RAF Harrowbeer

Royal Air Force Harrowbeer or more simply RAF Harrowbeer is a former Royal Air Force station situated next to Yelverton in the parish of Buckland Monachorum, Devon, England RAF Harrowbeer was located approximately 9 miles (14 km) NNE of the city of Plymouth and approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Tavistock, and also sits within the boundary of Dartmoor National Park.

The Rock seems to have had little impact on the use of the Airfield, the only thing that was done by the RAF was the placing of a warning light on the top.

[2] Although sited near the village of Yelverton, it was called 'Harrowbeer' in order to distinguish it from the similar-sounding RNAS Yeovilton which had recently changed its name from HMS Heron when the Airfield opened on 15 August 1941.

[3] Canadian pilot Jack Brown, of 193 Squadron, recounts his first training flight in the relatively new, and daunting, Hawker Typhoon fighter-bomber at Harrowbeer: "We were understandably in awe of the Tiffie's size and power.

The runways at Harrowbeer were not exceptionally long and I could see a pile of bricks at the end coming up fast.

Once 193 Squadron became operational at Harrowbeer, they began patrolling the coast to intercept low level attacks by Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter-bombers.

We did standby duty, waiting at the end of the runway, ready to take off as soon as a Very pistol was fired from the control tower."

[4]Harrowbeer saw its most distinguished visitor arrive on 2 August 1945, when US President Harry Truman, returning home from the Potsdam Conference, was unable to route via St Mawgan in Cornwall due to it being closed due to fog, and his aircraft landed instead at Harrowbeer.