Thong Lane

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Thong Lane

Gravesend Airport. During the years after the Great War of 1914 -1918 there was a surge of interest in aviationand many towns aspired to have their own airport. On 3rd June, 1932, two de Havilland "Puss Moth" aircraft arrived Piloted by. W.A.C. Kingham andMr. A.D. Carrol who were taking a final lookaround before taking over the site which was to become Gravesend Airport.  The site was 250ft.above sea level, which helped to keep it free fromfog, and it had an area of 148 acres with a run of850 yards in any direction.The Airport was to be run by a private Companywith Mr. Kingham and Mr. T.A.B. Ternam as jointManaging Directors and Mr. Carrol as chief flyinginstructor.  They had obtained the approval of theAir Ministry for the siting of the airport and fortheir plans for its future, which included acontrol tower combined with a clubhouse, hangarsand associated buildings.  It was arranged thatthe building work would be executed by Mr. HerbertGooding, a well-known local builder.  The Companyintended to run a flying school, and an air taxiservice, together with full aircraft servicingfacilities, but the future objective was to en-tourage airlines to use the airport as analternative landing place to Croydon.  it was thoughtthat big foreign airlines might be tempted tochange their London terminal.  Quite soon after the opening of the airport Mr.Gooding took over as Managing Director and underhis guidance the airport flourished and continuedto expand.  The largest building on the airport,a hangar 130ft. x 100ft. was completed at thistime.  During this period airliners from KLM,Lufthansa and Sabena used the airport. This airport had been named LondonEast-Gravesend, but in spite of this the expected enticement of airlines from Croydon did ^not materialise.  However, the airport flyingschool and the air taxis continued with varyingsuccess and it was possible to.. fly to Paris andreturn for £5.5/- (£5.25) or to Southend for5/- C25p).  Regular air shows were held andthese thrilled the crowds who flocked to see allthe usual "barn storming" acts".  Sir AlanCobham's air circus was the most regular. It was envisaged at this time that light aircraftwould be as common as motor cars and many smallfirms tried their hand at manufacturing aircraft.Some of these aircraft took their first flightfrom Gravesend and the most famous were thosefrom the works of Captain Edgar Percival whobuilt his aircraft in a hangar., on the airport.  In 1933, Percival Aircraft were leaders in theixfield and the "Mew Gulls" constructed at Gravesendwon many races and broke many 'records duringtheir lifetime.  Prominent pilots of the dayengaged in record-breaking attempts from Gravesendwere Amy Mollison (nee Johnson), Alex Henshaw,Alee Clouston and Captain Percival himself.Percival flew in a "Gull" of his own manufactureto North Africa and back in the same day duringJune 1936, whilst Amy Mollison1 flew a Percival"Gull" to Capetown, South Africa,and back in  May 1936 to break the existing record.  In March,1938, Alex Clouston together with his passenger,journalist Victor Ricketts, flew the famous deHavilland "Comet", G-ACSS (which had earlier wonthe England to Australia Air Race) and establishedten records in their England - New Zealand -England flight.  Alex Henshaw made his attempt ona record in February 1939 when he flew a "Mew Gull"to break the South Africa and return record time.After Henshaw’s flight the gathering war cloudsput further record attempts out of the question. during its existence the airport was often infinancial difficulties until in October, 1937,the Air Ministry opened No. 20 Elementary andReserve Flying Training School at the airport.The school, along with others, trained members ofthe Volunteer Reserve to fly during evenings andweekends, whilst regular members of the RAF andFleet Air Arm were trained during the day.The airport was taken over completely by the RAFwith the outbreak of war in September 1939 andthe first phase of its life came  to an end.Training of pilots continued until, in early1940, the airfield became a satellite station ofBiggin Hill and the aircraft now took on a wartimeappearance with Blenheim, Hurricane and Spitfirefighters appearing.  During the late summer andearly autumn of 1940 the aircraft flying from Gravesend took a prominent part in the Battle ofBritain, with many enemy aircraft tangling withthe Hurricanes of 501 Squadron and the Spitfiresof 66 Squadron.  Towards the end of 1940, Defiantnight fighters were based at Gravesend but hadonly limited success.  Various squadrons, allemploying differing marks of Spitfires were inoccupation during 1941 and most of 1942.  Dutieswere now switched from defence to attack andairmen from most of the Allied air forces servedon the airfield during this period.  In late 1942  the airfield was enlarged and the whole area waslinked by a concrete perimeter track withnumerous dispersal points.  The work was completed early in 1943.New types of aircraft now came to Gravesend,amongst them Typhoons, Mustangs and Mosquitoes.The Typhoons were used on ground attack dutiesover occupied Northern Europe and dealt severeblows to the enemy communications.  The Mustangscame to Gravesend in late 1943 and were used as Army co-operation aircraft.  April 1944 saw the squadrons of de Havilland Mosquitoes,comprisingNo. 140 Wing into Gravesend.  The Mosquito wasa direct decendant of the "Comet", which wasstill languishing, engineless, under a tarpaulinin one of the hangars on the airfield.  No. 140Wing carried out incessant sweeps over occupiedEurope up until the launching of the V-l weaponagainst England, shortly after D-Day.  AsGravesend was directly in the line of thisweapon's flight to London, the Mosquitoes wereposted elsewhere and operational flying fromGravesend ceased.  All through the war many air-craft found refuge at Gravesend, either asfugitives from bad weather or due to damagecaused by enemy action.  One Squadron stationedat Gravesend for a long period which deservesspecial mention is No. 277 Air/Sea Rescue Squadronwhich saved many lives whilst flying from Gravesend with its Walrus, Lysander and Defiantaircraft.With the end of the war in Europe in 1945 theairfield was placed on a care and maintenancebasis until its eventual sale to Dolphin Develop-ment Company in 1958.  It was originally sold inJune 1956 to Essex Aero Limited but this Companypassed into the hands of the Official Receiver.Dolphin Development Company built the large  private housing estate of Riverview Park on thesite of the old Airfield.Today, all that is left to connect the site withthe airfield are some lengths of perimeter trackand a plaque on the Thong Lane Sports Pavilion.This plaque commemorates eight pilots from 501Squadron and six pilots from 66 Squadron whodied during the Battle of Britain, whilst flyingfrom Gravesend Airfield.  

Yorkshire Grey

Denehole This chalkwell was encountered on a building estate on the old Gravesend Airport when footings of a semi detached house had broken into this excavation. The excavators of this chalkwell had encountered chalk at a depth of 3ft and had commenced their heading at a depth of 6ft or so. There is a slight subsoil here of 1ft 6in composed of clay. The height of the chambers was approximately 7ft from the floor, although this level had been shortened due to roof falls. Much broken chalk from the roof lay on the floor. Pick impressions were rather sparse, this was also due to the crumbly nature of the chalk which disintegrates readily. one chamber was extended to 22ft and there was an attempt to form a pillar. Approximately 200 tons of chalk have been won from this well. In land formerly held by the Earl of Darnley.