RAF Culmhead

Culmhead in Somerset opened in 1941. Initially it was named after the nearby village of Church Staunton but to avoid confusion with Church Fenton was renamed. At the point of opening there was a very limited RAF presence in the South West which was addressed by the arival of Polish Wing Hurricanes and then Spitfires which protected the Portland area. Various other units then used the field including naval Seafires and then in 1944 the first two RAF Gloster Meteors of 616 squadron arrived for training purposes although a week later they went to RAF Manston for their first operational flight. After this the airfield was wound down with some glider training use before closing in 1946. Although the airfield became home to a signals unit from the 1950s this came to an end in 1999 and a small business park has grown up at the intersection of the original runways. Not much of the airfield proper now survives but there is a memorial and you can alsoe see, on private land, two control towers albeit they are derelict.