{"id":1244,"date":"2021-10-18T18:26:11","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T17:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/?p=1244"},"modified":"2022-02-06T12:00:23","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T12:00:23","slug":"58-smeatharpe-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/58-smeatharpe-revisited\/","title":{"rendered":"58 Smeatharpe Revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Upottery Heritage Centre having been closed “for the duration” in 2020, the scout thought that its reopening in 2021 would make a third visit to the wartime airfield worthwhile.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, in August, he took the train to Honiton where he lingered in town, trying to imagine a Roman legion marching down High Street, before following the quiet back lane up St. Cyres’ Hill and crossing Luppitt Common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the approach to the airfield, the road veers right, while its former course, which continued directly to Smeatharpe, is obvious. The route was blocked by the construction of the airfield and did not reopen until after the war. The truncation at the other end was, conveniently for the airmen, at the King’s Arms pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scout noticed as he rode past that the abandoned road had been cleared since his last visit and so he stopped to look at the surface which had not carried traffic for a very long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not clear whether civilian movements were allowed to use the airfield’s perimeter road, or taxiway, immediately after the war, or after the R.A.F. gave up the station in 1948. The 1963 25-inch survey shows the diversion and it can be seen in this view<\/a> from space, crossing one of the “spectacle” turning areas before joining the perimeter road at a resited Clayhidon Cross. The old road can be seen as a faint line between Smeatharpe and the intersection of the main runway and the one on a 330 \u030a heading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n