Lympne was also to have been the landing place for a German aircraft used in a plot to kidnap Adolf Hitler, with preparations made by the Royal Air Force for his arrival.

Problems with waterlogging of the grass runway and the refusal of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation to upgrade the airfield led to Silver City transferring operations to Lydd (Ferryfield) in 1954.

[2] Lympne was established in March 1916 as an Emergency Landing Ground for the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) home defence fighters defending London against Zeppelins and Gothas.

120 Squadron RAF flew air mail services between Lympne and Cologne, Germany, using de Havilland DH.9 aircraft fitted with Beardmore Halford Pullinger engines.

[4] In May 1919, Lympne was one of the first four customs and excise "Appointed Aerodromes" in the United Kingdom;[11] along with Hadleigh in Suffolk, Hounslow Heath in Middlesex and New Holland in Lincolnshire.

[13] On 1 May the ban on civilian flying was lifted and a Sopwith Gnu was flown from Hounslow Heath to Lympne carrying a cargo of newspapers during that first day.

[33] By November, the Instone Air Line were operating a service from Croydon to Cologne using de Havilland DH.18 aircraft, stopping at Lympne to refuel to full capacity.

[36] A Junkers F.13 called at Lympne on 10 January 1923 to clear customs and then flew to Croydon where it was inspected by Secretary of State for Air Sir Samuel Hoare.

[52] During the General Strike of 1926, which ran from 3–13 May, the Daily Mail was printed in Paris and flown from there to Lympne on Handley Page W.10 Imperial Airways aircraft.

[57] In February it was reported that a Notice to Airmen had been issued stating that aircraft coming from the Continent in conditions of poor visibility in which the radio was not functioning correctly should land at Lympne, where repair facilities were available.

[63] In December, a Notice to Airmen informed that in foggy weather the position of Lympne would be indicated by flares fired from the ground, to be seen by aircraft flying in the vicinity.

[64] The Notice to Airmen was quickly amended to state that the firing of red flares would be reserved to indicate that an aircraft was being instructed not to land at the airfield in question.

Lympne was to remain the reporting place on the English side but, in Belgium and France, the Ostend and St Inglevert airfields were joined by semaphore stations at Village de Baracques, Calais and Cap d’Alprech, Boulogne.

[67] On 17 May, Lady Heath landed at Lympne after crossing the Channel during her 10,000 mi (16,000 km) flight to Croydon from Cape Town, South Africa.

[69] Towards the end of the camp Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill and Under Secretary of State for Air Sir Philip Sassoon inspected both squadrons and were entertained at a dinner.

[87] On 7 March 1933, the system for non-radio aircraft proved effective when a de Havilland DH.60 Moth of British Air Transport failed to arrive at Lympne.

[113] On 12 March 1938, Captain Davis, managing director of the Cinque Ports Flying Club, was killed in an accident shortly after take-off from Lympne.

A man by the name of Kiroff had given information to the British Military Attaché in Sofia, Bulgaria, that he was the brother-in-law of Hans Baur, the personal pilot of Hitler.

Consideration was given to building four runways at Lympne, with the longest being 6,000 ft (1,800 m), but it was noted that serious demolition work would be required and a number of roads would need to be closed.

[130][132] Charter airline Air Kruise (Kent) Ltd was established at Lympne by Wing Commander Hugh Kennard and in September it was reported that the company had received the first civilian Miles Messenger aircraft.

[137] In July 1948, Silver City Airways started an aerial car ferry service from Lympne to Le Touquet using Bristol Freighter aircraft.

[150] In July, the members of Folkestone Town Council visited the Ministry of Civil Aviation in London to discuss the purchase of Lympne Airport.

[162] A trial run took place on 21 September[163] and Skyways holding company, Eric Rylands Ltd, bought Lympne from the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation in 1956.

[162] In December, it was announced that an experimental scheme to allow British and Irish subjects to make day-trips abroad without needing a passport was to be introduced on a limited number of routes, including Lympne–Beauvais.

Aircraft that entered production after competing at the Light Aviation Trials include the Avro Avian, Blackburn Bluebird and Westland Widgeon, although these had larger engines.

In 1930 the Fokker F VIIA (G-EBTS) The Spider flown by Charles Douglas Barnard and R F Little, with Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford as passenger, left Lympne for Maitland Airport, Cape Town, which was reached in a record 100 hours.

[212] On 11 April 1933, William Newton Lancaster departed Lympne in an Avro Avian V (G-ABLK) Southern Cross Minor to beat Amy Johnson's UK-South Africa record.

[214] On 2 November 1934, Owen Cathcart Jones and Ken Waller landed at Lympne in a de Havilland Comet (G-ACSR) after a record breaking flight from Australia to the United Kingdom.

[215] Harry Frank Broadbent landed at Lympne in a DH.85 Leopard Moth (VH-AHB) on arrival from Australia on 27 April 1937, filmed by Gaumont News, and an Australia-UK record was set.

[224] Silver City Airways moved to Lympne in 1948, operating Bristol Freighter Mk.21 aircraft and an aerial car ferry to Le Touquet started on 13 July 1948.