How Exeter airport helped win Battle of Britain

For passengers flying today from Exeter Airport, it is difficult to visualise the key role it played as an RAF base from 1939 to 1945. As well as operating squadrons of Hurricane fighter planes during the Battle of Britain, it was also the base for the famous Polish and Czech squadrons which fought alongside the RAF.
The story of RAF Exeter was told graphically by Chris Wiseman, from Pinhoe, at the regular meeting of the Babbacombe and St. Marychurch Probus Club. An experienced pilot himself, he described how the airport was one of the country’s first municipal airports when it was opened in 1938 by Sir Kingsley Wood, the Secretary of State for Air, only to be taken over as RAF Exeter a year later.
New buildings were added including hangars, pilots were housed in nearby manor houses and hotels and there were tents for other support workers. It was a 'Class-1' RAF airport and other aircraft using the facility for operations included Spitfires, Mosquitos and Beauforts as well as the Swordfish planes of the Royal Navy Air Service. Combat operations were flown from Exeter throughout the war until 1944, and graphic photograph illustrated how they were then replaced by over 70 C47 Dakotas of the US troop carrying wing as they prepared for D-Day.
Chris Wiseman’s talk also described how in 1942, Exeter city was a target for 19 German bombing raids, including one in May 1942 by some 40 bombers which left 265 dead and many other casualties among the destruction.
At its previous meeting the Babbacombe and St. Marychurch Probus Club enjoyed a talk on The Solar System' by Phil Evans, from Paignton. He is a well-known local speaker and a retired civil engineer and as he demonstrated, together with his excellent illustrations, he is deeply interested in the subject of the galaxy.
His talk described the origins and features of the major planets in our universe, as well as the even more distant sources of asteroids and comets. Most of the information about the planets had been discovered during the 12-years mission of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft, which began in 1987.
Phil then went on to describe briefly the current worldwide activity in human spaceflight, including the involvement of private sector entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. He also referred to the plan to create a base on the moon from which to launch future exploration of the planets – 'which will be many years in the future', he added.
Probus is a club for retired professional and business men and prospective new members are always welcome as guests; and the chairman was pleased to welcome three guests for this first meeting of the new season.
The club meets at 10am each Thursday at St. Matthias Church in Babbacombe Road, Wellswood.