   raf manston was an raf station in the north-east of kent, at  on the isle of thanet from 1916 until 1996. the site is now split between a commercial airport kent international airport (kia) and a continuing military use by the defence fire training and development centre (dftdc), following on from a long standing training facility for raf firefighters at the manston base. ==history== ===first world war=== at the outset of the first world war, the isle of thanet was equipped with a small and precarious landing strip for aircraft at st mildreds bay, westgate, on top of the chalk cliffs, at the foot of which was a promenade which had been used for seaplane operations. the landing grounds atop the cliff soon became the scene of several accidents, with at least one plane seen to fail to stop before the end of the cliffs and tumble into the sea, which for the fortunate pilot had been on its inward tide. in the winter of 1915-1916 these early aircraft first began to use the open farmlands at manston as a site for emergency landings. thus was soon established the admiralty aerodrome at manston. it was not long after this that the training school, set up originally to instruct pilots in the use of the new handley page bombers, was established, and so by the close of 1916 there were already two distinct units stationed at manston, the operational war flight command and the handley page training school. its location near the kent coast gave manston some advantages over the other previously established aerodromes and regular additions in men and machinery were soon made, particularly, in these early days, from detling. by 1917 the royal flying corps was well established and taking an active part in the defence of england. at a time when zeppelin raids were bringing the war directly to english civilians, daylight bombing raids by german 'gotha' bombers, a twin engined biplane, would have been considerably more effective were it not for the rfc's presence at manston. the german air raids had lasted for thirteen weeks, the last being on 22 august 1917. on this occasion, of the 15 bombers that set out for england five did not reach the kent coast, and the 'spirited' intervention from manston based fighters prevented those remaining from flying further west, three being destroyed outright and the remaining seven returning to germany with dead and wounded on board. shortly after such formation raids and in consequence the
1916_establishments_in_the_United_Kingdom 1996_disestablishments Airports_established_in_1916 Closed_facilities_of_the_United_States_Air_Force_in_the_United_Kingdom Royal_Air_Force_stations_in_Kent Royal_Air_Force_stations_of_World_War_II_in_the_United_Kingdom Royal_Naval_Air_Stations_in_Kent Thanet