The Devon and Cornwall Group are one of the most active in your Club. Here they are out enjoying good company in the Spring sunshine and visiting yet another interesting attraction. If you own a Standard, on the road or not, in Devon or Corwall, the group would be delighted to hear from you and to meet you at one of their events. Click here for contact details.

CORNWALL AT WAR MUSEUM VISIT- SUNDAY 18 APRIL 2010

The last time I went to the Cornwall At War Museum was at the end of last summer with our local Austin Seven Club and, boy, the weather was bad, misty, foggy, rainy, we had the lot. This time it was different, it had to be; this was for the Standard Motor Club after all. Wall to wall sunshine was the order of the day.

After the initial round of greetings, we were ushered into the Museum cinema by Steve Perry, the co-owner of the Museum and our guide for the day. In the cinema we were given an introductory talk and film of the history of the airfield along with the restoration needed before the museum could open.

The museum itself consists of the original guardroom, squash courts, changing rooms and mess quarters and inside each were displays of armed forces documents, uniforms and much memorabilia from the days of the Royal Naval Air Service up to the Falklands War and conflicts since.

Being still the highest airfield in the UK at over 900 feet above sea level, we were surprised to know that it was still used for light aircraft on the two remaining runways but not while we were there.

There were blast shelters, air raid shelters, a shed to test gas masks, sheds for gunnery practice and bomb aiming. The most evocative was surely the control tower, still standing at the airfield’s highest point but minus floor covering and any glazing. To stand there, and look out over all that tarmac you could imagine quite easily all those bombers, taking off and landing during the war.

As a Cornishman, I already knew that most of our wartime airfields were near the coast but learnt from Steve that they suffered badly from sea fog rolling in and making it difficult for plane movements. Davidstow was further inland and at such a height that sea fog did not affect it. But hill fog DID ! Because of this Operation FIDO was thought out. Trenches were dug parallel to the runways and when filled with umpteen gallons of petrol and lit, the resulting heat burned the fog off enabling planes to land. FASCINATING.

This was, we were told , one airfield that the Germans never bombed, it was blended into the surrounding countryside so well through effective camouflaging. Its remote location helped too.

I would love to see another WW2 airfield with so much of its infrastructure so intact. The frustrating part is that apart from the Museum land itself which is privately owned, the rest of the airfield is on common land and the buildings and earthworks remaining on it cannot be touched or restored so they, in the fullness of time, will disappear.

After the successful tour, we returned to the airfield for the customary tea and saffron cake in the NAAFI and had a final look around the exhibits, before striking out for home. A great day out, I think

Story by Brian and Dorothy Murrish

Photos by Peter Hallam