On 16th May, 1934, six Bristol Bulldogs of No.3 Squadron, took off from RAF Kenley and headed towards Merstham for formation flying practice around noon. One section of three aircraft were performing a loop in close formation over Alderstead Heath when the wingtip of one machine touched the tail of the machine in front causing both planes to turn inward and collide head on.
My father, Michael Foster, spent his Initial Training Wing (ITW) at Kenley in 1941. The following information comes from his letters home to his parents in Kirton, Lincolnshire. He was nineteen, fresh out of Boston Grammar School and had volunteered for the Royal Air Force. Along with thousands of other young men he followed the prescribed local selection routes until he was sent to London for pre-selection before eventually being sent to Kenley, but reaching Kenley had not been a straightforward process.
Gunner Ronald George Bantick, of the 327 Battery, 31 (6th Bn. City of London Regt.) Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery, was fatally injured when a High Explosive bomb exploded at RAF Kenley at 8.35pm on 12th November, 1940.
Corporal John Martin Mulligan was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic section of Whalley New Road cemetery in Blackburn, Lancashire. Despite the uncertainty about the date of his birth, this Great War survivor and father of two cannot have been much older than 30.
On 4th December Kenley Revival team were "highly commended" in the "Best Team" category at the London Heritage Volunteer Awards!
There are eight airmen buried at St. John's, Old Coulsdon. Only one of them is associated with RAF Kenley.
Caterham and Warlingham Burial Ground is the final resting place of around a dozen RAF personnel that we know of. Two of "The Few" are buried there and several civilian casualties whose stories have been told elsewhere on this website.
There are five RAF servicemen buried in All Saints churchyard, Warlingham, whose graves are in the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. None of them are associated with RAF Kenley.
Two incidents in 1917-18 revealed the presence of a Victoria Cross holder at No.7 Aircraft Acceptance Park, Kenley. The officer in question was Lieutenant Gabriel George Coury VC. His Victoria Cross had been awarded for actions at Arrow Head Copse on the Somme on 8th August 1916, when Coury was in command of a half-company of pioneers tasked with digging communications trenches.
