RAF Culmhead
Encyclopedia
RAF Culmhead is an ex-Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 airbase, situated at Churchstanton
Churchstanton
Churchstanton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated within the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the River Otter south of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district.The parish has a population of 760...

 on the Blackdown Hills
Blackdown Hills
The Blackdown Hills are a range of hills along the Somerset-Devon border in south-western England, which were designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1991....

 in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England.

It had 3 tarmac runways that are now in poor condition and the control towers are currently derelict. There is now an industrial estate - derived from the later Composite Signals Organisation Station (CSOS) - right in the middle of the place where the 3 runways meet.

World War II

RAF Culmhead was a typical three-runway fighter airfield, with blast pen
Blast pen
A blast pen was a specially constructed E-shaped double bay at British RAF World War 2 fighter stations, being either or wide and front-to-back, accommodating aircraft for safe-keeping against bomb blasts and splinters during enemy air-attacks....

s built around the site along with ten blister hangar
Blister hangar
A blister hangar is an arched, portable aircraft hangar patented by Miskins and Sons in 1939. It is made of wooden or steel ribs that are generally covered in steel sheets. It does not require a foundation and can be anchored with iron stakes.-References:*...

s. It was used by fighters from RAF Exeter from June but officially opened on 1st August 1941. Ground defence was provided by the Somerset Light Infantry.

The base was occupied by No. 2 Polish Wing of the Polish Air Force
Polish Air Forces in France and Great Britain
The Polish Air Forces was a name of Polish Air Forces formed in France and the United Kingdom during World War II. The core of the Polish air units fighting alongside the allies were experienced veterans of Invasion of Poland of 1939 and they contributed to Allied victory in the Battle of Britain...

. The first squadrons to arrive were No. 316 (Warsaw)
No. 316 Polish Fighter Squadron
No. 316 "City of Warsaw" Polish Fighter Squadron was a Polish fighter squadron formed in Great Britain as part of an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and the United Kingdom in 1941...

 and No. 302 (Pozan)
No. 302 Polish Fighter Squadron
No. 302 Polish Fighter Squadron RAF was a Polish fighter squadron formed in Great Britain as part of an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and the United Kingdom in 1940...

 equipped with Hawker Hurricane Mk.Is
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...

. No. 302 soon left to be replaced with No. 306 (Torun)
No. 306 Polish Fighter Squadron
No. 306 Polish Fighter Squadron was a Polish fighter squadron formed in Great Britain as part of an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and the United Kingdom in 1940...

 who operated Spitfires. In the summer of 1942 the polish squadrons were replaced by No. 313
No. 313 Squadron RAF
No. 313 Squadron RAF was a Czechoslovakian-manned fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.It was first formed at Catterick on 10 May 1941, equipped with Spitfire I fighters and crewed mostly by escaped Czechslovakian pilots...

 and No. 312 Squadrons which were Czechoslovakian-manned
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

. The site was also used for the testing of barrage balloon
Barrage balloon
A barrage balloon is a large balloon tethered with metal cables, used to defend against low-level aircraft attack by damaging the aircraft on collision with the cables, or at least making the attacker's approach more difficult. Some versions carried small explosive charges that would be pulled up...

 wire cutters in 1942 by 02 Detachment of the Royal Aircraft Establishment
Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment , was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence , before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.The first site was at Farnborough...

 from Farnborough
Farnborough, Hampshire
-History:Name changes: Ferneberga ; Farnburghe, Farenberg ; Farnborowe, Fremborough, Fameborough .Tower Hill, Cove: There is substantial evidence...

.

In 1943 the Czech units were replaced with No. 66
No. 66 Squadron RAF
No. 66 Squadron was a Royal Flying Corps and eventually Royal Air Force aircraft squadron.-In World War I:It was first formed at Filton on 30 June 1916 as a Training Squadron equipped with BE2c,d & e, BE12 and Avroe 504A machines. The squadron received its first Sopwith Pup on 3 February 1917,...

 and No. 504 (City of Nottingham)
No. 504 Squadron RAF
No. 504 Squadron was one of the Special Reserve Squadrons of the Auxiliary Air Force. It was integrated into the AAF proper in 1936. Based at RAF Cottesmore, Rutland, 504 Squadron used a variety of light bombers before being re-tasked to fighters with the Hawker Hurricane in 1939. It subsequently...

 Squadrons. RAF Culmhead was initially known as RAF Church Stanton, but it was renamed on 22nd December 1943 to avoid confusion with RAF Church Fenton
RAF Church Fenton
RAF Church Fenton is a Royal Air Force airfield at Church Fenton in North Yorkshire, England.- History :Plans for a new airfield adjacent to the village of Church Fenton were announced in June 1935, it was subject to protest from the local population particularly concerning the waste of valuable...

. It was then used by No. 615
No. 615 Squadron RAF
No. 615 Squadron was a unit of the British Auxiliary Air Force and later the Royal Auxiliary Air Force between 1937 and 1957.-Formation and early years:...

 and no. 131 (County of Kent)
No. 131 Squadron RAF
No. 131 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron formed to be a night bomber unit in World War I and reformed as a fighter unit in World War II.-Formation and World War I:No...

 Squadrons. In 1944 the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

's 24th Naval Fighter Wing took over with 894 and 897 Naval Air Squadrons using Culmhead as a base for their Supermarine Seafire
Supermarine Seafire
The Supermarine Seafire was a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire specially adapted for operation from aircraft carriers. The name Seafire was arrived at by collapsing the longer name Sea Spitfire.-Origins of the Seafire:...

s, which were a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...

 specially adapted for operation from aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

s.

After D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...

 in 1944, the airfield was used for training on Gloster Meteor
Gloster Meteor
The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' first operational jet. It first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with 616 Squadron of the Royal Air Force...

s, the first jet engined aircraft in RAF service. 616 Squadron RAF tested them Culmhead before deploying them for their first operational sortie on 27 July from RAF Manston
RAF Manston
RAF Manston was an RAF station in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site is now split between a commercial airport Kent International Airport and a continuing military use by the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre , following on from a long...

 when it intercepted V-1 flying bomb
Flying bomb
A flying bomb is a manned or unmanned aerial vehicle or aircraft carrying a large explosive warhead, a precursor to contemporary cruise missiles...

s launched against southern England.

In the autumn of 1944 the surviving squadrons were transferred to other sites and the station wound down, becoming a glider training school and maintenance unit until RAF Culmhead closed in August 1946.

Post-war Use

From the 1950s, the site was partially re-used as Composite Signals Organisation Station (CSOS) Culmhead, performing signals research functions, operated under the aegis of Government Communications Headquarters
Government Communications Headquarters
The Government Communications Headquarters is a British intelligence agency responsible for providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the UK government and armed forces...

 (GCHQ), with a cluster of buildings covering some 4.4 hectares being constructed approximately in the centre of the former airfield. It was closed in this role in 1999.

Several of the control towers and fighter pens have been designated as Scheduled Ancient Monument
Scheduled Ancient Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change. The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term...

s and are included in the Buildings at Risk Register produced by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

.
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