Kent International Airport Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Kent International Airport is an airport, formerly a Royal Air Force aerodrome, in Kent, England. It was formerly called Manston Airport.At the outset of the Great War, the Isle of Thanet was equipped with a small and precarious landing strip for aircraft at Westgate, above the cliffs at the foot of the sea where a seaplane had been based at the end of the promenade.
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 their 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' 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 on 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 the home civilian population, German daylight bombing raids by the 'Gotha' Bomber, a twin engined biplane, would have been considerably more destructive without the RFC's presence and Manston's decisive involvement.
The German air raids had lasted for thirteen weeks, the last being on 22nd august 1917. On this occasion, of the 15 bombers that set out for England five did not even reach the Kent coast, and the 'spirited' intervention from Manston prevented those remaining from getting very far inland at all, three of them being destroyed outright with the remaining seven sent scurrying back to Germany with dead and wounded on board.
Shortly after and as a consequence the Cabinet recommended the creation of a separate Air Ministry. The RAF thereafter being officially formed on 1st of April 1918.
An item of some interest and great curiosity relating to the slightly later history of Manston and its personnel, stands out for being part of the long list of inspired rescues off the Thanet coast. A link between the airfield and the Goodwin Sands is revealed in the pages of: The History of R.A.F Manston by Flt. Lt. Rocky Stockman RAF, and is told by Wing Commander Bryson who recalled an adventure at sea involving the high speed launches stationed at Ramsgate Harbour in 1936 for duty with the no. 48 (gr) Squadron.
He reports: "we had two of these launches, equipped with old areo engines by a firm in Cowes - they had never run for more than 15 minutes without conking out. One afternoon the Royal Temple Yacht Club had a race from Ramsgate. A squall blew up and the yachts ran aground on the treacherous quicksands. With trepidation I ordered out the two high speed rescue launches, which, miraculously, managed to keep going and rescued the boats? - as if old Culmer White had been watching over them!"
RAF Manston continued these maritime traditions with its Air-Sea Rescue helicopters and teams into our contemporary lives, adding a priceless additional element to the Counties emergency services.
During the long period of the Cold War the American Strategic Air Command chose Manston as a base for its fighter and fighter bomber units. Each unit serving just 90 days on a temporary and rotational basis, and in conjunction with RAF Fighter Command.
From July 1950 to June 1958 USAAF fighters, fighter bombers, Thunderstreaks, Sabrejets, T6's, T33's all with support aircraft, and air sea rescue Albatross 'amphibians', were operational on a daily basis at Manston, which became a joint civilian and RAF airport from 1960, and thus employed in tourism and trading freight, alongside its continuing role as an RAF base.
From 1989 Manston became known as the Kent International Airport, and was given a new terminal, officially opened that year by the Duchess of York.
Manston has also been listed by NASA as an emergency landing strip for the space shuttle program (which is itself has currently been suspended, pending reviews in safety).
Manston still has the fourth longest runway in the UK.
Source: Kent aviation: Roy Humphreys
Manston is now a commercial airport mostly serving freight customers. Development began in 2004 in an attempt to make it a budget airline hub similar to Luton Airport.
As local authorities produce a local plan, providing a framework for development, Thanet District Council in 1998 produced the Isle of Thanet local plan.
After this plan was published the Ministry of Defence announced plans to sell off RAF Manston, a wartime aerodrome, situated about 1000 metres off Ramsgate. After a ruling by the British Labour Government's Treasurer Mr. Gordon Brown, instructing government departments to generate money by the sale of surplus assets, in the style of the Thatcher government, Labour had duly replaced, the Ministry of Defence begun its sale of air-bases.
In the case of RAF Manston the then local MP, Dr. Steve Ladyman opposed the decision to sell the base to a property developer (Wiggins Group PLC). The ministry sold the site at the end of March, 1999 for the sum of £4.75M. The airfield comprises 700 acres (2.8 km²).
Recent History of Kent International Airport.
Kent International Airport is a 38 acre (150,000 m²) civilian complex situated within RAF Manston. Including the existing terminal building and a taxiway where passengers embark and freight planes may be loaded. The runway however, is not included within this enclave. In 1988 the owners of Kent International Airport negotiated a 125 year legal agreement with the RAF obliging the Air force to maintain the runway, the air-traffic control and to provide ongoing emergency services.
Whilst Manston remained an operational airbase the RAF were duty bound with these tasks, but, by the mid-1990's it had been decided that the airfield had declined in strategic importance.
The cost of providing runway maintenance, air-traffic control and Fire and Rescue services has been estimated at up to £3,000,000 per annum.
The RAF faced a compensation claim of £50-100 million if they then closed the base so terminating the agreement with Kent International Airport. The Wiggins Group so purchased the Kent International Airport and inhereted the legal agreement obliging the RAF to continue maintenance of the airfield. Within Six months the RAF announced that they were leaving the airfield and Wiggins were named as the successful bidders and so purchased the remainder of the airfield.
Manston has only one runway which points directly towards Ramsgate, a Victorian seaside resort of some 250,000 residents. The town is situated about half a mile from the Eastern end of the runway and one of the 3 nautical mile (6 km) runway approach routes lies diagonally across the town.
To one side of the runway lies the village of Cliffsend where housing extends to within 200 m of the runway.
A 1993 report from the Department of Trade and Industry examined runway capacity in the South East and found that Manston was unsuitable for development as a major airport considering this proximity to the town. Yet still the sale was hurried through, against the local councils plan and better judgement, at a loss of about £65,000,000.
In failing to distinguish between light, heavy, recreational and commercial aircraft movements however the Council have given the developers extensive scope to expand heavy aircraft operations without applying for planning permission.
In July 1998 the government brought out a white paper outlining its intention to develop an 'integrated transport strategy'. Friends of the Earth have called on the government to halt all sales of former RAF bases until the strategy document is ready. This is an Article on Kent International Airport. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Kent International Airport 1950-90 In brief.
1990-2005.