Air Speed Record set at Reculver, 7th November 1945
On 7th November 1945, Group Captain Hugh Joseph Wilson, CBE, AFC, Royal Air Force, Commandant of the Empire Test Pilots’ School, Cranfield, set the first world speed record with a...
Category: Aircraft
An unexpected passenger in a Handley Page O/100 on 4th November 1916
Published with permission from ‘Bloody Paralyser – The Giant Handley Page Bombers of the First World War’ by Rob Langham (Fonthill Media, 2016). Following the first flight of the Handley Page...
Prime Minister, Winston Churchill visits Manston on 28th August 1940
On this day, 28th August 1940 Manston’s importance was recognised when the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, paid it a personal visit. He saw an airfield barely serviceable, still with craters...
Heavy Luftwaffe raids on Manston and Ramsgate on 24th August 1940 leave the airfield unserviceable
Six heavy attacks, the first at 0600hrs (TBC) when approximately 80 aircraft crossed the coast to Thanet, left Manston unserviceable after the heavy raid at 1520hrs, despite its many tunnels...
Gotha raid of 22nd August 1917 – Part of the first “Battle of Britain”
During the First World War, the earlier raids by Zeppelin airships had brought the war to the civilian population on home soil. However, their impact was slight compared to the...
The second large attack on Manston during the Battle of Britain, 14th August 1940
At 1140hrs, a large formation of enemy aircraft was detected forming up over Calais by Dover and Pevensey radar. Four squadrons were brought to readiness, including seven Spitfires of No.65...
