The WW2 Liberator Crash on Plaster Down
Tavistock Museum
When: 25 March 2017 to 31 October 2017
Suitable for: Any age
On 30th October 1942 Consolidated Liberator, serial number FK242, was operating with 224 Squadron, RAF Coastal Command and had the call sign K 'King'. Fitted with radically new radar, it had taken off from RAF Beaulieu in Hampshire to escort ships crossing the Bay of Biscay as part of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa. After ten hours on patrol the Liberator was returning to Beaulieu when it hit a barrage balloon cable as it passed over Plymouth. The aircraft was badly damaged and the crew tried to make an emergency landing at RAF Harrowbeer, Yelverton. It was dark and with no runway lights to guide it, the Liberator crashed at Fullamoor Farm by Plaster Down. Six of the crew died and another was seriously injured. In early April a new plaque to commemorate the lives of the airman will be unveiled in the car park at Plaster Down.
This year the museum has a new attraction: some reproduction stocks which visitors will be challenged to try. Stocks were wooden or metal devices with foot holes used as punishment from medieval times until the mid-nineteenth century. The convicted individual was seated and had their feet and ankles locked into the device so that their legs were held straight out. Most communities had their set of stocks which were usually kept at a prominent location such as a town centre, village green, outside the gateway into the parish church or near the entrance to the police station. Generally stocks were used in cases of punishment for minor offences such as drunkenness and rowdy behaviour. The objective being to humiliate the offender so as to discourage them from re-offending. For good measure they could get rotten food and other objects thrown at them. Stocks varied in size being for one, two, three or occasionally four miscreants.
The Tavistock stocks were for three miscreants. They are believed to have once stood near the north archway at the parish church but later relocated to outside the police station. Thomas Vanstone recalled their use in the 1840s for a number of local delinquents convicted of drinking offences. Several hours in the stocks served as a substitute for the drunkard's fine and costs. In 1986 the stocks were removed from the cells at the police station to the Tavistock Museum. Unfortunately they are now not in very good condition.
The display has been arranged by Robert Jones. Roderick Martin, Museum Secretary, said 'Our thanks to our volunteers and contributors for the excellent new exhibitions again this year. The photographs inside the canal tunnel are amazing and we are most grateful to James Bird who has made them available to show in our exhibition.'
Exhibitions & Projects
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The Museum is delighted to announce that a collection of Shaldon handmade lace over 100 years old has been acquired
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John Akomfrah: Arcadia
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ARTIST ROOMS Bill Viola
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Beyond the Page: South Asian Miniature Painting and Britain, 1600 to Now
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30 November 2023 to 02 June 2024
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Yinka Shonibare CBE RA: End of Empire
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12 October 2023 to 23 June 2024
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Devonian Monsters
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
27 April 2024 to 06 July 2024
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Katy Lee Going on Taw
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18 May 2024 to 06 July 2024
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What Do You Collect Picturing a collection
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30 January 2024 to 14 July 2024
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D Day 80 Exhibition
Torquay Museum
19 March 2024 to 21 September 2024
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Are we nearly there yet A History of Transport
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15 June 2024 to 29 September 2024
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The Michelangelo Trail: A Delve Into LGBTQ Histories
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01 January 2024 to 31 December 2024
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Exciting new Museum displays about kite ballooning in 1917, and the Church Rocks Wreck
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04 July 2023 to 31 December 2024
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Planet Ocean
The Box, Plymouth
16 March 2024 to 23 February 2025