A CROWDFUNDING campaign launched to buy a Second World War RAF control tower near Winkleigh and turn it into a museum has just a few days left to hit its target.

The Save Winkleigh Tower campaign is attempting to raise £38,000 to buy RAF Winkleigh’s control tower and turn it into a living history museum to honour the men and women who were stationed there during the Second World War. Next Tuesday (September 22) the tower goes under the hammer at auction.

RAF Winkleigh was built in 1941 and operated night missions until the end of the war in 1945. It was home to an incredible array of international squadrons and their support units.

Gina Kennedy has spearheaded the campaign to restore the tower. For the last two years Gina has worked at Exeter’s Underground Passages, a scheduled ancient monument, and has a good understanding of the complications such sites can present. She was moved to start the campaign after seeing the tower’s auction listing and researching the history of the tower and airfield.

She said: ‘Legal reasons aside, Winkleigh Control Tower is an important piece of Devon’s heritage and deserves more than to crumble into oblivion.

‘It has a fascinating history from the SOE missions that were so secret that the airfield’s very existence was denied, to the important research into radar technologies that was carried out on the airfield. Even Joe Kennedy Jr visited the airfield. These all combine into a compelling argument to save Winkleigh’s control tower.

‘A living history museum on this site would definitely bring tourists into the area. Living history museums not only attract local interest but also national and international visitors. For over a decade I have been involved with living history museums and they are a great way to preserve buildings and generate tourism.

In its heyday the tower would have been a hive of activity. Situated on the ground floor were the meteorological office, duty pilot’s rest room, watch office and the switch room. On the first floor were the signals office, the controller’s rest room and the control room.

A concrete observer’s balcony is located on the first floor and runs the full length of the front of the control tower, overlooking the airfield runways to the west.

The tower is a Historic England listed monument. Such towers are considered to be of particular importance where they have an obvious and visual relationship with the flying field and other contemporary structures and buildings.

Their listing states: ‘The control tower at Winkleigh still stands to its full height close to a modern road. It is highly visible and serves as a graphic reminder of major conflicts in the mid-20th century. In addition it stands in close proximity to the memorial to those who served at RAF Winkleigh.’

The airfield was decommissioned and sold in 1958 and since then the airfield has been broken up into several different properties and buildings which are left have been modified over the years for modern use. Many have been dismantled, demolished or left to rot.

Gina said: ‘Since 1990 the control tower has been allowed to deteriorate further and further. A succession of owners have done nothing to preserve this historic monument. Because of the unique restrictions imposed on scheduled monuments in general and on Winkleigh Airfield in particular, I consider it highly unlikely that another purchaser of the control tower will do anything to halt the decay of this evocative piece of international history. Unless we intervene soon, this vivid reminder of WWII will crumble into oblivion.’

Should the campaign hit its £38,000 target they wish to run the museum as a community interest company, using the 9.5 acres the tower sits in to generate the necessary income to restore the tower and operate it as a museum. The land would host a variety of events from local car boot sales to re-enactment and vintage events. The income generated by these events would be used by the community interest company to preserve and maintain the tower.

In addition they have pledged to donate at least 50% of any additional money raised to the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal.

For more information or to get involved e-mail savewinkleightower@ gmail.com, follow @savewinkleightower on Twitter or visit the ‘Save Winkleigh Tower’ Facebook page.