RAF Harrowbeer was located approximately NNE of the city of
Plymouth and approximately south of
Tavistock, and also sits within the boundary of
Dartmoor National Park.
Roborough Rock is a
tor-like
igneous rock outcrop immediately south-west of the airfield (officially called 'Udal Tor') on
Roborough Down, next to the border with the
A386. This location created problems for the airfield during the
Second World War, mainly due to bad weather. The Rock seems to have had little impact on the use of the Airfield, the only thing that was done by the RAF was the placing of a warning light on the top. There seems to be no truth in the widely held belief that the RAF attempted to blow it up. Canadian pilot Jack Brown, of 193 Squadron, recounts his first training flight in the relatively new, and daunting,
Hawker Typhoon fighter-bomber at Harrowbeer: "We were understandably in awe of the Tiffie's size and power. We had been warned of the violent effect of torque . . . which caused a swing to the right on takeoff . . On takeoff, I locked my left leg rigidly on the rudder bar . . . I got off safely . . [but] At times I felt as if the machine was flying me! . . . [on landing] To make sure I didn't stall it, I came in with a little too much speed. The runways at Harrowbeer were not exceptionally long and I could see a pile of bricks at the end coming up fast. Luckily, the brakes held and the machine stopped in time." Once 193 Squadron became operational at Harrowbeer, they began patrolling the coast to intercept low level attacks by
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter-bombers. The Typhoon patrols against the 190s ". . . were carried out by pairs of aircraft; one right down on the water, the other about a hundred feet up. Several fellows bent the ends of their props when they flew too low and actually touched the sea. We did standby duty, waiting at the end of the runway, ready to take off as soon as a Very pistol was fired from the control tower." Later, the Typhoon pilots at Harrowbeer also launched attacks on shipping targets on the French coast, the first target being Brest. Harrowbeer saw its most distinguished visitor arrive on 2 August 1945, when US President Harry Truman, returning home from the Potsdam Conference, was unable to route via RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall due to it being closed due to fog, and his aircraft landed instead at Harrowbeer. Reception formalities were somewhat limited and, after dining with King George VI onboard the Royal Navy Battlecruiser HMS Renown in Plymouth, Truman sailed for his Atlantic crossing onboard the American cruiser USS Augusta. ==Based units==