Royal Air Force Detling, or more simply RAF Detling, is a former Royal Air Force station situated 600 feet (180 m) above sea level, located near Detling, a village about 4 miles (6.4 km) miles north-east of Maidstone, Kent.
RAF Detling station badge, with motto: Dare to be wise
This Memprial Commemorates the Units and Squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Naval Air Service, the Fleet Air Arm, the Army and civilian personnel who served at Detling Air Field.
Corporal J. D. M. Pearson, GC, WAAF by Laura Knight (1940)
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force.
Personnel of No 1 Squadron RNAS in late 1914
Commander C. Samson of the RNAS takes off from HMS Hibernia in his modified Shorts S.38 “hydro-aeroplane” to be the first pilot to take off from a ship underway at sea.
Sopwith Triplanes from No. 1 (Naval) Squadron, in Bailleul, France. The aircraft nearest the camera (N5454) was primarily flown by ace Richard Minifie.
RNAS officer dropping a bomb from a SSZ class airship during the First World War.