Royal Air Force Throwley or more simply RAF Throwley is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

(RAF) installation located south of

Throwley Throwley is an English village south of Faversham in the Borough of Swale in Kent. The name is recorded in the Domesday Book as Trevelai, which corresponds with a Brittonic origin, where "trev" means a settlement or farm house and "elai" typica ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and north of Ashford, Kent. The installation was also used by the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

and was previously called Throwley Aerodrome before being taken over by the RAF in April 1918 and renamed to its current name.

History

Land situated between Bells Forstal and Throwley Forstal, including Dodds Willows and the Bells Forstal farmhouse, was acquired by the

in 1916 for use as a landing ground for home defence squadrons defending

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinit ...

and Kent. From October 1916 50 Squadron RFC detached aircraft to Throwley. In July 1917 newly formed 112 Squadron was based with a variety of biplane fighters including the

Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristi ...

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

and

Sopwith Snipe The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe is a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War, and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of the ...

. In February 1918 143 Squadron was formed at Throwley flying the

Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 The Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 was a British two-seat general-purpose biplane built by Armstrong Whitworth during the First World War. The type served alongside the better known R.E.8 until the end of the war, at which point 694 F.K.8s remained ...

but it moved soon after to nearby

RAF Detling Royal Air Force Detling, or more simply RAF Detling, is a former Royal Air Force station situated above sea level, located near Detling, a village about miles north-east of Maidstone, Kent. It was a station of the Royal Naval Air Service (R ...

. 188 Squadron was formed at Throwley on 20 December 1917 as a training unit with the

Avro 504 The Avro 504 is a single-engine biplane bomber made by the Avro, Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during World War I totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind ...

K, in June 1918 the squadron provided training for the units flying the

. In March 1919 188 Squadron RAF was disbanded and in June 1919 112 Squadron RAF was disbanded and the land was returned to agricultural use.

Units and aircraft

* No. 50 Squadron RFC (1916–1918) detachments from Detling Aerodrome * No. 112 Squadron RFC/RAF (1918–1919)

and

* No. 142 Squadron RFC (1918)

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Reminisces of operations involving Throwley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Throwley Royal Air Force stations in Kent Royal Flying Corps airfields Royal Flying Corps airfields in Kent 1916 establishments in England 1919 disestablishments in England