Flying Officer Douglas Russell Manley was born 27th September 1922, in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada. He was working as a gas station attendant in his hometown when he enlisted in the RCAF.
On 4th November, 1920, Flying Officer Harold Oliver Prout AFC and his observer, Flying Officer Horace Edgar Fenwick, were on the return leg of a trip to Winchester when they arrived back at Kenley, at 5pm, to find the airfield shrouded in thick fog.
On 4th November, 1920, Flying Officer Harold Oliver Prout AFC and his observer, Flying Officer Horace Edgar Fenwick, were on the return leg of a trip to Winchester when they arrived back at Kenley, at 5pm, to find the airfield shrouded in thick fog....
There will be no formal wreath laying ceremony at Kenley Airfield's 'Tribute' this year, but wreaths can be laid throughout the day, on Remembrance Sunday.
On 31st October, 1941, Nos. 485 and 602 squadrons took off from Kenley at 3.40pm, under the command of their Wing Leader, Edgar Norman Ryder DFC and Bar for Circus 109.
On 19th October, 1945, No.435 squadron, RCAF, had only been at Croydon for a few days when one of their Dakotas (KG439) stalled and dived into the front garden of a house in Mitchley Avenue, Sanderstead, not long after take-off.
On 20th October, 1944, at 20.09hrs, Batt.2./Art.Abt.(mot) 485 under the command of Hauptmann Neusch, launched the first V2 to land in the Croydon area.
On 24th October, 1922, Pilot Officer Matthew Charles Hayter became the first of roughly half a dozen members of No.24 squadron to be killed in flying accidents during the squadron's long stay at Kenley, between 1920 and 1927.
On Sunday 24th October, 1943, the 403 squadron, RCAF, Operations Record Book records the loss of F/L Herbert John Southwood, who went missing in the vicinity of Doullens, France.
On Friday 14th October, 1939, Leslie Victor Knights (30), his wife Queenie Hilda Mary Knights (28),and their two children John (5) and Doris Jeanette (14 months), were found dead from gas poisoning at their home at Parkway, Addington. The chain of events which led to this tragedy had begun with the seemingly trivial matter of a wrongly addressed letter..
Ex-Corporal Patrick Honey served as a regular in the RAF from 1952 until 1964. He wasn't stationed at RAF Kenley as such but was in command of the Air Ministry Registry Post Office in Flintfield House from 1961-1964.
