Insight #1: On This Day at Manston

Trying to piece together a more comprehensive day by day timeline for Manston was the initial goal that the current wider History of Manston Airfield project grew out of.

There are a vast number of references out there for Manston, but nothing really has been found in one place and available to all. The current list of daily events we have are up to over 750 at this time (1st Jan 2017) and growing as our time permits.

Once more research was carried out, it became clear that the timeline was crucial to then move into more detailed posts on the website and social media as well as the rest of the information the site will hopefully one day include. It was also clear that the role that Manston has played in the past warranted a wider audience, especially given its role at a number of times in history. The number of bombers, for example, that crash landed at Manston in the later stages of WWII appears to be far more than even we had anticipated. An additional core goal was to support the Museums at Manston as well as books that have been written about it.

Throughout the research, there are constantly contradictions to the details, so we often have to go back to correct and expand entries. However, the references to all the events are being recorded so that we can refer back to these in the future. The main timeline is currently being compiled in an off-line spreadsheet file that can hold the references we need to retain, but is uploaded to the site at intervals – this will mean that when events are updated, they may not immediately be updated on the site. We try to ensure our “On this day” posts on Facebook are however, as up to date at that time as we can.

We have been lucky that we have had a number of organisations that have been happy for us to share their information and images without charge, and we continue to look for extra sources where we add credits to them. We are constantly working with information supplied from sources such as www.aircrewremembered.com and feedback to them and others any alterations or omissions we consider are required.

We hope to be able to expand the other sections of the website in due course when we have more comprehensive information and time allows. It probably will always be a “work in progress”.

We hope that you find our information interesting. If you wish to help in any way, please let us know.