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.
Colonel Jiří NIEDOBA, Defence Attaché for the Czech Republic and Chief Warrant Officer Tomáš KAŠPAR, Defence Attaché's Assistant, paid respects to Kenley's Czechoslovak service personnel on 8th October, 2020, at St. Luke's, Whyteleafe and RAF Kenley.
Sergeant Edward Brayley was the son of Alfred (a motor engineer) and Sarah Brayley, of Shrewsbury, Shropshire. He had an older brother, Clifford and a younger sister Margaret.
On 13th October, 1941, Sgt. Edgar Purton Jackson of 452 squadron RAAF was shot down on his first operational sortie and lost in the Channel. He was 21 years old..
On 29th September, 1944, five men perished in Avro Anson NK607, as it hit a tree in thick cloud and crashed in woods, somewhere within the grounds of an Army Ordnance Depot, near Dean Lane, Merstham, about three miles from RAF Kenley.
The Lord Mayor of London, Alderman William Russell, visited Kenley Common on 21st September, 2020, to see the work done on Kenley Common as part of the Kenley Revival Project.
The Kenley Revival Project came about through enormous passion for the site, a hefty dose of naïveté and winning the lottery.
Junius Lyman Edward Hokan was born in St. Catherines, Ontario, on 4th March, 1922. He invented a navigational device for bomber pilots and is believed to have been the RCAF's first Canadian-born black pilot.
