WHEREAS the revisiting of 'Brideshead' was a creation of that great novelist, Evelyn Waugh, Stephen Fryer's revisiting of RAF Harrowbear is today totally factual.

Not, mind you, that he can actually tour the hangers, accommodation and runways which made up this wartime base set in the foothills of Dartmoor; but he —and we — can stand upon which this important second world war airfield lay, up at Yelverton beside the bury A386 Tavistock to Plymouth main road.

Indeed, many of an older generation will remember it in use from its completion in August 1941 — the runways, ironically, built upon rubber hauled out from Plymouth following the brutal blitz of the old city during the early months of that year.

It closed in July 1945, just a couple of months after the end of the war in Europe, although some buildings and the runways remained for many years.

Indeed, during the fifties and sixties, larger numbers of local folk learned to drive on those wide, empty — albeit increasingly pot holed — sweeps of Tarmacadam.

The Original History of RAF Harrowbeer was penned by the late Dennis C Teague (1828-1998), a military and railway historian and writer, published in the 1980s.

Stephen Fryer, deftly and clearly with respect for, and understanding of, the significant role played by the airmen of many nations at Harrowbeer during those desperate war years, has updated Mr Teague's well crafted original publication, and done so on behalf The Harrowbarrow Interest Group.

They are determined to keep alive the memory of this airfield in constant use by the personnel of the allies during those dangerous times.

Those who had read the original will find that the essential structures of that publication remain intact, this revisited edition contains a number of more recently located photographs.

The text, also, has had some revision, Mr Fryer utilising information which has become available in recent years.

This is a production which succeeds on different fronts; it will be an essential addition to the library of the serious military historian, while to those who have an interest in the war years, or, indeed, who just enjoy reading a well written, immaculately produced, most informative book, its acquisition is to be recommended.

'A History of R.A.F Harrowbeer — revisited;' Revised and updated by Steven Fryer and based on an original work by Dennis C Teague is available priced £4.95 (ISBN 978-0-9529922-1-9).