Early war planes start to use the open fields at Manston in preference to the cliff-side airstrip at St Mildred's Bay.
Two distinct units stationed at Manston, the Operational War Flight Command and the Handley Page Training School.
The Royal Flying Corps was well established and taking an active part in the defence of England.
Manston was heavily bombed and airfield buildings destroyed during the Battle of Britain.
During the Cold War the United States Air Force used Manston as a Strategic Air Command base for its fighter and fighter-bomber units.
With the USAF's withdrawal from Manston, the airfield became a joint civilian and RAF airport and was thence employed for occasional package tour and cargo flights, alongside its continuing role as an RAF base.
Manston became styled as Kent International Airport, and a new terminal was officially opened that year by the Duchess of York.
It was decided to close the RAF Manston base. The 'airside' portion of the base was signed over to the commercial operator of Kent International Airport. The MOD decided to keep the central fire training school (CTE) facility open, and almost the entirety of the 'domestic' side of the base became FSCTE Manston (Fire Service Central Training Establishment).
The proposed airport at Cliffe comes as a surprise.
New apron and taxiway - 10 acres of concrete, £8 million.
Manston snubbed by Goverment airport planners.
EUjet start operating as an airline.
Manston fined £52k for breaching S106.
PlaneStation buys 30% of EUjet.
EUjet starts flying from Manston to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Dublin, Nice and Girona. KCC have invested £100k in EUjet.
PlaneStation by the 70% of EUjet that they don't already own.
Cllr Sandy Ezekiel pledged that the local authority would "go into hard negotiations" with the airport owners over a revised Section 106.
EUjet and PlaneStation go into administration owing £25m. KCC lose their/our £100k.
Infratil buy Manston from the administrators for £17m.
Cllr Alex King criticised for his £100k punt - in view of a warning from officers that any investment would be "high risk", the decision "beggared belief".
KCC's investment in EUjet now reported to have been £121k. KCC have spent £50k in consultants' fees looking at trans-Atlantic flights, and have allocated £265k for the Virginia venture.
Manston's 30 year old radar disabled by lightning strike.
Flights to Virginia announced - planned to start May 2007.
Cosmos start taking bookings for flights to Virginia in May 2007.
Manston say state-of-the-art replacement radar will be installed by the end of the year.
Cosmos pulls the plug on Virginia flights, having sold 800 of the necessary 100,000 tickets.
Boris Johnson announces Boris Island.
Seguro Travel, operating out of Manston, goes bust leaving 2,400 people abroad and scrapping holidays booked by a further 17,000 people.
Manston's 25 year MasterPlan forecasts 6 million passengers and half a million tonnes of freight by 2033