Ex-RAF pilot sells vintage motorbikes to save Somerset church

Bill Southcombe is selling his restored Norton CSI motorbike

A former top RAF pilot is selling his vintage Norton motorbike in an attempt to save his village church.

Bill Southcombe flew hundreds of missions, including many to defend UK air space during the Cold War.

The campaign has a personal element for him, as the Stoke-sub-Hamdon church in Somerset was built in 1866 by a distant relative.

The 1930 Norton CSI motorbike is expected to fetch about £25,000 when it is sold.

Mr Southcombe joined efforts to save the church after moving with his wife to Stoke-sub-Hamdon in 2018.

He has already sold a 1932 New Imperial Model 23 and a 1936 Norton ES2, and hopes he can raise an overall £45,000 from the sale of the three motorbikes.

That would help villagers hit the £100,000 target to buy the Grade II-listed United Reformed Church, which has been used by community groups since it stopped being a place of worship in 2017.

Mr Southcombe competed in the Isle of Man TT races in the 1960s

"The church is beautiful, it really is," said Mr Southcombe. "As a villager I was unwilling to see this project fail.

"I am sad to be selling the bikes, but they're not doing much good in the garage."

It was only when Mr Southcombe, 77, moved in that he discovered the church was built by Richard Southcombe, one of his ancestors.

Villagers want to buy the former United Reformed Church in Stoke-sub-Hamdon

Mr Southcombe's RAF career saw him serve as a navigator and pilot, flying high-altitude bomber Vulcan B2s and also Phantom fighter jets out of RAF Leuchars in Fife, patrolling UK airspace to deter Soviet aircraft.

"When I was at Leuchars I remember in one month in 1969 our squadron intercepted 79 Russian aircraft, we were up and down the whole time," he said.

"We had to get in very close because the security services wanted to know all about their aircraft."

As well as military missions, Mr Southcombe won the Strike Command Bombing Competition against United States Air Force pilots in 1970.

On his motorbikes, he also competed in the Isle of Man TT races between 1965 and 1968.

Bill Southcombe, right, in his RAF days