RAF Bolt Head

RAF Bolt Head was a wartime fighter airfield perched on the cliffs of the south Devon coast, roughly a mile south-west of Salcombe and sometimes known as East Soar. Laid out in 1941, it served principally as a satellite of RAF Exeter within Fighter Command, falling under No. 10 Group and at times No. 11 Group. Its exposed clifftop runways were surfaced with Sommerfeld Track, the perforated steel matting commonly used for hastily built forward stations.

The airfield’s chief value lay in its position close to the English Channel, from which fighters could intercept enemy aircraft and escort or harry shipping. A long list of squadrons used Bolt Head, mostly on detachment, flying Spitfires, Hurricanes, Typhoons, Whirlwinds and Lysanders; among them were Nos. 16, 41, 234, 263, 266, 275, 276, 310 (Czechoslovak) and 611 Squadrons. Alongside fighter sorties, the station supported air-sea rescue and communications work, and the nearby Hope Cove radar installation directed interceptions over the Channel.

Front-line flying ceased as the war ended and the site was largely cleared, its buildings demolished and a memorial later raised to those who served. The associated Cold War bunker at Hope Cove survived for decades, while the open ground reverted to farmland and occasional light-aircraft use.