Paul Kiddell takes a trip down Memory Lane when he joins a few friends and heads to the South West for a tour that includes stunning scenery, friendly hosts and 15 airfields
29 September 2020
I have always had a soft spot for Devon and Cornwall. This stems from happy childhood memories of 1970s family holidays spent on a Dartmoor farm with day trips to seemingly exotic destinations such as Torbay, Looe and Westward Ho! Following my RAF career, we put down roots at the opposite end of the country in Northumberland, but I’ve never forgotten those happy, carefree days.
In mid-July, with settled weather moving into the South West, I decided it was time to revisit my childhood haunts and rounded-up flying partner Alex Smith and EuroStar flying buddies John Parker from Fenland, Nick Stone from Leicester, and Jon Crook from Brown Shutters for a weekend of touring. We planned to fly the entire Devon and Cornwall coast while visiting around 15 airfields and farm strips. PPR, especially for strips, can take a while, but you do end up talking to some really interesting characters.
It was with considerable excitement that Alex and I headed south from Eshott in our well-travelled EuroStar G-CEVS on Friday evening to Fenland to overnight with John Parker, aka ‘JP’. We spent the two hours journey dodging some very impressive, yet isolated, CBs with heavy showers, which made for some great viewing from our lofty perch. As ever, we received a wonderful welcome from JP who kindly hangared us for the night. Fenland is a real favourite of mine; centrally located with cross 600m-plus grass runways, a great café and UL91 and avgas on self-service credit card pumps available 24/7. After a very comfortable night, we departed in beautiful weather at 0800 alongside JP in his immaculate EuroStar G-VORN for a flight to Chavenage strip just six miles west of Kemble.
Both our EuroStars have permanent Pilot Aware fits with external aerials and ADS-B out, which enabled similarly equipped Nick to spot us on SkyDemon some 30 miles distant as he got airborne out of Leicester. Plotting an intercept course, Nick soon joined our loose formation in his bright red EuroStar SL. Flying at 1,000ft agl, we enjoyed the many beautiful Cotswolds villages nestled in the rolling hills with their honey-coloured stone houses shining in the morning light.
We landed at Chavenage on the 550m westerly runway of this most picturesque strip, which resembles a French farm with its barn-style hangars. Jon and his passenger, Dave Woodward, were waiting to greet us, as was LAA stalwart David Hunter, who operates the strip on behalf of the Chavenage House estate. It was fantastic to see David’s classic VW-powered, Taylor Monoplane, G-BEVS, the winner of best homebuilt at the 1979 Leicester PFA Rally in which he has amassed nearly 1,500 hours. Alongside was David’s other aircraft, the very unusual Cvjetkovic CA-65 Skyfly G-CFVJ, a low-wing, wooden two-seat, side by side, retractable powered by a converted Subaru engine. Despite being designed in 1965, only around 20 have been completed worldwide. Sadly, I didn’t have time to park G-BEVS alongside G-CEVS for pictures and we departed as a four-ship for the very short five minute flight to Kemble in search of food.
Nothing quite illustrates the current plight of the airline industry than rows of airliners parked up and arriving downwind at Kemble, we could see maybe 50 airliners in the care of Air Salvage International. In amid Airbus, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas’ finest were 11 Boeing 747s, with the most recent arrivals being the French Corsair examples. On short finals to the grass R26, we even spotted two Boeing 727s in bizjet configuration.
While it was very interesting to see the airliner ‘goings-on’, the main reason for our visit was food to prepare us for the busy day ahead, and it was without any sense of guilt that we took on a full burger and chips at 10am. Kemble had adapted well to COVID-19 restrictions and moved catering outside into a mobile van with picnic tables to keep everyone distanced.
Paying our £10 landing fee online, and with crews fully fuelled with a large calorific intake, we departed for Westonzoyland. Passing low-level under the Bristol CTA, we enjoyed a few orbits of Wells, famous not only for its magnificent 13th century cathedral but more importantly, as the location for the 2007 cinematic classic, Hot Fuzz… yaaarp!
Westonzoyland Airfield, which welcomes microlights, is 4nm south-east of Bridgwater (Somerset) and uses the northern half of the former RAF Westonzoyland, a most historic airfield that dates back to the 1920s. We joined for the 450m grass R33, a relatively complex join due to detailed noise abatement and the fact that the completely separate Middlezoy airfield operates on the southern half of the original RAF aerodrome.
Indeed, Middlezoy was having a small fly-in but de-confliction was facilitated by agreed procedures and both fields sharing the microlight frequency of 129.830. Westonzoyland is a hotbed of microlight activity and home to the annual scrumpy and cheese fly-in. We received a great welcome from the local flyers, many of whom were getting airborne to enjoy the excellent conditions. I met friend Dave Wallington who had flown his Skyranger Nynja down from Nottingham, and resident flexwing pilot Andy Oliver who I’d bumped into the previous week in Northumberland during one of his many epic adventures.
Departing Westonzoy, we headed north-west and joined the coast just west of Restricted Area EGR153, which surrounds the huge Hinkley Point nuclear power station complex. The site first became operational in 1965 and is now on its second pair of reactors, which themselves will be replaced with two third-generation reactors scheduled to come online in 2023 with a planned life of some 60 years.
For the next 50 miles we followed the wonderful, but jagged, North Devon coastline at low-level, passing well-known tourist destinations like Minehead and beautiful Lynemouth nestled amid the cliffs at the top of Exmoor. Indeed, there weren’t many beaches to be seen until we reached Woolacombe and when discussing possibilities of forced landings, JP cheerily referred to the North Devon coast as the ‘cheese grater’.
At Barnstaple we picked up the River Taw and headed south inland, passing abeam the former RAF Chivenor, which is now home to the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade. After 12 miles we arrived at Eaglescott Airfield for a fuel stop, landing on the 600m grass R25, which is adjacent to the NATS Burrington radar. Airfield operators, and flying enthusiasts, Barry and Sue Pearson met us and after fuelling, showed us around their hangar which included their wonderful, partially restored Dragon Rapide. Resident David James showed us his smart Lambert M108 Mission. Apparently there are seven now flying in the UK with several more in build. Eaglescott is in a nice spot and is also home to a weekend gliding club and one of the two Devon Air Ambulance helicopters.
There was no time to hang around and we departed for the short 6nm flight to Eggesford Airfield, following the scenic Tarka Railway line that connects Barnstaple in the north to Exeter in the south. Of particular interest to pilots, I suspect, is the Tarka ‘Rail Ale Trail’ which links 11 pubs on the line – get a stamp from 10 and claim your free t-shirt – assuming you’re compos mentis by then!
Arriving downwind at Eggesford for the grass R29, we could clearly see Dartmoor to the south. The 630m hilltop strip is undulating yet smooth with steep upslopes at both runway thresholds (and therefore good downslopes at either end too). You need to pay attention but it’s no drama for the experienced stripper. With all four Eurostar’s safely down, we parked among a varied crop of interesting aeroplanes. We received an exceptionally warm welcome from the farm owner and flying enthusiast, Nigel Skinner whose late father Emerson had created the strip in 1972.
Today the airfield is home to an amazing array of historic aeroplanes. Well-known Auster guru, Richard Webber, is based here and he talked us through the incredible histories of the many resident Austers, including the bright yellow Auster AOP.9 G-AXRR which he’d just been flying. In 1969, Major Mike Somerton-Rayner somehow persuaded his Army Air Corps boss to lend him the AOP.9 so he could enter the BP sponsored London-Sydney Air Race. Mike left Gatwick on 18 December 1969 and arrived in Sydney on 4 January 1970 after 141 hours of flying. Richard’s latest restoration project is a civilian Auster Autocar, which started life as a locust-sprayer in Kenya in 1953, moving to Pakistan in the late 1950s, before being recently discovered on a street in Saudi Arabia! Other Austers include the last remaining Mk3 that served in Burma in WWII and Alpine G-ANXC that monitored elephants and rhino in Uganda in the 1960s. Hanging in the roof was Richard’s Luton Minor, a 1930s wooden design built from plans and the microlight of its day weighing in at 340kg and powered by a 40hp JAP J-99 flat-twin.
We spent over an hour listening to great flying stories from both Nigel and Richard outside the clubhouse caravan. Eggesford welcomes campers and there’s a shower available.
We could have spent all day chatting but we still had three more strips to visit, so suitably refreshed with large brews and fantastic flying tales, we taxied out. Jon and Dave had to return home so we said our goodbyes and our remaining three-ship departed for Woodlands Roche.
We rejoined the coast pretty much where we left off at Westward Ho! The only British place name to be equipped with an exclamation mark, the village name comes from the title of Charles Kingsley’s 1855 novel Westward Ho!, which was set in nearby Bideford. The book was a best-seller and local entrepreneurs seeing a marketing opportunity, built a hotel named Westward Ho! As tourism grew and further development took place, the settlement and beach adopted the same name.
“Rounding Hartland Point marked the change from the Bristol Channel, to the Atlantic Ocean”
It really was the perfect flying day as we rounded Hartland Point, which marks the western limit of the Bristol Channel, and continued down the coast over the Atlantic Ocean. Entering Cornwall, Bude was very busy with tourists released from lockdown as were the many surfers at Widemouth Bay. Tintagel Castle was a real treat from 500ft. Forever linked with the legend of King Arthur, the site was a stronghold as early as the seventh century, although the current castle wasn’t built until the 12th century. For 500 years, visitors have had to climb up 100 steep steps from beach level to reach the ruins, but in August 2019 a new high-level footbridge opened, and this impressive, vertigo-inducing crossing was clearly visible as our three-ship orbited overhead.
On reaching Padstow, we turned inland down the River Camel, which isn’t named after a wayward dromedary but is derived from the Cornish ‘Dowr Kammel’, meaning winding river.
Ten miles south we arrived at the aptly named Woodlands Roche, landing over the dense trees on the 450m R33. Again we received an excellent welcome and tea and biscuits from the resident LAA and microlight flyers. The place was buzzing and among others we spoke to airfield owner Nick Lomax who was tinkering with his Vans RV-4, Peter Gibbs with his smart Murphy Rebel and Geoff Clayton with his SSDR Minimax.
By now it was 6pm and getting airborne for Truro, we flew over the impressively vast china clay (kaolin) open-cast mining and refining facilities at Hensbarrow, north-west of St Austell. The china clay deposits of South West England are world class in terms of their size and quality and have yielded over 165 million tonnes of clay since production began in the middle of the 18th century. The resulting slag heaps have formed a small range of hills above the mines and are known locally as the Cornish Alps.
After a short 15-minute flight we landed on Truro’s 530m grass R32. Another exceptionally warm welcome awaited from resident microlight instructor Gary Perry who operates Air Cornwall, training on the C42. One of Gary’s former students, Jeff Nudd, was also visiting from nearby Perranporth in his C42 as well as our great Eurostar pal John Cockfield. JP had been having some brake issues so John had very kindly flown over from his RNAS Culdrose base (great to have your Rotax 912 protected by armed guards!) with spares, and JP was soon sorted. This kindness is typical of the camaraderie in microlighting with fellow pilots always willing to help out.
People were starting to feel tired and when Nick went to book in, he had to check where we had come from and where we were going! But Gary gave us a major boost when he produced some monster Cornish pasties from Bray and K’s in Redruth, which resulted in some rather epic ‘man versus pasty’ battles in the evening sun. We certainly felt we’d been fully indoctrinated into Cornwall proper. Revived by the full meal that is a traditional Cornish pasty, we thanked our gracious hosts and headed north to Porthtowan to overnight.
Porthtowan was only 4nm to the north-west and as soon as we were airborne from Truro, we established contact on Safetycom with strip owner Rupert Major who was waiting to welcome us. On right base we flew over a very visible reminder of Cornwall’s past, the ruined 19th century Tywarnhayle copper mine pumping house, before alighting on the 475m grass of R03. I visit many grass strips and even describing Porthtowan as ‘immaculate’ simply wouldn’t do it justice. The strip is around 30m wide and is an absolute credit to owners Rupert and his brother Tim.
Rupert is a real character and incredibly hospitable and we all enjoyed a great laugh as we tied-down and pitched our tents for the night. The Major brothers have operated the strip since 1982 and currently fly a Condor and a Jodel DR.1050, while Tim also has a Jurca MJ-10 Spitfire (wooden 7/10th scale replica built from plans) based at nearby Perranporth. After ensuring we were comfortable, Rupert departed while we went for a walk. The sun was setting as we looked out to sea from the clifftop high above Porthtowan, deciding that while the walk down into town would be doable, the ascent in the dark was just too much after a long day. So we retired to our little campsite and enjoyed a bottle of red and some beer that John Cockfield had kindly supplied along with the brake spares… marvellous!
We all enjoyed a restful night only to be awoken at 0720 by our generous host Rupert who had returned early to fire up his generator to make us a brew – amazing! JP broke out his Coleman petrol stove powered by mogas from our fuel drain and proceeded to cook team breakfasts. There was a comedy moment as, when posing for a team picture, a slight fuel leak saw his stove catch fire and it was perfectly captured for posterity…
All too soon it was time to leave for another full day. Despite our protestations, Rupert wouldn’t take a penny for his Herculean efforts. He clearly enjoys hosting flyers from all over the country and wants nothing apart from a thank you, a good laugh and considerate flying. What a great guy, the sort of bloke who makes touring in the UK such a pleasure.
Heading west we passed RAF Portreath, a former WWII airfield but now home to a long-range air defence radar that forms part of the UK Air Defence system. It was a perfect CAVOK day with calm winds as we flew low-level along beautiful St Ives Bay, where numerous pleasure boats were already on the water. Cornwall is only five miles wide at this point and JP climbed away to 7,000ft to record a panoramic view of Penwith Peninsula on his 360° camera. Nick continued with us as we rounded Pendeen Lighthouse to fly over the numerous chimneys of the long disused Botallack copper and tin mines. Land’s End Airport is operated by the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group (primarily to support its Skybus Islander/Twin Otter service to the Scillies) and remains closed on Sundays, so was not a factor as we passed west abeam. Land’s End is of course the most westerly point in mainland England though the honour for the most westerly point on the British mainland goes to Corrachadh Mor in the Scottish Highlands. We flew over the famous Land’s End hotel and visitors centre and talked about one day making it to the Scillies, some 30 miles to the west.
As JP returned from outer orbit, we turned east to follow the southern Cornish coast. At Penzance, the coastal 1935 art-deco lido Jubilee Pool looked wonderful. The classic outdoor swimming pool is now geothermally heated and maintains 35°C all year round. Further down Mount’s Bay is the iconic St Michael’s Mount which was absolutely stunning in the morning light. The tidal island, with its 12th century castle, is connected to Marazion at low tide by a man-made granite walkway. The castle saw bitter sieges in the War of the Roses and the Civil War, but these days it is a very popular tourist attraction operated by the National Trust. Simply wonderful, and for me, one of England’s finest aerial views.
The approaches to Falmouth are dominated by Henry VIII’s Pendennis and St Mawes Castles, which still look hugely impressive nearly 500 years after their construction. We experienced sensory overload as we continued low-level over yet more great sights, like several hundred boats moored in the River Percuil and the many traditional Cornish fishing villages like wonderful Portloe. At St Austell we turned inland for Bodmin and, by chance, came across the spectacular Eden Project which was built in a redundant China clay pit and houses thousands of plant species in its enormous eco domes.
After nearly 1.5 hours of exceptional flying in perfect conditions we landed at Bodmin. I always enjoy Bodmin, two good cross-grass runways and a friendly welcome guaranteed. We took on avgas and had a look at the many interesting resident aircraft. Martin Neve and friends were visiting in their C42s from their South Wales strip just across the Bristol Channel, while ‘Skyranger’ Simon Stoodley and ‘Flexwing’ Matt Howe were visiting from Priory Farm in Norfolk. It was good to catch-up with microlight gossip. Sadly, the popular Diner 31 remained closed due to COVID-19 concerns, but hopefully it will soon reopen.
We still had a long way to go so set-off to rejoin the coast at Looe. It was 1130 and the beach was very busy though, from our vantage point, people did seem to be making an effort to socially distance. Approaching Plymouth we flew over Tregantle Fort, one of Palmerston’s coastal forts built in the mid-19th century to deter French attacks and is still in use by the RN today.
Crossing the River Tamar, we re-entered Devon. We were careful to avoid the Devonport dockyard Restricted area EGR002 (SFC-2000ft) but still spied several RN warships including two Type 45 destroyers alongside. Just to the east, there was yet another huge concentration of yachts moored on the River Yealm as it bends around the very picturesque Newton Ferrers.
Our next destination, Bolt Head, south-west of Salcombe, was using R11 and there were plenty of walkers enjoying the spectacle as we landed on this fantastic cliff top, 600m grass strip. This former WWII RAF grass airfield is operated by resident flyers on behalf of the landowners and being very noise sensitive, it requires strict adherence to the brief with all joins and circuits to the south over the sea. It was very busy with many flying in so they could walk the adjacent scenic coastal path, while popping into the nearby East Soar Farm for refreshments or to travel to nearby Salcombe. But again, we were on a schedule and we soon departed for Halwell, just 10nm to the north-east.
We landed on Halwell’s 480m grass R09 before being met by my old pal Peter Cox. Peter used to fly a Eurostar out of Cambridgeshire before retiring to Torquay and now co-owns a tidy X-Air Hawk, perfect for bimbling around the South West. Halwell is a thriving microlight community and after meeting several happy locals, Peter laid on a wonderful picnic in the midday sunshine.
He also mentioned the barn at the airfield entrance. During WWII, the area was full of American troops preparing for D-Day and several roads had to be widened to accommodate large vehicles and convoys. On the road adjacent to the airfield, a farmer’s barn had to be demolished during the works so the Americans built the farmer a replacement the only way they knew how, and that’s how an American Midwest barn, complete with a red roof, came to be there.
Fully refreshed thanks to Peter’s generosity, we said our goodbyes and departed to rejoin the coast at Torbay, aka the English Riviera, spanning Brixham, Paignton and Torquay, where I spent many happy days as a boy on holiday – and it still looks wonderful, if very busy, from the air. Of course, the incomparable Fawlty Towers was set in Torquay, based upon a memorable stay the Monty Python team experienced while staying at Torquay’s Gleneagles Hotel in the late 1960s. The hotel was demolished in 2016 but we did a three-ship fly-by of the retirement home that now stands on the site. It is appropriately named Sachs Lodge, and has a blue plaque, of course.
Approaching Teignmouth, the cliffs turned to striking rusty-red sandstone, which continued all the way to Exmouth with coastal erosion making some very impressive structures. Next stop on the grand tour was Farway Common, just nine miles east of Exeter Airport. We landed on R36 (there is also an E-W, both are 550m) and taxied to the hangar. The strip is operated by the irrepressible Terry Case who lives in the adjacent cottage and has provided a warm welcome to flyers for many years while hosting many successful fly-ins. Terry hasn’t been too well lately so I popped over to the house for a brief chat. He is another proud strip owner who has done so much for aviation in his part of the world and we wish him all the best for the future.
Our last stop in Devon was picturesque Watchford Farm in the Blackdown Hills, operated by Brian Anning. With calm winds we landed on the slightly undulating 550m R28 and were reunited with our pal Jon Crook who’d flown down to see us off the patch. It seemed an eternity since we’d said goodbye to Jon at Eggesford just 24 hours previously, but with the time now at 1500 we really had to push-on and quickly departed as four-ship for Compton Abbas.
It’s always a pleasure to visit popular Compton, and it was very well-organised and COVID-19 secure. The excellent café was open and Jon collected some cold drinks while we all took on UL-91 amid several vintage aircraft doing commercial rides. But all good things come to an end and it was finally time to say our goodbyes to our weary chums and head for home.
Alex and I enjoyed a relaxed flight home, making it back to Eshott exactly for the 1900 closing time after a truly wonderful weekend with brilliant flying friends.
In 14 hours of glorious flying, we’d visited 15 very different fields using exclusively grass runways.
We’d seen some amazing sights but most of all, had met incredibly generous and hospitable flying enthusiasts everywhere we went.
Flying in the UK really is fantastic – what an absolute tonic in a challenging year.
