RAF Hospital Torquay

The RAF Hospital Torquay (also known as the RAF Officer's Convalescent Hospital), was a medical facility run by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Torquay suburb of Babbacombe, Devon, England, during the Second World War. The RAF requisitioned the Palace Hotel, and set about converting it into a hospital, which opened in 1939. The hospital was subjected to at least two bombing raids in October 1942 and January 1943. The first raid resulted in at least 21 deaths, with the function of the hospital ceasing immediately and all work being transferred to other RAF Hospitals. It was never used as a hospital again, and after the war, was returned to civilian use.

RAF Hospital Torquay
A road leading down a slight incline with buildings on the right
Palace Hotel, Torquay; used as an RAF hospital
Geography
LocationBabbacombe, Torquay, Devon, England
Coordinates50.472°N 3.505°W / 50.472; -3.505
Organisation
Care systemMilitary
FundingGovernment hospital
Services
Beds249 (1939)
History
OpenedOctober 1939
ClosedJanuary 1943
Demolished2020
Links
ListsHospitals in England

History

The Palace Hotel in Babbacombe was chosen as an RAF Officers' Hospital due to its scenic location, easy access from the rail network, and the state of the local roads, which were deemed to be in a good enough condition for motorised ambulance transport.[1] Another factor in its location was the belief that it was safe from aerial bombardment.[2] The Officer's Hospital had previously been located at RAF Uxbridge, but this was moved to the "relative safety" of Torquay.[3] Besides having the hospital, Babbacombe was the location of No. 1 ITW (Initial Training Wing), later No. 1 Receiving Wing, that was a basic training school for RAF recruits.[4][5] The hospital was opened in October 1939, with a complement of 249 beds, and a staff of 203 (11 officers, 87 nurses, 87 airmen, and the rest were civilian employees).[6] Patients occupied the single rooms in the hotel, however, four rooms on the second floor needed adapting to make a suitable theatre, which was running by May 1940, when the hospital had 105 in-patients.[7] In February 1940, it was stated that the hospital was equipped with 240 beds,[8] and a complement of 200 staff; doctors nurses, dentists, administrative personnel, and at least 80 civilian staff who had worked at the hotel prior to it being commandeered for the war effort.[9]

The hospital was known for its convalescent status, and also for its work in psychotherapy. Battle-weary and fatigued personnel were assessed at the hospital under a new programme that had evolved since the First World War when those who had broken down were deemed to be suffering from shell shock.[10][11][12] The RAF hospital at Torquay, and another unit, were described as "groundbreaking" in their treatment of mentally ill service personnel.[13] The necessity for rehabilitation was realised in 1940 when there was a shortage of experienced aircrew, and at Torquay, special attention was paid to physio and occupational therapy.[14] Methods were looked at with a view to keeping the patients within the hospital, such as dances, a small bar and a hospital newsletter/magazine called the Torquay Tatler. It was thought that the "bright lights of Torquay" might lead to a lapse in the officers' recovery.[15]

1942 bombing

At 11:00 am on 25 October 1942,[16] despite having a large red cross painted on the roof,[17] the hospital was attacked by four Focke-Wulf 190s, in what was described as a "Tip and Run" raid.[18][19] A Tip and Run raid was where bombers would attack and strafe at low level, and then quickly return to their home airfields.[20] The hospital suffered a direct hit on the east wing, and a second bomb exploded on the road adjacent, severely damaging the west wing. Fourteen RAF Officers and five staff were killed, and outside, two members of the Home Guard were fatally injured. Forty of those inside the hospital were injured, ten of them staff, the others were patients.[21] At the time, the hospital had 203 patients, and many of the injured and local Home Guard helped to dig the survivors from the rubble. Only basic first aid could be carried out, as all theatres and examination rooms had been destroyed.[22]

Many patients were taken to other RAF hospitals by road or train in the days following the bombing. A new convalescent hospital was opened at Cleveleys near Blackpool, and the functions of Torquay were implemented there by May 1943.[23][24]

The building was placed on a "care and maintenance" programme, but was attacked again in January 1943, though this time without casualties.[25] After the 1943 bombing, the building was abandoned, and was not re-opened as a hotel until 1948. In 2020, the building was demolished to make way for a new hotel development.[26]

Notable personnel

References
  1. Rexford-Welch 1954, p. 239.
  2. Jones, Edgar (2006). "LMF: The Use of Psychiatric Stigma in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War" (PDF). The Journal of Military History. 70 (2): 450. doi:10.1353/jmh.2006.0103. S2CID 159946853.
  3. Mackie 2001, p. 103.
  4. "Philip Hopgood's Second World War Biography" (PDF). ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk. p. 16. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  5. "1 Initial Training Wing". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  6. Rexford-Welch 1954, pp. 239–240.
  7. Rexford-Welch 1954, p. 240.
  8. Rexford-Welch 1954, p. 37.
  9. Mackie 2001, p. 121.
  10. "Group Captain O'Malley". Occupational Therapy. 21 (2): 14–15. February 1958. doi:10.1177/030802265802100202. S2CID 208641850.
  11. Jones, Edgar (1 October 2004). "War and the Practice of Psychotherapy: The UK Experience 1939–1960". Medical History. 48 (4): 493–510. doi:10.1017/s0025727300007985. PMC 546369. PMID 15535476.
  12. Mackie 2001, p. 119.
  13. Greener, Mark (3 December 2014). "Rewriting RAF nurses' history". www.independentnurse.co.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  14. Hopson, J. A. (5 October 1968). "R.A.F. Medicine—The First 50 Years". BMJ. 4 (5622): 48–50.2. doi:10.1136/bmj.4.5622.48. PMC 1912063. PMID 4877880.
  15. Rexford-Welch 1954, p. 317.
  16. Mackie 2001, p. 123.
  17. Bradley, Colin (27 March 2001). "Hotel put pilots back in the skies: Injured pilots were having a Sunday morning lie-in when bomb fell". infoweb.newsbank.com. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  18. Pitchfork, Graham (2008). The Royal Air Force day by day. Stroud: Sutton. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-7509-4309-3.
  19. "R.A.F. Officers' Hospital, Torquay: enemy air attack on 25 Oct. 1942". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  20. "England Under Attack | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  21. Goss, Chris (2010). Luftwaffe fighter-bombers over Britain : the tip and run campaign, 1942–43. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books. p. 142. ISBN 978-0811706919.
  22. Rexford-Welch 1954, pp. 240–241.
  23. Rexford-Welch 1954, pp. 190, 241.
  24. Mackie 2001, p. 125.
  25. Rexford-Welch 1954, p. 241.
  26. Smith, Colleen (16 April 2020). "Demolition begins on Torquay's Palace Hotel". Devon Live. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  27. "Ayerst, Peter (Oral history)". iwm.org.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  28. Mackie 2001, p. 122.
  29. Frey, Royal D (August 1967). "America's First WWII Ace". Airman. Washington: United States Air Force. xi (8): 44. ISSN 0002-2756. OCLC 1478651.
  30. "Battle of Britain London Monument – F/O J Falkowski". www.bbm.org.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  31. Edwards, Bill (18 September 2011). "Obituary: Dan Maskell". The Independent. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  32. "Battle of Britain London Monument – F/Lt. J B Nicolson". www.bbm.org.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  33. Halpenny, Bruce Barrymore (2004). Fighter pilots in World War II. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Leo Cooper. p. 210. ISBN 1-84415-065-8.
  34. Parry, S B Wynn (1970). "Rehabilitation in the Services". Rheumatology. 10 (8): 431–434. doi:10.1093/rheumatology/10.8.431. PMID 5484948.
  35. "Obituary". BMJ. 293 (6556): 1247. 8 November 1986. doi:10.1136/bmj.293.6556.1247. S2CID 220184686.
  36. Williams, Simon, ed. (9 August 2019). "End of an RAF Dynasty". RAF News. No. 1473. p. 25. ISSN 0035-8614.
  37. "F B Sowrey". www.rafweb.org. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  38. "Battle of Britain London Monument – F/O R W WALLENS". www.bbm.org.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  39. "Battle of Britain London Monument – P/O A R Zatonski". www.bbm.org.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  40. Knoblock, Glenn A. (2012). With great sacrifice and bravery: the career of Polish ace Waclaw Lapkowski, 1939–41 (4 ed.). Bennington, Vermont: Merriam Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-1470055417.

Sources
  • Mackie, Mary (2001). Sky wards : a history of the Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service. London: Robert Hale. ISBN 0-7090-6976-6.
  • Rexford-Welch, Samuel Cuthbert (1954). Royal Air Force Medical Services Volume 1: Administration. London: HMSO. OCLC 1068597322.
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