THE Royal Air Force flag flew once more on the site of RAF Harrowbeer at Yelverton over the weekend of April 22/23. It was the nostalgic scene of a meeting of the Spitfire Society, South West Region, which included various items of Spitfire memorabilia on display and for sale at Knightstone Tearooms. RAF Harrowbeer was home to many Spitfire squadrons during the second world war, between August 15 1941 and July 31 1945. Their prime duties were to patrol the English Channel on convoy duty, escort patrol to bombers on operations over France, and carry out search and rescue duties for ditched pilots in the Channel. The double garage at Knightstone was transformed into a shop and museum of airfield artefacts, pictures and documents, including a diorama of the airfield as it was in 1942/43. Also on show were Spitfire parts which were part of a project being undertaken by two enthusiasts to reconstruct a model of a full-size Spitfire. Several military vehicles paid a visit on the Sunday morning and in the afternoon the society held its annual meeting. A continual stream of visitors on both days was augmented on the Sunday by members of the Plympton and District Civic Society, who were on an airfield walk organised by the Harrowbeer Interest Group. Anyone interested in the society can contact Mr D G Dorey on 01395 514213 for more information. It is planned to repeat the exhibition, with additional items, over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Michael or Lucy Hayes can be contacted on 01822 853679 for further details of this.
