Turnchapel Oil Depot, Plymstock
27 November 1940 · Plymouth, Devon
View this record on the map →- Date
- 27 November 1940
- Record type
- Historic bombing site
- Bomb type
- HE (fire/explosion)
- Casualties
- 2
- Location
- Plymouth, Devon
- Position accuracy
- Street located from historic sources
What happened
A bomb hit one of the Admiralty oil storage tanks at Turnchapel, on the south bank of the Cattewater opposite Mount Batten, setting it ablaze. The fire was so intense firefighters' hose water evaporated before reaching the flames. Two days later the heat set the neighbouring tanks alight; burning oil poured into Hooe Lake, engulfing two fireboats. Firemen Robert Widger and Thomas J. Callicott were killed; other crew swam clear before both boats exploded.
Also worth knowing
The fires burned for five days, lighting up Plymouth at night. Plymstock and Turnchapel fall outside the area covered by the Town Clerk's 'bomb book' and the 1940s census map used elsewhere on this site, so this record — like the Saltash ones — is a separately researched, named incident rather than part of either bulk dataset.