Airframes
Benevolens Magister
The Hurricane & Spitfire Memorial Museum, and The RAF Manston History Museum.
Karl and I visited both of these Museums on September 11th, with the highlight of (and main reason for) our visit being the "flying" sessions in the superb Avro Lancaster simulator, and the Spitfire Mk.XVI cockpit simulator, of which more later.
Some of the photos and descriptions have already been posted in my "The Travels of Tel's Tin Tent" thread, but this thread is intended to provide more in-depth background on the Museums, their location and exhibits.
Both are relatively small Museums, literally next door to each other, and located on the northern edge of the perimeter track of this former RAF airfield, situated on the north east coast of the county of Kent, one mile north of the coastal town and port of Ramsgate.
The present airfield opened in 1915, originally as a Royal Naval Air Service station, and was expanded between the wars, when it became RAF Manston, originally still a grass airfield.
Possibly one of the most famous RAF airfields of WW2, Manston was heavily bombed during the Battle of Britain, but survived and continued to operate. It was from here, from 1941 onwards that many of the early fighter sweeps into France were launched, and the station continued to operate as a fighter base throughout the war, with aircraft such as Hurricanes, Spitfires and Typhoons regularly being based there.
Manston was the base used during the trials of the Barnes Wallis "Upkeep" mine, the famous "bouncing bomb" used against the Ruhr dams in 1943, when the Lancasters used in the trials took off from here to drop the weapons on the nearby Reculver range.
Later in WW2, the airfield was designated as one of three Emergency Landing Grounds (the others being Woodbridge, in Suffolk, and Carnaby in East Yorkshire), and the runway was surfaced and vastly extended, being 9,000 feet long, and 750 feet wide, with a further clear area at each end measuring 1,500 feet. This was to allow seriously damaged bombers to safely land, close to the coast, on their return from operations over Europe, and no doubt helped in saving numerous crews, both RAF and Allied.
The station was also used as one of the launch points during the "Market Garden" airborne operation to Holland in September 1944 and, earlier that year, in July, the first Gloster Meteor jet fighters in service arrived on the airfield, when RAF 616 Squadron took up residence.
Post war, the RAF continued operations at Manston, until the USAF used the airfield, operating such types a the B-47, F-84 and F-86.
By 1960, the USAF had moved out, and the airfield returned to RAF control, operating various types, including Whirlwind, Wessex and Sea King helicopters in the SAR role, and was also shared by civilian airlines operating "package holiday" flights.
In 1989, the airfield became known as Kent International Airport, with a new terminal building, and various charter and regular operators providing services, as well as general light aviation using the airfield.
Manston was also a Master Diversion Airfield, being open for emergencies 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
The RAF maintained a presence here, with the Defence Fire Training School providing fire and rescue training and development until its closure in 2021, the duties being taken over by the Army.
Although the airfield itself closed at this time, many aviation companies still use the facilities around the perimeter, and many WW2 era buildings and installations can still be seen. Manston was also one of the airfields considered as a "base" for the filming of the recent Apple TV mini-series "Master of the Air", although ultimately the former RAF airfield at Abingdon (now an Army base) was used instead.
It is believed that the airfield will re-open for civilian use with in the next couple of years.
I'll cover the Museums separately, the order that we visited them, as described below.
The Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum.
The first set of pics below show the location of Manston on the north east coast of Kent in relation to northern Europe, the airfield, and the location of the two Museums (note the main runway in the centre of the WW2 extended runway, and compare the width of the latter in relation to a "standard" runway).
Also shown are the exterior of the Museum building, some of the monuments outside the main entrance, and a general view of part of the excellent cafe, with a view of the adjacent RAF Manston History Museum, taken from the cafe terrace, and, finally, the Museum as seen from the perimeter track.
Much more to come, with the exhibits from this Museum, and the fantastic Lancaster simulator............
Karl and I visited both of these Museums on September 11th, with the highlight of (and main reason for) our visit being the "flying" sessions in the superb Avro Lancaster simulator, and the Spitfire Mk.XVI cockpit simulator, of which more later.
Some of the photos and descriptions have already been posted in my "The Travels of Tel's Tin Tent" thread, but this thread is intended to provide more in-depth background on the Museums, their location and exhibits.
Both are relatively small Museums, literally next door to each other, and located on the northern edge of the perimeter track of this former RAF airfield, situated on the north east coast of the county of Kent, one mile north of the coastal town and port of Ramsgate.
The present airfield opened in 1915, originally as a Royal Naval Air Service station, and was expanded between the wars, when it became RAF Manston, originally still a grass airfield.
Possibly one of the most famous RAF airfields of WW2, Manston was heavily bombed during the Battle of Britain, but survived and continued to operate. It was from here, from 1941 onwards that many of the early fighter sweeps into France were launched, and the station continued to operate as a fighter base throughout the war, with aircraft such as Hurricanes, Spitfires and Typhoons regularly being based there.
Manston was the base used during the trials of the Barnes Wallis "Upkeep" mine, the famous "bouncing bomb" used against the Ruhr dams in 1943, when the Lancasters used in the trials took off from here to drop the weapons on the nearby Reculver range.
Later in WW2, the airfield was designated as one of three Emergency Landing Grounds (the others being Woodbridge, in Suffolk, and Carnaby in East Yorkshire), and the runway was surfaced and vastly extended, being 9,000 feet long, and 750 feet wide, with a further clear area at each end measuring 1,500 feet. This was to allow seriously damaged bombers to safely land, close to the coast, on their return from operations over Europe, and no doubt helped in saving numerous crews, both RAF and Allied.
The station was also used as one of the launch points during the "Market Garden" airborne operation to Holland in September 1944 and, earlier that year, in July, the first Gloster Meteor jet fighters in service arrived on the airfield, when RAF 616 Squadron took up residence.
Post war, the RAF continued operations at Manston, until the USAF used the airfield, operating such types a the B-47, F-84 and F-86.
By 1960, the USAF had moved out, and the airfield returned to RAF control, operating various types, including Whirlwind, Wessex and Sea King helicopters in the SAR role, and was also shared by civilian airlines operating "package holiday" flights.
In 1989, the airfield became known as Kent International Airport, with a new terminal building, and various charter and regular operators providing services, as well as general light aviation using the airfield.
Manston was also a Master Diversion Airfield, being open for emergencies 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
The RAF maintained a presence here, with the Defence Fire Training School providing fire and rescue training and development until its closure in 2021, the duties being taken over by the Army.
Although the airfield itself closed at this time, many aviation companies still use the facilities around the perimeter, and many WW2 era buildings and installations can still be seen. Manston was also one of the airfields considered as a "base" for the filming of the recent Apple TV mini-series "Master of the Air", although ultimately the former RAF airfield at Abingdon (now an Army base) was used instead.
It is believed that the airfield will re-open for civilian use with in the next couple of years.
I'll cover the Museums separately, the order that we visited them, as described below.
The Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum.
The first set of pics below show the location of Manston on the north east coast of Kent in relation to northern Europe, the airfield, and the location of the two Museums (note the main runway in the centre of the WW2 extended runway, and compare the width of the latter in relation to a "standard" runway).
Also shown are the exterior of the Museum building, some of the monuments outside the main entrance, and a general view of part of the excellent cafe, with a view of the adjacent RAF Manston History Museum, taken from the cafe terrace, and, finally, the Museum as seen from the perimeter track.
Much more to come, with the exhibits from this Museum, and the fantastic Lancaster simulator............
