Liberator crash at Plaster Down, Fullamoor Farm

On the evening of 30 October 1942 a Liberator of 224 Squadron, Coastal Command, short of fuel and off course after a long patrol, hit a barrage balloon over Plymouth, was diverted to RAF Harrowbeer and crashed at Fullamoor Farm on the south-western corner of Plaster Down. Six of the seven crew were killed. One, a sergeant, survived with injuries.

• Aircraft: Consolidated Liberator 3A, serial FK242
• Unit: 224 Squadron RAF Coastal Command, from RAF Beaulieu
• Date: 30 October 1942 (a 1983 plaque on the farm gatepost says 31 October)
• Crew: Seven: six killed, one survived injured
• Grid reference: SX 51600 71800 (the Devon HER point, at the memorial site on open ground)

What happened

It took off from Beaulieu at 08:30 on a long anti-submarine patrol. After about ten hours it signalled distress with roughly 30 minutes of fuel left, struck a barrage balloon over Plymouth and was sent to RAF Harrowbeer, which was too small for a Liberator. With low cloud and no runway lights it came down, hitting beech trees along Jordan Lane before crashing at the farm. It is assumed to have run out of fuel. The times do not add up: ten hours from 08:30 is about 18:30, and the crash is given as about 19:30.

The private crash site and the public memorial

The exact crash spot is on private land and cannot be visited. A plaque placed on a gatepost there in 1983, on the 40th anniversary, by the survivor has weathered badly. A modern granite memorial stands on open access land at the south-west corner of Plaster Down, between Jordan Lane and Whimington Road, near a small car park by the Grimstone and Sortridge Leat and less than 100 m from where the aircraft first hit the trees. It followed a local campaign for a memorial (reported by Tavistock Today), and a poppy wreath was laid there on 30 October 2025.

Visiting

Go to the memorial only. Please do not enter the farmland. The crash is controlled by the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 like any other military crash site.