History of Manston Airfield 100 years of flight

Because of some of the detail for the daily posts, you can see today’s events on our timeline page

#OnThisDay1942

No.331 Sqn Spitfire Vb P8707 piloted by Sgt. Fredrik Arild Sverdrup Fearnley FAS crash landed at Manston after beiB442ng attacked by Fw190s on Circus 195 mission escorting a formation of Bostons on a bombing mission to Hazebrouck marshalling yards.

#OnThisDay1944

No.460 Sqn Lancaster I ME784 AR-? Crewed by Flt Sgt. M.L. Armstrong, W/O J.E. Brown RAAF, F/L J.A. Critchley RAAF, Sgt. G.W. Knott, F/O R.S. Samson RAAF, Sgt. F. Shaw and Sgt. W. Starkey force lands at Manston after taking off from Binbrook at 1227hrs for mission over Siracourt.

No.109 Sqn Mosquito XVI ML960 crewed by F/O J.B. Barker and F/L D.N. Russel took off from Little Staughton at 2315hrs on the 28th June. Badly shot up by a night fighter, and on return an engined caught fire as they neared Ramsgate. Crash landed at 0215hrs at Manston, both crew injured.

The History of Manston Airfield site is dedicated to the history of Manston Airfield, in Kent from its first official usage back in 1916.

It is intended to bring together the various sources of information at events, squadrons, aircraft and personnel that have been involved in the site.

The site and social media pages are currently all non-profit making. Obviously we do incur costs so any contributions via donations or online sales are appreciated to ensure this project continues.

We are not directly connected with either of the two museums currently at Manston, but may work alongside them.

Due to the amount of history, it is likely that this site will be continually updated and extended and is not intended to be a complete historical record for some time to come.