Remembering The Wartime Airfields

DENE BEBBINGTON looks back at the county’s wartime airfields and the missions they were involved in

MANY will be familiar with the Royal Navy’s airbase at Yeovilton where current and historic aircraft are based. But did you know that during World War Two, Somerset was home to more than 10 airfields that played a vital role in the war effort?

Lying on a plateau a few miles north of Bath, Royal Air Force (RAF) Charmy Down was once a site of prehistoric long barrows. These weren’t to survive the needs of the war and were levelled in 1940 for construction of an airfield, which was to be a fighter base. At first home to Hawker Hurricane night fighters of 87 Squadron, more squadrons with other types of aircraft were later based there.

The role of the base expanded to include bombers as the war progressed and in 1943 it was handed over to the Americans, as were other British airfields. During its operation various missions were carried out, some defensive against Luftwaffe raids, and also offensive sorties over the English Channel and even into Germany.

Soon after the war in 1946 the airfield was closed, though remnants of it still remain. Parts of the airstrip can be seen from ground level and the derelict control tower and pillboxes stand as more obvious reminders of its wartime past.

Another disused airfield is on the Levels at Weston Zoyland. Having started life in the 1920s, by the start of the war it was a mature airfield with several buildings. Surrounded by damp ground, the area was prone to fog. Ironically, weather conditions in the area meant it was sometimes open when others in the West Country weren’t due to bad weather, making it ideal for diversions.

The airfield played a part in the war, with various squadrons and aircraft based there. Before its closure in 1958 it served as a base for the modification of Canberra bombers which began arriving in late 1955.