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...
History of Manston Airfield 100 years of flight
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...
Manston’s role in Operation Market Garden, 17th September 1944
Updated and expanded for 2024 for the 80th Anniversary But there is still more to add! Because this post is now starting to turn into a bit of a monster...
Battle of Britain Day, 15th September 1940
New Luftwaffe tactics On 15 September – now known as “Battle of Britain Day” – the Luftwaffe launched two huge bombing raids on London. Believing that the RAF was close...
Prime Minister, Winston Churchill visits Manston on 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 everywhere and markers denoting unexploded bombs...
On this day, 28th August 1942, 56 emergency landings
Fifty six emergency landings on the night of 28th/29th August 1942 left devastation that would lead to the approval for the new runway to be built. The Station Commander had already...
