RAF Weston Zoyland - Overview

Overview

Weston Zoyland airfield originated in the mid-1920s as a landing ground, being in use by 1926 for drogue tugs using the anti-aircraft gunnery range off Watchet in the Bristol Channel. At first, it was no more than an extended cow pasture, subject only to seasonal use until the Second World War loomed, when the site was occupied on a permanent basis. During the pre-war years, buildings were erected piecemeal as required and the landing ground area gradually enlarged but, with the fall of France, Weston Zoyland was no longer a backwater airfield.

To obtain the necessary amount of land for siting runways of sufficient length, the A372 to Othery was closed and diverted south on a former minor road.

In 1942, the Air Ministry decided to upgrade the airfield to bomber standard and, early in 1943, work began on laying concrete runways and the perimeter track to the Class A airfield standard, the main feature of which was a set of three converging runways each containing a concrete runway for takeoffs and landings, optimally placed at 60 degree angles to each other in a triangular pattern.

The airfield runways were a main of 5.775 ft at 11/29, and ancillaries of 3,564 ft at 05/23 and 4,101 ft at 16/34. Two hardstands were of 150 ft diameter pans and there were 33 loops connecting to an enclosing perimeter track, of a standard width of 50 feet.

The ground support station was constructed largely of Nissen huts of various sizes. The support station was where the group and ground station commanders and squadron headquarters and orderly rooms were located. Also on the ground station were where the mess facilities; chapel; hospital; mission briefing and debriefing; armory and bombsite storage; life support; parachute rigging; supply warehouses; station and airfield security; motor pool and the other ground support functions necessary to support the air operations of the group. These facilities were all connected by a network of single path support roads.

The technical site, connected to the ground station and airfield consisted of a mixture of hangars consisting of three T-2s (two of 13 bays one of 14 bays), one Bellman, one Bessonneau hangar and nine Blisters. It also included various organizational, component and field maintenance shops along with the crew chiefs and other personnel necessary to keep the aircraft airworthy and to quickly repair light and moderate battle damage. Aircraft severely damaged in combat were sent to repair depots for major structural repair. The Ammunition dump was located on the northwest side of the airfield, outside of the perimeter track surrounded by large dirt mounds and concrete storage pens.

Various domestic accommodation sites were constructed to the northwest the airfield, but within a mile or so of the technical support site, also using clusters of Maycrete or Nissen huts. The Huts were either connected, set up end-to-end or built singly and made of prefabricated corrugated iron with a door and two small windows at the front and back. They provided accommodation for 1,530 personnel, including communal and a sick quarters.