THE ROYAL AIR FORCE AT HAWK'S TOR
Words and photograph Mike and Andrew Passmore
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Remains of the RAF Station at Hawk's Tor
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The armed forces have had a long association with Dartmoor from the
19th century, through the troubled years of World War II, to today. The
presence is controversial, and there are frequent calls from some
bodies for the military to leave the National Park, while others
recognise the need for training areas and the contribution to the local
economy.
Military activities often leave visible remains. Some can be
readily identified; others are less obvious. Redundant aircraft
dispersal pens at the former RAF Harrowbeer at Yelverton and the target
railway on the northern moor are among those that fall into the former
category, while traces of one-time buildings such as those at Sharpitor
can be somewhat enigmatic. Even these reminders of military training or
enterprise are often contentious; some seek their removal as scars on
the landscape, while others wish them to be preserved as important
features of Dartmoor’s rich and varied heritage.
This article will not enter ‘military on the moor’ debate but will
briefly outline the findings of recent historical and archaeological
research into the vestiges of military occupation below Hawks Tor, on
southern Dartmoor, for here was a small, but important, RAF station
during the early part of World War II.
Eight substantial concrete plinths on the hillslope below the tor
have possibly puzzled many a visitor to the area, as no doubt have the
adjacent footprints of former structures. Guidebooks provide no clues,
and little documentary evidence as to their significance exists. Until
recently, the remains have been the subject of limited interpretation
and, once thought to be the vestiges of an anti-aircraft battery1, the
features have since been correctly identified as those of a one-time
radar station2.
Now a detailed analysis of the site has been carried out by the
authors of this article and the results are included in a recently
published book that presents the history and archaeology of the 12
permanent RAF air-defence radars stations in operation in Devon during
World War II and those active during the subsequent Cold War era3.
RAF Hawks Tor came into being in May 1940, a crucial link in
Britain’s early World War II air-defence network, being in existence at
the time of the Battle of Britain (July–October 1940).
The development of radar came about as a result of political
concerns in the 1930s when Germany began to re-arm and to re-form its
air power. Following a successful demonstration at Weedon, near
Daventry, when echoes from the transmission of radio waves over a given
search area indicated the presence of an aircraft, research was
undertaken at first at Orfordness and then at Bawdsey Manor in Suffolk,
resulting in the setting up of a number of early-warning, high-looking
radar establishments along the east and south coasts, known as Chain
Home (CH) stations. Later, for operational reasons, developmental work
transferred to Dundee, then to Worth Matravers in Dorset and finally to
Malvern in Worcestershire. The radar network itself was extended to
other parts of the country, including the southwest.
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