{{Short description|Former Royal Air Force station in Somerset, England}} {{Use British English|date=November 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}} {{Infobox military installation | name = RAF Culmhead<br/>RAF Church Stanton | ensign=Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg | ensign_size=90px | native_name = | partof = | location = [[Churchstanton]], [[Somerset]] | country = England | image = Churchstanton, Culmhead control tower - geograph.org.uk - 280595.jpg | caption = The old control tower taken in 2006 | pushpin_map = Somerset#UK | pushpin_label = RAF Culmhead | pushpin_map_caption = Shown within Somerset | coordinates = {{Coord|50|55|46|N|003|07|42|W|region:GB_type:airport|display=inline,title}} | type = [[List of former Royal Air Force stations|Royal Air Force station]] | code = UC{{sfn|Falconer|2012|p=74}} | site_area = | height = | ownership = [[Air Ministry]] | operator = [[Royal Air Force]]<br>[[Royal Navy]] | controlledby = [[RAF Fighter Command]] 1941-44<BR>* [[No. 10 Group RAF]]<BR>[[RAF Flying Training Command]] 1944-<br/>* [[No. 23 Group RAF]]{{sfn|Falconer|2012|p=74}} | open_to_public = | condition = | built = {{Start date|1941}} | builder = | used = August 1941 – August {{End date|1946}} | materials = | fate = | battles = [[European theatre of World War II]] | events = | past_commanders = <!-- past notable commander(s) --> | garrison = | occupants = | elevation = {{Convert|263|m|0}}{{sfn|Falconer|2012|p=74}} | IATA = | ICAO = | FAA = | TC = | LID = | GPS = | WMO = | r1-number = 02/20 | r1-length = {{Convert|1320|m|0}} | r1-surface = Concrete | r2-number = 08/26 | r2-length = {{Convert|1025|m|0}} | r2-surface = Concrete | r3-number = 14/32 | r3-length = {{Convert|1190|m|0}} | r3-surface = Concrete | website = }} '''Royal Air Force Culmhead''' or more simply '''RAF Culmhead''' is a former [[Royal Air Force station]], situated at [[Churchstanton]] on the [[Blackdown Hills National Landscape|Blackdown Hills]] in [[Somerset]], [[England]]. It was originally named '''RAF Church Stanton'''.
It had three tarmac runways that are now in poor condition and the control towers are currently derelict. There is now an industrial estate – derived from the later Composite Signals Organisation Station (CSOS) – right in the middle of the place where the three runways meet.<ref name="South West Airfields Heritage Trust">{{cite web|url=http://www.southwestairfields.co.uk/?page_id=39|title=RAF Culmhead|publisher=South West Airfields Heritage Trust |access-date=22 January 2011}}</ref>
==History==
===Second World War=== [[File:RAF Culmhead - 25 Jun 1942 Airphoto.jpg|thumb|left|Aerial photograph of Churchstanton airfield, looking north, 26 June 1942. Note several fighter aircraft parked on the grassy areas.]] RAF Culmhead was a typical three-runway fighter airfield, with [[blast pen]]s built around the site along with ten [[blister hangar]]s.<ref name="sher"/> It was used by fighters from [[RAF Exeter]] from June but officially opened on 1 August 1941.<ref name="South West Airfields Heritage Trust"/> Ground defence was provided by the [[Somerset Light Infantry]].<ref name="berryman">{{cite book |title=Somerset airfields in the Second World War |last=Berryman |first=David |year=2006 |publisher=Countryside Books |location=Newbury |isbn=1-85306-864-0 |pages=50–86 }}</ref>
Who used the airfield first and why is a mystery, the story is told by David Berryman:
"''The first aircraft to land at the new airfield did so when it was unfinished, arriving early one morning. Its pilot approached Mr Long, a roller driver, who was just getting up steam, but neither could understand one another, and when the pilot sprinted back to his aircraft and took off. Long realised that it was probably a German bomber that had landed in error''". (Berryman 2009, 98)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blackdownhillsaonb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/raf-culmhead-hep-lowres.pdf|title=RAF CULMHEAD, CHURCHSTANTON, SOMERSET|last=Riley|first=Hazel|date=December 2015}}</ref>
The airfield was occupied by [[No. 133 Wing RAF|No. 2 Polish Wing]] of the [[Polish Air Forces in France and Great Britain|Polish Air Force]].<ref name="sher"/> The first squadrons to arrive were [[No. 316 Polish Fighter Squadron|No. 316 (Warsaw)]] and [[No. 302 Polish Fighter Squadron|No. 302 (Poznań)]] equipped with [[Hawker Hurricane|Hawker Hurricane Mk.Is]]. No. 302 soon left to be replaced with [[No. 306 Polish Fighter Squadron|No. 306 (Torun)]] who operated [[Supermarine Spitfire]]s. In the summer of 1942 the polish squadrons were replaced by [[No. 313 Squadron RAF|No. 313]] and [[No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF|No. 312]] Squadrons which were [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak-manned]].<ref name="South West Airfields Heritage Trust"/> The site was also used for the testing of [[barrage balloon]] wire cutters in 1942 by 02 Detachment of the [[Royal Aircraft Establishment]] from [[Farnborough, Hampshire|Farnborough]].<ref name="South West Airfields Heritage Trust"/><ref name="sher"/>
In 1943 the Czech units were replaced with [[No. 66 Squadron RAF|No. 66]] and [[No. 504 Squadron RAF|No. 504 (City of Nottingham)]] Squadrons.<ref name="South West Airfields Heritage Trust"/>
RAF Culmhead was initially known as RAF Church Stanton, but it was renamed on 22 December 1943 to avoid confusion with [[RAF Church Fenton]]. It was then used by [[No. 165 Squadron RAF|No. 165]] and [[No. 131 Squadron RAF|No. 131 (County of Kent)]] Squadrons. In 1944 the [[Royal Navy]]'s 24th Naval Fighter Wing took over with [[894 Naval Air Squadron|894]] and [[887 Naval Air Squadron]]s using Culmhead as a location for their [[Supermarine Seafire]]s, which were a naval version of the [[Supermarine Spitfire]] specially adapted for operation from [[aircraft carrier]]s.<ref name="South West Airfields Heritage Trust"/>
After [[D-Day]] in 1944, the airfield was used for training on [[Gloster Meteor]]s, the first jet engined aircraft in RAF service.<ref name="sher">{{cite web|url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/44340|title=Culmhead airfield, Trickey Warren|work=Somerset Historic Environment Record|publisher=Somerset County Council|access-date=25 July 2009}}</ref> [[No. 616 Squadron RAF]] tested them Culmhead before deploying them for their first operational sortie on 27 July from [[RAF Manston]] when it intercepted [[V-1 (flying bomb)|V-1]] [[flying bomb]]s launched against southern England.<ref name="berryman"/>
In the autumn of 1944 the surviving squadrons were transferred to other sites and the station wound down, becoming a glider training school and maintenance unit until RAF Culmhead closed in August 1946.<ref name="berryman"/>
The following units were also here at some point:<ref name="ABCT">{{cite web|url=https://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/culmhead-churchstanton/ |title=Culmhead (Churchstanton) |publisher=[[Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust]]|access-date=11 April 2022}}</ref> {{columns-list|colwidth=25em| * [[No. 3 Glider Training School RAF]] (September 1944 - July 1945){{sfn|Sturtivant|Hamlin|Halley|1997|p=162}} * [[No. 67 Maintenance Unit RAF]] (September 1945 - April 1946){{sfn|Sturtivant|Hamlin|Halley|1997|p=208}} * [[No. 126 Squadron RAF]] (1944){{sfn|Jefford|1988|p=58}} * [[No. 154 Squadron RAF]] (1942){{sfn|Jefford|1988|p=63}} * [[No. 234 Squadron RAF]] (1943){{sfn|Jefford|1988|p=75}} * [[No. 286 Squadron RAF]] (1944){{sfn|Jefford|1988|p=83}} * [[No. 587 Squadron RAF]] (1944){{sfn|Jefford|1988|p=97}} * [[No. 610 Squadron RAF]] (1944){{sfn|Jefford|1988|p=99}} * [[790 Naval Air Squadron]] * [[No. 2790 Squadron RAF Regiment]] * [[No. 2791 Squadron RAF Regiment]] * [[List of Royal Air Force Glider units#Other Glider units|Glider Instructors Flight RAF]] (January 1945){{sfn|Sturtivant|Hamlin|Halley|1997|p=162}} * Research Department Flight (March 1942 - March 1944){{sfn|Sturtivant|Hamlin|Halley|1997|p=262}} }} ===Postwar use=== [[File:Churchstanton, on Culmhead airfield - geograph.org.uk - 280591.jpg|thumb|right|Industrial estate, built on the site of the signals unit. Taken in 2006]] From the 1950s, the site was partially reused as Composite Signals Organisation Station (CSOS) Culmhead, performing signals research functions, operated under the aegis of [[Government Communications Headquarters]] (GCHQ), with a cluster of buildings covering some 4.4 hectares being constructed approximately in the centre of the former airfield.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jCbW82ABTkC&q=GCHQ+Stations&pg=PA8|title=How Cheltenham entered America's backyard|publisher=New Scientist|date=5 April 1984|access-date=12 December 2014}}</ref> It was closed in this role in 1999.<ref name="berryman"/>
Several of the [[control tower]]s and fighter pens have been designated as [[Scheduled Ancient Monument]]s and are included in the [[Heritage at Risk Register]] produced by [[English Heritage]].<ref>{{cite web|title=South West England|url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/HAR_Register_South_West_2009/southwest-2009-har-register.pdf|work=Heritage at Risk|publisher=English Heritage|access-date=30 June 2010|page=190}}</ref>
==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist}}
===Bibliography=== *{{cite book |last1=Falconer|first1=J.|title=RAF Airfields of World War 2 |year=2012 |publisher= Ian Allan Publishing|location= UK|isbn=978-1-85780-349-5}} *{{cite book |last1=Jefford |first1= C.G. |title= RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912 |year=1988 |publisher= Airlife |location= [[Shrewsbury]] |isbn= 1-85310-053-6 }} *{{cite book |last1=Sturtivant|first1=R.|last2=Hamlin|first2=J.|last3=Halley|first3=J.|title=Royal Air Force flying training and support units |year=1997 |publisher= Air-Britain (Historians)|location= UK|isbn=0-85130-252-1}}
==External links== {{commons category|RAF Culmhead}} * South West Airfields Heritage Trust: [http://www.southwestairfields.co.uk/?page_id=39 RAF Culmhead]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culmhead}} [[Category:Royal Air Force stations in Somerset|Culmhead]] [[Category:Scheduled monuments in Taunton Dene]] [[Category:Structures on the Heritage at Risk register in Somerset]] [[Category:GCHQ buildings and structures]] [[Category:1941 establishments in England]] [[Category:Military airbases established in 1941]] [[Category:Military airbases closed in 1946]]