Skippet Plantation

- Cinema/Gymnasium Today this is Crossway's village hall that during the war served a dual purpose as RAF Warmwell's Station Cinema and Gymnasium. The lower attached building fronting the car park comprised both officer's and men's changing rooms, and two store rooms. SY7688 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (2) OVERVIEW RAF Warmwell was opened in May 1937 as 6 Armament Training Camp, a gunnery school. It was known then as RAF Woodsford, but was renamed the following year as RAF Warmwell due to the possibility of it being confused with Woodford, near Manchester. By July 1940 it came under the control of Fighter Command's 10 Group, to become a satellite of RAF Middle Wallop. Dorset's only RAF fighter station during the Battle of Britain, its airfield would play a major role in the defence of the naval base at Portland, as well as providing protection for other important south coast areas. The three runways were of grass, and remained so for the duration of the war. The airfield came under attack by the Luftwaffe on several occasions, one in particular in the spring of 1941 left several personnel dead. Inevitably as the war progressed, the role emphasis changed when offensive operations into German occupied Europe were undertaken with Spitfires, Hurricanes, Tempests, and the Westland Whirlwind, the RAF's first twin engined heavy fighter. Although RAF Warmwell was mainly an RAF station, the USAAF also made use of the airfield for brief periods during 1942, and again in March 1944 when the station came under USAAF control completely to become USAAF Station AAF-454. When the 474th Fighter Group with their Lockheed P-38 Lightnings departed for continental Europe in August 1944, the station reverted back to the RAF. The last RAF squadrons left in October 1945, and the following month the station entered a period under Care and Maintenance before closing down in 1946.

- Cinema/Gymnasium This extension on the end was the cinema projection booth. SY7687 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (3)

- Communal Site No. 1 - Blast Shelter One of several brick built blast shelters on this dispersed site in woodland for the protection of its personnel. They were an alternative to the more substantial Stanton type air raid shelter; a wartime expedient, they were simply a series of dog-legged brick walls in a rectangular configuration with blast protected entrances on two sides. Plan view of a blast shelter at RAF Tain in Scotland Link . There are reputed to be as many as ten of these shelters in the woods, I counted just four of them, all are heavily overgrown. SY7687 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (4)

- Communal Site No. 1 - Blast Shelter A second group of shelters lie further south. As well as blast shelters, there are also two static water tanks on the site, each holding about 20,000 gallons (too overgrown to photograph). SY7687 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (5)

- Communal Site No. 1 - Sewer Outlet? SY7787 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (6)

- Communal Site No. 4 - Sergeant's & Airmen's Ablutions SY7787 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (7)

- Communal Site No. 4 - Sergeant's & Airmen's Ablutions SY7787 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (8)

- Communal Site No. 4 - Sergeant's & Airmen's Ablutions SY7787 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (9)

- Communal Site No. 4 - Sergeant's & Airmen's Ablutions SY7787 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (10)

- Communal Site No. 4 - Air Raid Shelter A Stanton type air raid shelter, one of at least three in the vicinity of the ablutions building. SY7787 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (11)

- Communal Site No. 4 - Air Raid Shelter Interior view. There is an escape hatch at the far end built into the roof. This type of shelter with its modular construction could be enlarged by adding further sections to accommodate larger numbers of people if need be. SY7688 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (12)

- The Airfield - Aircraft "tie downs" Here in the south east corner of the airfield are a number of concrete blocks that have been excavated by the developer of the land. These are aircraft "tie-down" anchors that were used to secure parked aircraft to minimise the possibility of untoward movement due to high winds or propeller wash. They would have originally been sunk into the ground at the dispersals below the aircraft, the tops of the anchoring points flush with the surface. Today, the site of the former airfield is either under development, or subject to extensive quarrying, the latter activity has unfortunately all but obliterated much of what used to remain. SY7688 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (13)

- The Airfield - Egdon House, the original Watch Office/Control Tower Egdon House was the original Watch Office/Control Tower that has since been converted into a private house. As expected it's situated overlooking the former airfield on its northern side, with the old taxiway in front now in use as a road through the village. Two dispersal pans exist close by in a field to the west, although now almost obliterated due to agricultural use. SY7688 : WWII Dorset: discovering RAF Warmwell (14)