The Foxglove Flyers

The Foxglove Hotel, NPDs newest addition to the Premier Collection, is the absolute essence of peace and tranquillity. However, if you delve a little deeper into the hotels history you will find that this country retreat played a heroic part in the Second World War.

Following the outbreak of the war in 1939 recruits at the local air base were thrown into action a desperately needed training.

A big focus for the RAF officers at the time was the risk of their pilots being stranded at sea. In order to ensure the survival of their men the officers developed the “Dinghy Drill”.

The Dinghy Drill consisted of air crews first being blind folded to simulate night time conditions and then being plunged into water. Each man had a whistle allowing them to group together after which they would have to locate an upside down dinghy, right it and then climb on board.

Suitable locations for this drill were limited. They began training in the local river but the currents were strong that it caused one of the pilots to drown.

The authorities then insisted that an alternative location be found. The solution was to utilise the swimming pool at The Foxglove Hotel which turned out to be ideal. Regular drills were run here up until the end of the war.

While the pilots conducted the dinghy drill in the pool, the officers made the most of the hotels hospitality and it soon become an unofficial officers mess.

Images (Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0)