Squadron RAF 1943 Westland Whirlwind I Detachments from RAF Warmwell.[7]
1944 Hawker Typhoon IB [7]
No. 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF 1944 Hawker Typhoon IB [8]
No. 275 Squadron RAF 1944 Supermarine Spitfire VC Later moved to RAF Exeter with detachments back to Bolt Head.[9]
No. 276 Squadron RAF 1944 Various Detachment from RAF Portreath.[9]
No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF 1942 Supermarine Spitfire VB and VC Detachments from RAF Exeter.[10]
No. 421 (Red Indian) Squadron RCAF 1942 Supermarine Spitfire VB Detachments from RAF Exeter.[11]
No. 610 (County of Chester) Squadron RAuxAF 1943 Supermarine Spitfire VC [12]
No. 611 (West Lancashire) Squadron RAuxAF 1944 Supermarine Spitfire IX [13]

The following units were here at some point:[14]

During the Second World War, 17 personnel operating from RAF Bolt Head were killed in action or died on active service.[16]


References



Citations


  1. Falconer 2012, p. 55.
  2. Arthur L. Clamp (1992). The Hope Cove Area during The Second World War 1939–1945.
  3. Jefford 1988, p. 29.
  4. Jefford 1988, p. 38.
  5. Jefford 1988, p. 75.
  6. Jefford 1988, p. 79.
  7. Jefford 1988, p. 80.
  8. Jefford 1988, p. 81.
  9. Jefford 1988, p. 82.
  10. Jefford 1988, p. 85.
  11. Jefford 1988, p. 91.
  12. Jefford 1988, p. 99.
  13. Jefford 1988, p. 100.
  14. "Bolt Head". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  15. Sturtivant, Hamlin & Halley 1997, p. 180.
  16. "A Memorial to the Few - RAF Bolt Head".

Bibliography






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