RAF Gravesend

RAF Gravesend stood on the southern bank of the Thames in Kent, beginning life in 1932 as a civil aerodrome before the Royal Air Force took it over in 1937. Through the Second World War it served as a fighter station within No. 11 Group of Fighter Command, operating as a forward and satellite field in the Biggin Hill sector that guarded the approaches to London and the south-east.

The airfield played a busy part in the Battle of Britain during 1940, with Hawker Hurricanes of No. 32 and No. 501 Squadrons and other day-fighter units flying from it; later in the war Supermarine Spitfires of squadrons such as No. 72, No. 66 and No. 92 were stationed there. Pilots based at Gravesend included James “Ginger” Lacey of No. 501 Squadron, one of the highest-scoring fighter aces of the battle. The station also supported the 1942 Dieppe operation and handled Polish and other Allied fighter squadrons, and at one point flew the North American Mustang III.

Flying continued for some years after the war, but the station closed in 1956. The site was subsequently built over as the Riverview Park housing estate, and little of the original airfield survives; a memorial commemorates the airmen who served and died there.