Did you know Guilton had a WW1 Airfield?

The Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust has provided the Parish Council with a commemorative plaque to display to honour this historic site.

Today the site is private farmland so the Parish Council decided to erect the plaque at Pound Corner, a space dedicated as a quiet place of reflection for the Parish, for greater visibility.

The “Ash, an East Kent Village” book (copies available from The Heritage Centre) provides the following information:

“In 1916 ‘Guilton Aerodrome’ was laid out on 25 acres of grassland east of Overland Lane, with a staff of two airmen billeted at Overland Farm, a wooden hut and a windsock, as an emergency landing-ground for No 50 Home Defence Squadron RFC, based from 1915 at Bekesbourne to intercept raiding Zeppelins. It was guarded by three 13-pdr field guns. The duty airman had to put out acetylene lamps round a chalk circle and move a T-shaped tarpaulin as the wind changed, to show pilots of aeroplanes where and in which direction to land.”

More information on the Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust may be found here: https://www.abct.org.uk/