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The remains of Battle Headquarters are on the northern side of the approach road, on private land off
Bimbury Lane. In and around the estate area are the remains of some 22 pillboxes, two Picket Hamilton
retractable forts, a 70ft x 13ft Seagull trench fortification, an ammunition store and two shelters. Click
on the link for pictures and locator: https://frontlineulster.co.uk/raf-detling/
However, the area will be completely transformed within a few years if a current planning application by
developers Quinn Estates is approved. Binbury [sic] Park, a massive garden village, would cover fields
either side of the estate and part of the showground with more than 1,700 homes, a business park,
schools, sports hubs and necessary alterations to the A249.
Whether the remnants of the wartime defence structure will survive is
unknown. Filmmaker and history enthusiast, Dan Osborne, of Phoenix
History, is allowing me to share video he shot in 2016 of Battle HQ:
https://youtu.be/X8dgvLIsY6M

British Pathé has footage of gliding at Detling in 1953: https://youtu.be/2KI-
wZytHQj8 and children racing in 1967: https://youtu.be/Z9xZBoeEXDc
With the disappearance of the last fragments of Detling’s historic air base,
the only lasting remembrance will be memorials at the showground and in
Detling village. An RAF memorial in Pilgrims Way, Detling,
commemorates all who served at the base between 1915 and 1945 and
was unveiled on September 6, 1998, by the Detling Airfield Veterans.

Kent County Agricultural Society put up a memorial outside its office on
the showground in July 2000 in
tribute to those who served on the site during World War Two and to
commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. It was unveiled
by Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Wilson.
There are plaques either side, one to Cpl Pearson GC and the other accompanying the Tommy ‘There
But Not There’ silhouette.
Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust, a charity campaigning to preserve the remaining defences, has
plans to erect the first memorial plaque at the main area of the airfield – close to the estate entrance and
Battle HQ. Its website is: https://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/detling/

Whatever happens to the remaining features, pause for a minute or two and think about what happened
in Newington and our surrounding villages 80 years ago. On September 15, Hitler realised the Luftwaffe
would not be able to destroy our air force and postponed his invasion plan, Operation Sea Lion, just two
days later.

Though the Battle of Britain continued until the end of October, the RAF had stood firm and saved
our Isles.
In researching this article I remembered that,
when I was growing up, the RAF held a fund-
raising flag week during September with paper
lapel badges in the design of two wings either
side of the RAF’s red, white and blue circles logo.
If you’re too young to remember charity flag
weeks – which, with the exception of the Royal
British Legion’s poppy fundraiser, have mostly
died out – they were popular during most of the
past century. In return for a small donation to a
street collector you’d receive a paper logo or
emblem of the charity along with a pin
enabling you to fix it to your lapel.