RAF Detling

RAF Detling sat on the North Downs near Detling in Kent, around four miles north-east of Maidstone. Flying had taken place on the site as far back as the First World War, but the station opened in its RAF form in September 1938. For most of the Second World War it served under Coastal Command’s No. 16 Group, flying maritime patrol, reconnaissance and anti-shipping work over the Channel and southern North Sea. No. 500 (County of Kent) Squadron was a long-standing resident, operating types such as the Avro Anson, while Bristol Blenheims and, briefly during 1940, Fleet Air Arm Swordfish and Skuas also worked from the field.

Standing close to the south coast, Detling was badly exposed during the Battle of Britain. On 13 August 1940 — the Luftwaffe’s “Adlertag” — a heavy raid wrecked hangars and destroyed many aircraft, killed the station commander in a direct hit on the operations room, and caused dozens of casualties. It was during this period that Corporal Daphne Pearson earned the George Cross for pulling an airman clear of a burning, bomb-laden aircraft.

Later in the war the airfield passed to Fighter Command and then to the Second Tactical Air Force ahead of the invasion of Europe. From early 1945 it wound down to care and maintenance, hosting RAF gliding schools until final closure in 1959. The land returned to other uses and today is best known as the showground for the annual Kent County Show.