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RAF Kingsnorth (World War II)

释义

Overview
RAF Fighter Command use
USAAF use
36th Fighter Group
Civil use
Directions
See also
References
External links

{{For|other stations named RAF Kingsnorth|RAF Kingsnorth (disambiguation){{!}}RAF Kingsnorth}}{{Use British English|date=May 2013}}{{Infobox military structure
|name= Royal Air Force Kingsnorth
USAAF Station AAF-418
|ensign=
|location= Located Near Kingsnorth, Kent, United Kingdom
|coordinates={{coord |51|6|18|N|0|53|20|E|type:airport_region:GB-KEN|display=inline,title}}
|image= Kingsnorth-12may44.jpg
|image_size= 300px
|caption= Kingsnorth airfield, 12 May 1944, photo oriented to the west (top), taken about three weeks before D-Day. The crossroads in the middle of the picture is Bliby Corner, with Sevington Lane running left-right and Chequertree Lane going top-bottom.
|type= Military airfield
|code=KN
|built=1944
|builder=
|materials=
|height=
|used=1944
|demolished=
|condition=
|ownership=
|controlledby= Royal Air Force (1944)
United States Army Air Forces (1944)
|garrison=RAF Fighter Command
Ninth Air Force
|commanders=
|occupants=Nos. 65, 122 and 602 squadrons
36th Fighter Group
|battles= European Theatre of World War II
Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945
|pushpin_map= Kent
|pushpin_label = RAF Kingsnorth
|pushpin_map_caption= RAF Kingsnorth, shown within Kent
}}

RAF Kingsnorth was a World War II airfield in Kent, England. The former Royal Air Force station was at Bliby Corner approximately {{convert|2|mi|km}} southeast of Ashford; about {{convert|50|mi|km}} southeast of London. It is not to be confused with RNAS Kingsnorth, later RAF Kingsnorth, which was an airship station in operation during and after World War I.

Opened in 1943, Kingsnorth was one of a number of prototype temporary Advanced Landing Ground airfields to be built in France after D-Day, as the Allied forces moved east across France and Germany. Kingsnorth was used by British, Dominion and the United States Army Air Forces until it was closed in September 1944.

Today the airfield is agricultural land with few remains visible on the ground, although sections of the runways can clearly be made out on aerial and satellite photos.

Overview

The USAAF Ninth Air Force required several temporary Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) along the channel coast prior to the June 1944 invasion of Normandy to provide tactical air support for the ground forces landing in France.

RAF Fighter Command use

RAF units and aircraft
Unit	Dates	Aircraft	Variant	Notes
No. 19 Squadron RAF	August–September 1943	Supermarine Spitfire	IX	^[1]
No. 65 Squadron RAF	July–October 1943	Supermarine Spitfire	IX	^[2]
No. 122 Squadron RAF	July–October 1943	Supermarine Spitfire	IX	^[3]
No. 184 Squadron RAF	August 1943	Hawker Hurricane	IV	^[4]
No. 602 Squadron RAF	July–August 1943	Supermarine Spitfire	VB	^[5]

USAAF use

Kingsnorth was known as USAAF Station AAF-418 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its USAAF Station Code was "KN".

36th Fighter Group

The availability date of 1 April 1944 was achieved and between the 4th and 6th of that month approximately 1,500 men of the 36th Fighter Group arrived at Kingsnorth airfield from Scribner Army Airfield, Nebraska. Operational fighter squadrons and fuselage codes were:

22d Fighter Squadron (3T)
23d Fighter Squadron (7U)
53d Fighter Squadron (6V)

The 36th Fighter Group was part of the 303d Fighter Wing, XIX Tactical Air Command.

Movement to the Continent commenced during the first week of July when the 53rd Fighter Squadron transferred to its Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) at Brucheville, France (ALG A-16) as a forward base. The other two squadrons continued to operate from Kingsnorth until early August, the main body of the group preparing to move on the 2nd. Within a few days all personnel were gone and the airfield was deserted.

Civil use

With the facility released from military control, the former airfield was returned rapidly to agricultural use and within a very short period there was little to indicate that RAF Kingsnorth had existed. Today the only evidence of the airfield's existence is a slight outline of the southeast end of runway 13, visible in aerial photographs.

Directions

Kingsnorth Airfield is on the east side of the A2070 just south of Ashford, about 1 mile south of Bad Munsterfeld road just after the loop heading southwards. The main airfield was in the field northwest of Bliby Corner crossroads, although the runways can be traced to south of Chequertree Lane.

References

Notes

1. ^Jefford 1988, p.30
2. ^Jefford 1988, p.45
3. ^Jefford 1988, p.58
4. ^Jefford 1988, p.66
5. ^Jefford 1988, p.98

Bibliography

Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle {{ISBN|0-900913-80-0}}
Freeman, Roger A. (1996) The Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent-World War Two. After the Battle {{ISBN|1-85409-272-3}}
Jefford, C G. RAF Squadrons, first edition 1988, Airlife Publishing, UK, {{ISBN|1-85310-053-6}}.
Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. {{ISBN|0-89201-092-4}}.
USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present
British Automobile Association (AA), (1978), Complete Atlas of Britain, {{ISBN|0-86145-005-1}}

External links

{{Commons category|RAF Kingsnorth (WWII)}}{{USAAF 9th Air Force UK}}{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2011}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsnorth}}

2 : Airfields of the IX Fighter Command in the United Kingdom|Royal Air Force stations in Kent

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