Wartime airfield put up for auction

An historic Devon airfield is set to go under the hammer with Greenslade Taylor Hunt on 17 May at the Castle Hotel, Taunton.

The 390-acre site at Smeatharpe, near Honiton, was the WWII home of the United States’ 101st Airborne Division, which flew out of the base on 5 June, 1944, as part of the Allies’ D-Day invasion of Europe.

The heroics of Easy Company, in particular, were immortalised in the popular television series Band of Brothers.

Owned by two vendors, the whole site – which includes arable and pastureland, farm and wartime buildings, a bungalow and a stockcar stadium – is being sold in eight lots by agent Richard Webber for £1.09m.

“It was just coincidence that they both decided to sell at the same time.”

Smeatharpe Airfield covers 209 acres and is priced at £550,000, while Gotleigh Farm, tagged at £540,000, comes with 182 acres and the four-bedroom bungalow.