RAF Manston

RAF Manston
Manston, Kent in England
Arise to Protect
RAF Manston Location in Kent
Coordinates	51°20′53″N 1°21′00″E / 51.348°N 1.350°E / 51.348; 1.350
Type	Royal Air Force station
Code	MQ[1]
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence (MoD)
Operator	Royal Naval Air Service (1916–1918) Royal Air Force (1918–1952) and (1958–1999) United States Air Force (1952–1958)
Controlled by	RAF Fighter Command 1939–?? * No. 11 Group RAF
Condition	Closed
Site history
Built	1916 (1916)
Built by	Various & John Laing & Son Ltd
In use	1916–1999 (1999)
Fate	Airfield amalgamated with Kent International Airport. Remainder of site retained by the MOD as the Fire Service Central Training Establishment which subsequently became the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre.
Battles/wars	First World War European theatre of World War II Cold War
Airfield information
Elevation	46 metres (151 ft)[1] AMSL

Royal Air Force Manston or more simply RAF Manston is a former Royal Air Force station located in the north-east of Kent, at grid reference TR334663 on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site was split between a commercial airport Kent International Airport (KIA), since closed, and a continuing military use by the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre (DFTDC), following on from a long-standing training facility for RAF firefighters at the RAF Manston base.