(All images via Google Street View; former fighter revetments at RAF Harrowbeer)
Abandoned wartime airfields are important features of the UK landscape, compelling reminders of the devastating 20th century conflict that forged our modern world. But few can be as well integrated into that landscape as RAF Harrowbeer in Devon. Though the World War Two buildings have largely gone, the perimeter track and remarkably well-preserved fighter revetments have been integrated into the local streetscene, virtually frozen in time.
Nestled between the villages of Yelverton and Axtown, the grassy expanse of the former runways – their asphalt pulled up for hardcore – is now grazed by sheep. Concrete tracks along which armed fighter aircraft once taxied to their takeoff positions are now lanes connecting the pleasant villages. It’s along these, to the east and west of the site, that old fighter revetments stand quiet, though not always empty (see below).
Urban Ghosts took a drive around the disused airfield via Google Earth, and we highly recommend it – the former RAF Harrowbeer offers a fascinating and, in a way, haunting glimpse at scenes so often only available through black and white period photography. It’s not hard to imagine the adrenaline, trepidation and thrill of the scramble as one Rolls-Royce Merlin engine after another roared to life, poised for combat in the skies above southern England.
RAF Harrowbeer, situated on the boundary of Dartmoor National Park between the market town of Tavistock and the crucial port city of Plymouth, opened in 1941 and remained in use until 1950. Part of No. 10 Group of RAF Fighter Command, it was from here that World War Two pilot Tony Cooper flew his Supermarine Spitfire MK.IX, serial number MK805, on numerous daring missions against Luftwaffe fighters and bombers. The original Spitfire MK805 survived the war, and has also been the subject of a unique, hand-built static reproduction crafted by Terry Arlow over the course of 28 years.
Above, a full scale Spitfire replica can be seen parked in a wartime revetment at Harrowbeer during a local event. During the Second World War, dozens of similar machines would have been dispersed across the airfield, separated by blast walls and grass berms to prevent the spread of destruction from falling bombs. In the background, the grandeur of the former Ravenscroft School is plain to see. The building served as the officers’ mess during the war, and is now a care home.
On the northwest side of the airfield, a series of concrete foundations and narrow roads signify wartime buildings long since demolished. The outlines of the abandoned runways remain just about visible, while a other surviving hard standings are reminders of the need to disperse aircraft far and wide in the event of an enemy attack.
In the distance, to the east, the lonely, isolated beauty of Dartmoor reaches for the horizon. This wild upland is no stranger to wartime aircraft wrecks. But pilots flying out of RAF Harrowbeer had a more pressing geological concern in the form of Roborough Rock on the nearby down, a tor-like outcrop not far from the airfield.
As an interesting aside, the airfield would normally have taken the name of the nearby community (or, more accurate, the closest railway station). But since Yelverton was considered too similar a name to RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset, it was named Harrowbeer instead. Check out the video above for a drone flight around RAF Harrowbeer. Or explore the former Fighter Command station for yourself via Google Street View here. For a more detailed history of the base and its role during World War Two, this excellent website is your one stop shop.
Related: 5 Abandoned Cold War Airfields of Britain
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