Royal Air Force Bolt Head or more simply RAF Bolt Head is a former Royal Air Force satellite station 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°.
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 Second World War 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 UnitDatesAircraftVariantNotesNo. 16 Squadron RAF1940–1941Westland LysanderIIIDetachments from RAF Weston Zoyland.No. 41 Squadron RAF29 April – 16 May 1944 & 24 May – 19 June 1944Supermarine SpitfireXIIAttended APC Fairwood Common, 17–23 May 1944.No. 234 (Madras Presidency) Squadron RAF1944Supermarine SpitfireVINo. 257 (Burma) Squadron RAF1942Hawker TyphoonIA and IBDetachments from RAF Exeter.No. 263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Squadron RAF1943Westland WhirlwindIDetachments from RAF Warmwell.1944Hawker TyphoonIBNo. 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF1944Hawker TyphoonIBNo. 275 Squadron RAF1944Supermarine SpitfireVCLater moved to RAF Exeter with detachments back to Bolt Head.No. 276 Squadron RAF1944VariousDetachment from RAF Portreath.No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF1942Supermarine SpitfireVB and VCDetachments from RAF Exeter.No. 421 (Red Indian) Squadron RCAF1942Supermarine SpitfireVBDetachments from RAF Exeter.No. 610 (County of Chester) Squadron AAF1943Supermarine SpitfireVCNo. 611 (West Lancashire) Squadron AAF1944Supermarine SpitfireIX
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 No. 2738 Squadron RAF Regiment 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)
Samuels, Linda Nissen (2022) The Man Under The Radar - A Biography of Jack Nissenthall (Chiselbury Publishing, ISBN 978-1-908291-84-4)
External links RAF Bolt Head on Devon Airfields Bolt Head Airfield web site