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

• #OnThisDay1917
• Various works and additions of buildings authorised, including construction of a permanent building for the Handley Page bombers. These may have included the 'underground' hangers.
• #OnThisDay1941
• No.214 Sqn Wellington Ic R1712 BU-? crewed by Sgt. Avent, P/O Barnard, Sgt. Emmerson, Sgt. Harvey, Sgt. Kitney and Sgt. Nash took off from Stradishall at 1931hrs for mission over Berlin but were hit by flak near Munster and very severely damaged. On return they crash landed at Manston. Only the pilot was injured, but so severely that he was unable to continue his flying career.
• No.214 Sqn Wellington MkII W5452 BU-U took off for Berlin from RAF Stradishall at 1924hrs. After a successful mission, low on fuel it was diverted to RAF Manston due to heavy fog at Stradishall. Whilst attempting an emergency landing, the Wellington crashed into trees. Pilot P/O Cyrill William Abrey RAFVR (69490), Sgt Laurence Douglas Kissack RAFVR (1169259), P/O John Benjamin Ruston RCAF (J/15002), Sgt John Aitken RAFVR (953705) and Sgt Ivan John Green RAFVR (1154443) killed, P/O White badly injured but survived.
• #OnThisDay1943
• No.198 Sqn Typhoons leave Manston in the afternoon to attack trains and other targets in the Bray-Dunes and Roeselare region in atrocious conditions. F/O B248 hit by flak during the attack, came down in the Rouen area at 1435hrs and became POW. Fl/Sgt Ronald Frederick Broad (1336532) hit by flak and was killed when his aircraft crashed at Vladslo at 1445hrs.
• #OnThisDay1944
• No.274 Sqn (Tempest) leave Manston for Antwerp.
• No.80 Sqn (Tempest) leave Manston for Antwerp.
• No.501 Sqn (Tempest) move to RAF Bradwell in Essex
• No.3 Sqn forced to divert to Manston due to bad weather.

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.