When the threat of war was looming large in 1938 the Air Ministry decided it needed an airfield in the strategically important Cornish peninsula to allow anti-shipping and anti-submarine patrols to be mounted in the South-Western Approaches. A number of sites were surveyed and the plateau close to the north coast in the parish of St Eval was chosen. Opposition to the plans for a new airfield proved ineffective, such was the need for an airfield in Cornwall, though the local strength of feeling probably saved the Norman parish church from destruction. However, several farms and cottages along with the local pub, the Spry Arms, were demolished as building began in 1938. By the outbreak of war the hedges had been removed and the foundations of the hangars laid. RAF St Eval officially opened on 2nd October 1939 when 217 Squadron flying Ansons moved onto what was a grass airfield to start life as a Coastal Command Station.
On their arrival 217 Squadron were parked alongside the public road on the eastern side of the airfield leading to St Eval Church. Arthur Brook, a newly arrived ground engineer recalled, “On the first Sunday after our arrival half Cornwall turned up in all kinds of vehicles and parked alongside that road to view the ‘goings on’. We were given one Colt 45 and 3 bullets in a matchbox between the lot of us and ordered to guard the aircraft.” Fortunately the curious natives were friendly.
St Eval’s first casualty occurred on January 31st 1940 when Corporal Ernest Albert Ferris, aged 29, walked into an Anson propeller after starting up the engine. He is buried in Highland Road Cemetery, Portsmouth. That Anson was lost on 6th February crashing into the sea while on convoy escort duty killing 3 of the crew, only the wireless operator being picked up by one of the convoy’s ships.
The construction of the runways began in the spring of 1940, two of 914m and one of 1097m, and flying continued around the construction.
With the fall of France 234 Squadron arrived with their Spitfires and control of St Eval passed to Fighter Command as the airfield became a Sector Station with the opening of a Sector Operations Room. 234 Squadron defended an area from the Isles of Scilly to Portland during the Battle of Britain seeing many actions and destroying numerous raiders gaining their first ‘kill’ on 8th July 1940.
On the 6th July a flight of Martin Maryland light bombers flown from French airfields in North Africa landed and announced they wanted to join de Gaulle’s Free French. They weren’t the only arrivals. In June two aircraft had landed, both filled to capacity with airmen, ground crews and their families, having flown from France to escape the Germans.
The importance of St Eval was noticed by the Luftwaffe and a series of raids began with a hangar being destroyed on 21st August in a low level raid by two Junkers 88s. St Eval’s decoy site proved effective on the night of 26/27th August being attacked for several hours.
The first award at the station went to Flying Officer G.H. Russell in September 1940 for shooting down a Dornier 18. On 3rd October an early morning raid saw two low flying raiders score direct hits on the NAAFI, a petrol bowser and an Anson. There were a number of serious casualties but AA gunners hit one of the attackers which crashed into the sea near Mawgan Porth. The NAAFI ladies were all in bed and many were trapped beneath bricks and rubble. Several ground crew on their way to dispersal rushed to help. A number of the women were rescued with minor injuries. The manageress was trapped by her arm and when released was found to be seriously hurt. She was carried in a blanket to the sick bay. The cook was trapped in a corner saved by a beam that fell half across her and half across the wall. Jack Higgins, AC2 (airframe), one of the rescuers, recalled, “She was quite calm and told us to look after the others as she was not badly hurt and this we did. After a while the beam began to slip and a large piece of concrete moved down threatening to crush her legs. My pal and I quickly moved it out the way and then the beams and we got her out unhurt, apart from bruises.” When Jack and several colleagues returned to the scene later in the day no one would believe the two of them had managed to shift the large lump of concrete, but they had – testimony to the strength of the moment – nothing is impossible!
In the raid of 9th October 1940 a Dornier was downed at Newquay with no casualties on the base. During the night of 29/30th November 234 Squadron downed four aircraft.
During the autumn and winter of 1940 there were almost nightly attacks on top of numerous daylight raids. By January 1941 the Luftwaffe were using small numbers of aircraft to get through the defences that had sprung up all across Cornwall. The raids varied in the damage and casualties caused, but airmen were moved off the base and local hotels and guest houses were requisitioned such as the Watergate Bay Hotel which became an officer’s mess, the Trelawn at Porth and Trewan Hall near St Columb. A guest house in Porth housed the WAAFs while their officers took over the White House at Tregurrian. A Hawkey’s coach from Newquay took the airmen to and from the airfield each day.
Station Command reverted to Coastal Command on 5th February 1941 with the newly built RAF Portreath, opened in March, becoming the Sector Fighter Command station in May 1941. See my eBook RAF Portreath War Diary for a detailed history of that Cornish airfield.
In May 1941 two heavy raids saw 3 Blenheims destroyed and damage to over a dozen other aircraft. The officers’ and sergeants’ mess were virtually destroyed and two hangars so badly damaged that canvas Bessoneaux units were set up inside the shells. The doors at each end soon fell prey to the winds coming in off the North Atlantic so the ground crews working in them referred to them as the wind tunnels.
St Eval was a thorn in the Germans’ side with successful raids against the Gneisenau in Brest harbour, in which Flying Officer K. Campbell was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, and against U-boats and shipping in the Bay of Biscay.
Runway 26 was extended in spring 1942 and runway 20 in late 1943. The base was very busy prior to and during Operation Torch, the landings in North Africa in November 1942, and again in the run up to D-Day in June 1944, a month that saw 14 U-boats attacked and 3 sunk, including two in the space of 22 minutes by a Liberator captained by Flying Officer Kenneth Owen Kayo Moore, RCAF. He was awarded the D.S.O. As well as Canadian airmen, Polish, Czech and American units were also based at St Eval for periods during the war. Although the war ended in 1945 St Eval continued in service until its closure on 6 March 1959. The main part of the site is a high frequency transmitter station forming part of the Defence High Frequency Communications Service. Its receiver station is above the old Penhale Sands camp.
My YouTube video RAF St Eval in 1944 gives a glimpse of life on the base for the Liberators in 1944.
To conclude, as we come to this time of remembrance in November, let me tell you of an air raid on St Eval on Saturday 25th January 1941 that shows the high price those serving in the RAF and on its bases had to pay in the struggle for our freedom and the peace we enjoy today.
At about 2000 hours St Eval came under a surprise attack from a small Luftwaffe force, believed to be Heinkel 111 aircraft. About 100 incendiary bombs, 5 high explosive bombs (probably 250kg) and two parachute mines were dropped. As the incendiary bombs lit up the airfield visible from miles around, one of the parachute mines scored a direct hit on the entrance to an air raid shelter alongside the Watch Tower. During the attack several 247 Squadron Night Fighter Hurricanes were damaged and an Anson was also damaged beyond repair. A UXB on the perimeter track near the end of runway 26 was given a wide berth until made safe by the Bomb Disposal Squad.
As rescuers turned their attention to the air raid shelter they were only able to extricate a single survivor who was taken to the Bodmin Emergency Hospital housed in the Kendall Building of St Lawrence’s Hospital severely injured. He died the next day.
Behind white awnings erected around the bombed shelter, a team of civilians and medical staff led by the Station Medical Officer began their gruesome task of retrieving the bodies on Monday 27th. Two officers and 19 airmen were killed in the blast and along with the airman who died in hospital made a total of 22 casualties, 13 of whom are buried in St Eval Churchyard.
In this time of remembrance we remember:
Thomas Wilson ALLAN, Aircraftman 2nd Class, age 20, from 234 Squadron. He is buried in Riddrie Park Cemetery in Glasgow.
Herbert BROUGH, Aircraftman 2nd Class, from 217 Squadron. He was the husband of Mary Annie Brough (known as Nancy) of Meir, Stoke on Trent, and the son of John & Mary Brough of Stoke on Trent. He is buried in the Hartshill Cemetery in Stoke.
William Edward BROWNING, Aircraftman 1st Class, age 19, from 234 Squadron. He was the son of Edward William Alwyne Browning & Addine May Browning of Collingham Bridge, Yorkshire. He is buried in St Eval Churchyard.
Richard Pilbeam COLMAN, Aircraftman 2nd Class, age 19, from 217 Squadron. He is buried in St Eval Churchyard.
Alexander DOIG, Aircraftman 2nd Class, age 30, from RAF St Eval HQ. He was the husband of Preston Doig of Pittenweem in Fife and the son of Alexander & Margaret Doig of Anstruther. He is buried in Anstruther New Cemetery in Fife.
George Edward HAND, Aircraftman 2nd Class, age 25, from 220 Squadron. He was the son of George Edward & Lily Hand of Wrenbury in Cheshire. He is buried in St Eval Churchyard.
George Wellan Smith HAWKINS, Aircraftman 1st Class, from RAF St Eval HQ. He was the son of Albert Edward & Hilda Elizabeth Hawkins of Bedminster, Bristol. He is buried in St Eval Churchyard. His headstone reveals he was also a brother and declares ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’.
Kenneth HAMPSON, Aircraftman 1st Class, from RAF St Eval HQ. He is buried in Oswestry General Cemetery.
Harold Leslie JOLLY, Aircraftman 1st Class, age 21, from 220 Squadron. He had arrived with as Detachment from the Squadron at St Eval in November 1940. Harold was the one pulled alive but seriously injured from the rubble of the shelter but died of his wounds in hospital on 26th January. He was the son of John William & Lilly Jolly of Penwortham near Preston in Lancashire. He is buried in St Eval Churchyard. His headstone declares, “In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised. Titus 1 v2,” revealing that he was a Bible-believing Christian.
Ralph KIRK, Aircraftman 2nd Class, age 27, from 236 Squadron. He was the father of Eileen Mary Kirk, husband of Eileen Kirk of Nottingham and son of Ralph & Mary-Ann Kirk. He is buried in Carlton Cemetery in Nottingham.
Edgar Frank MARTIN, Aircraftman 2nd Class, age 25, from 217 Squadron. He is buried in St Eval Churchyard.
William Alexander McKAY, Aircraftman 2nd Class, age 25, from 236 Squadron. He was the son of William & Mary (McLaren) McKay of Bridgeton, Glasgow. He is buried in Tollcross (Central) Churchyard.
Sidney MILLER, Aircraftman 2nd Class, age 20, from RAF St Eval HQ. He was the son of Herbert Louis & Sarah Elizabeth (Betchetti) Miller of Knottingley. He is buried in Knottingley Cemetery.
Cecil Wheadon NOEL, Pilot Officer, from RAF St Eval HQ. He is buried in St Eval Churchyard.
Edward O’DWYER, Leading Aircraftman, age 21, from 236 Squadron. He was the son of Ambrose & Nora O’Dwyer from Newcastle-under-Lyme. He is buried in Newcastle-under-Lyme Cemetery.
William Derrick OLDROYD, Leading Aircraftman, from RAF St Eval HQ. He is buried in St Eval Churchyard.
Frederick George PENBERTHY, Aircraftman 2nd Class, age 20, from 217 Squadron. He is buried at Ford Park Cemetery in Plymouth.
Philip Lobbett STEPHENS, Pilot Officer, from RAF St Eval HQ. He is buried in St Eval Churchyard.
Lionel WILLSHAW, Aircraftman 2nd Class, age 19, from RAF St Eval HQ. He was the son of Lionel & Emmie Willshaw of Stockingford, Warwickshire. He is buried in St Eval Churchyard.
Gordon Francis WOODBINE, Aircraftman 2nd Class, from RAF St Eval HQ. He is buried in St Eval Churchyard.
Harold John WOTTON, Sergeant, age 20, from 234 Squadron. He was the son of John & Daisy Mabel Wotton of Caversham near Reading.
Marvin Arthur George YOST, Aircraftsman 1st Class, age 19, from 217 Squadron. He was the son of Arthur Phillip & Ellen Yost of Stroud. He is buried in Stroud Hill Cemetery, Stroud.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them.
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