Second World War Bomber Crash Memorial in Bridgetown Wood

 A memorial stone has recently been placed in Bridgetown Wood, by the side of the bridlepath, which runs between Bridgetown and Howetown Farm.  It commemorates the Stirling bomber, which crashed nearby, just after midnight on 27th January 1944.  All 8 men onboard the plane were killed and the wreckage was scattered for up to 3.5 miles in an easterly direction.  

The Stirling bomber (serial number EH933) was part of 1660 Heavy Conversion Unit.  It was on a training exercise and had flown from RAF Swinderby in Lincolnshire.  Seven of the men were members of the RAF Volunteer Reserve and the navigator was a member of the Auxiliary Air Force.  The plane was undertaking a cross-country navigation exercise and was on the fourth part of its journey, which involved flying from Sidmouth to Ilfracombe.  However it flew off course and then dived steeply and broke up in the air. The main part of the aircraft crashed at Bridgetown.  The names of the men who died are recorded on the memorial:

• Sgt Ronald A Partridge
• Sgt Claude V Tomkinson
• Sgt Thomas H Jones
• Sgt Ben Ackroyd
• Sgt Alfred Thursby
• Sgt Herbert Hewitt
• Sgt John Kerry
• Sgt Richard Street

Memorial in Bridgetown Wood

Goblin Combe

Goblin Combe is a gorge, which was formed during the last ice age by melting snow and ice cutting into limestone. It is located to the east of the village of Cleeve. The site is comprised of a steep sided dry valley with extensive areas of limestone scree, areas of semi-natural ancient woodland, unimproved calcareous grassland and limestone heath.  These types of habitat are rare in England and Goblin Combe was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1999.  How the valley came to be called Goblin Combe is not entirely certain.  In the past it was also known as Gobble Combe and Eagle’s Combe

Most of Goblin Combe and the limestone grassland to the north of it is a nature reserve, which is owned and managed by Avon Wildlife Trust.  A public footpath runs along the bottom of the combe and there are a number of other permissive paths in the nature reserve and in the adjacent woods at the east end of the combe.

The woodland consists mainly of oak and ash trees with some beech, field maple, yew, whitebeam and hazel. In the dim light at the bottom of the combe ferns such as hart’s tongue and the rarer limestone and moonwort ferns grow. The nationally scarce stinking hellebore grows on the limestone screes. 

Over 30 types of butterfly have been found in the vicinity of Goblin Combe, including some rare varieties: grizzled and dingy skippers; silver washed and dark green fritillaries; purple and green hairstreaks; brown argus, grayling and white admiral.  Dormice and greater horseshoe bats also live in the combe.  Visitors are however unlikely to encounter any goblins! 

The ramparts of an ancient hillfort can be seen at Cleeve Toot to the north west of Goblin Combe.  It is thought to date from the late Bronze or early Iron Age.   150 metres to the north of the hillfort are the remains of another smaller ancient settlement.

Goblin Combe Environment Centre, which was located in a Victorian former school building on Plunder Street at the west end of the combe, provided learning and outdoor experiences for schools, clubs, youth and community groups but closed down in 2018.  The future of the building is currently uncertain.

The peace and quiet of the combe is broken intermittently by planes flying low overhead, as Goblin Come is very close to the western end of Bristol Airport’s runway.

Top of the limestone cliffs on the north side of the gorge

Public footpath along the bottom of Goblin Combe

Permissive path up the side of Goblin Combe

Seat at the bottom of Goblin Combe

Steep side of Goblin Combe

Goblin Combe Environment Centre

Plane coming into land at Bristol Airport seen from the edge of the woods at the east end of Goblin Combe

RAF Culm Head

The airfield at RAF Culm Head was constructed in 1940-41.  It was initially called RAF Church Stanton.  It was the first of 3 airfields to be built on the plateau at the top of the Blackdown Hills (the others were RAF Upottery/Smeatharpe and RAF Dunkeswell).  It was brought into service in June 1941 to provide shelter from bombing raids for aircraft, which were normally based at RAF Exeter but it was not officially opened until 1st August 1941.  

The first fighter squadrons to be based at RAF Church Stanton were with the Polish 2nd Fighter Wing (nos 302, 306 and 312).  They flew Mk II Hurricanes and later Spitfires Mk V.  They helped to defend the cities of Exeter and Bristol.  A Research Flight also conducted barrage balloon cable cutting experiments from Culm Head.

In June 1942 the Poles were replaced by Czechoslovakian Squadrons (nos 312 and 313), who flew Spitfires from here until June 1943.  In December 1943 the name of the airfield was changed from RAF Church Stanton to RAF Culm Head, to avoid confusion with other airfields with Church as a prefix e.g. Fenton and Broughton. 

The next occupants were the Naval Fighter Wing (Squadrons no 894 and 897) with Seafire IIIs.  They pursued enemy shipping in the English Channel and provided fighter cover for RAF Typhoon squadrons.

In March 1944 No 156 Squadron were based at Culm Head for a month with Mark IX Spitfires.  They were replaced by 610, 286  and 587 Squadrons with Mark XIV Spitfires.

After D-Day (6th June 1944), in July 1944 126, 131 and 616 Squadrons arrived to act as bomber escorts and to conduct attacks ahead of the arrival of ground troops in parts of France.  616 Squadron were equipped and trained with two Bristol Gloster Meteor fighters.  These were the allies first operational jet-propelled aircraft.

RAF Culm Head was placed under care and maintenance by November 1944.  It became active again in January 1945 when it was used by Flying Training Command when it was used as a satellite to RAF Exeter and Headquarters for No 3 Glider Training School.  They used it until July 1945 when it returned to care and maintenance status.  It was closed down in August 1946.

Map showing the layout of RAF Culm Head

Blister Hangar

This was used for the storage and maintenance of small aircraft

Pillbox with loopholes for rifles and machine guns

Key-hole shaped Gun Pit
This is the best preserved of 8 brick-lined gun pits located around the edges of the airfield. 

Aircraft Fighter Pens

These were designed to house two twin-engined aircraft

Aircraft Fighter Pens

Flight Offices

Liberator Crash Memorial - Porlock Marsh

On 29th October 1942 a US Air Force Liberator plane crashed on Porlock Marsh having clipped the top of Bossington Hill in poor weather conditions: rain and low cloud.  There were 12 crew men on board but was only one survivor: Staff Sergeant H B Thorpe. The Liberator, which was working for RAF Coastal Command,  had taken off at 7.20 am from Holmsley in Hampshire on a routine U-boat patrol mission over the Bay of Biscay.  On its return journey, at about 3.30 pm, it crashed in West Somerset.  The memorial was erected by the British Legion in 1945 and was originally situated on the coast at the back of the shingle ridge but was moved inland in 2006, so that people could access it more easily.  It is now located on the South West Coast Path at grid reference SS 881 476.  

My thanks to Stan for taking the photos below for me.

 Memorial and plaque

 Liberator Memorial on Porlock Marsh

 

 Memorial Plaque listing the names of those who died

Memorial, 2023

RAF Liberator Plane Crash Memorial, Hare Lane, Buckland St Mary

On 22nd November 1945 a Liberator aircraft took off from RAF Merryfield near Ilminster carrying soldiers on their way to India. However it was a foggy day and it failed by a few metres to gain enough height to clear the top of the Blackdown Hills and crashed at Hare Lane near Castle Neroche in Buckland St Mary parish.  All 22 passengers and 5 crew on board were killed.

A memorial stone and plaque by the side of the road marks the spot in Hare Lane where the crash took place (grid reference ST 277 155).  The memorial stone is on the south side of the road under an ash tree, about 400 metres down the hill from Old Castle Farm.  

The memorial plaque reads:

Air Crash
22.11.1945 Liberator KH126
In Memory of the 27 men who perished at this site

Four of the crew, including the pilot, were Polish and on top of the memorial stone, which according to the Somerset Historic Environment Register is a recycled old boundary stone, is a faint carving of what appears to be an eagle.  I could make out what look to be wings but not much else.


Further Reading:

Wings over Somerset: Air Crashes since the end of World War II: Peter Forrester. The History Press, 2012 (The entry for the Hare Lane crash in this book includes the names of all those who died)

Memorial plaque

 

 Memorial plaque and stone

 

 Eagle carving on the top of the memorial stone

 Ash tree behind the memorial

Second World War Balloon Hangar, Pawlett

A huge rusty metal shed a mile to the west of the village of Pawlett at the junction of Gaunts Road with Ham Lane is the most visible reminder of the Royal Aircraft Establishment camp, which was located there in the Second World War.  The shed was a hangar for a barrage balloon and there was a small camp adjacent it to house the people who worked there.  

Pawlett was an outstation of RAE Farnborough.   The site was chosen because it was considered to be at low risk of German air attacks.  The main work carried out at Pawlett was into the testing of German and British barrage balloon cables and methods of cutting them using aircraft. Planes were flown into the cables of the Pawlett balloon from Exeter Airport and later Culmhead Airfield on the top of the Blackdown Hills.  RAE staff working in Exeter were housed in university accommodation and used the physics and chemistry laboratories there.

Barrage balloons were tethered by metal cables and their purpose was to defend strategic locations against attacks by enemy aircraft.  Aircraft were damaged or destroyed when they flew into the cables. The aircraft used in the experiments at Pawlett had various types of strengthened wing edges or cable cutters attached to them. Bomb testing was carried out on Pawlett Hams to the west of the hangar.

The hangar measures 100ft x 70ft x 80ft high and was erected c1940-41.  It was needed so that when balloons were being tested they did not need to be deflated each night. Balloons were filled with a mixture of air and hydrogen made at the gas works in Weston-super-Mare. The experimental work continued until 1944.  Today the balloon hangar stands unloved and rusting away.  You can't get right up to it, so these were the best photographs I could get.

The only other place to have hangars like the one at Pawlett was Sutton Coldfield Maintenance Unit where there were 4 similar hangars.  They have since been demolished.

Grid reference:  ST 284 430

 Balloon Hangar from Gaunts Road

 Front of the hangar

 Front and side of the hangar

Hangar from the opposite side of the River Parrett