RAF Zeals RAF Zeals was a wartime Royal Air Force station in Wiltshire . The station was sited to the north of the village of Zeals , next to the village of Stourton and the Stourhead estate . The station was only in operation from 1942 to 1946 . In that time it was successively occupied by the Royal Air Force , the United States Army Air Force and the Royal Navy . From opening until August 1943 the site was used by the RAF as an airfield for Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire fighters . In August 1943 it was transferred to the United States Army Air Force with the intention of using the airfield for maintenance of C - 47 Skytrain transport aircraft . However , the damp conditions prevented the operation of heavy aircraft so P - 47 Thunderbolt fighters were flown from Zeals instead . From March 1944 , it returned to the RAF who used it as a fighter airfield for de Havilland Mosquito fighters against German bombers . Following D - Day , the RAF used the airfield for military glider training in preparation for action against Japan . In April 1945 the station was taken over by the Royal Navy ( as HMS " Hummingbird " or RNAS Zeals ) who used the airfield for aircraft carrier training . The airfield was closed down from January 1946 and in June it was returned to farmland . As of 2006 , the control tower , now a private house , remains on Bells Lane in Zeals . Dakota Crash - 19 February 1945 . Dakota III TS436 was assigned to the Glider Pick - Up Training Flt , whose role was to train crews in the ' snatch take - off method for retrieving gliders . Those on board were mostly returning to their base in Leicester , on completion of the course of instruction at Zeal ’ s . The aircraft took off at 1523 hours in conditions of broken cloud , with some patches down to 100 feet and generally overcast , a westerly wind at 10 mph and visibility of 1 to 2 miles at ground level . The pilot made a quarter circuit of the airfield and then set course to the north - east . Three minutes later whilst flying in and out of the broken cloud and whilst in level flight , the aircraft flew into a clump of 60 foot tall beech trees on top of a knoll . T he impact ripped 10 feet off the port wing and the aircraft rolled to port , hit two more trees and then impaled itself on a cluster of four mature trees , caught fire and disintegrated , scattering wreckage over a distance of 300 yards on the far side of the knoll . Destruction of the aircraft was complete but investigation revealed the engines to have been at a high power setting on impact . The Accident Report , published on 17 May 45 , suggests that the pilot who was the sole survivor , had failed to climb to a safe height when flying in poor visibility , although the knoll was a well known obstruction in close proximity to the airfield . The tragic sequel to this loss is that the pilot , who had been awarded the DFC for his gallantry on operations , followed a restless career afterwards leaving and returning to the RAF until finally joining the Foreign Service and being appointed an Assistant District Officer . While on assignment in Kenya , he committed suicide . The twenty killed : A memorial stands at nearby Beech Clump ( ST 791 347 ) near Search Farm , Stourton , 1 . 3 miles north - east of RAF Zeals . It marks the site where the Dakota transport plane crashed . The National Trust who own Beech Knoll were approached and kindly gave permission for the memorial to be placed on the hill top . Relatives and former comrades of those who died , some of whom where Australian and Canadian were traced and contacted , together with the local community they funded the memorial . On 14 August 1999 a dedication and unveiling ceremony took place , in the presence of 150 relatives and guests . The memorial was unveiled by Air Chief Marshal Sir John Gingell GBE , KCB , KCVO RAF and the dedication was conducted by Canon F Davey , a former WWII Coastal Command navigator . The RAF was represented by Wg Cdr John Barras OC 30 Squadron , RAF Lyneham . The Royal Australian Air Force by SqnLdr Greg Shaw and the Royal Canadian Air Force by Capt Kirk Bennett . The ' Last Post ' was played by an RAF bugler and Dakota N47FK of the Dakota Club , based at North Weald , carried out a fly - past .