It was opened in 1916 by the Royal Flying Corps as an acceptance point for aircraft being delivered to, and returned from, France.

Lympne was heavily bombed during the Battle of Britain, putting the base out of action for a number of weeks.

It was to have been the landing point for a German aircraft in a plot to kidnap Adolf Hitler involving the defection of pilot Hans Baur.

Later in the war, Lympne was used as an Emergency Landing Ground for bombers returning from raids in Europe.

Work began on creating a landing ground at Folks Wood, Lympne in the autumn of 1915.

[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 Gotha bombers.

By October 1916 Bessonneau hangars and other technical buildings had been erected and Lympne Castle was being used as an officers mess[3] and No.

[2][8] In August 1917 questions were asked in Parliament by Peter Kerr-Smiley about the lack of leave for RFC Lympne pilots who had not had any in over a year.

69 Squadron RAF arrived on 24 August equipped with the Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8 and departed on 9 September.

120 Squadron returned and flew air mail services between Lympne and Cologne, Germany, during July and August 1919 using DH.9 aircraft fitted with B.H.P.

[12] In August 1919, the Royal Air Force (RAF) – as the RFC had by then become, moved out of Lympne, and it was turned over to civilian use,[6] although 120 Squadron did not depart until 21 October.

[16] In August 1935, 601 (County of London) Squadron AuxAF held its annual camp at Lympne.

[23] In September 1939, the base was renamed HMS Daedalus II,[24] recommissioning on 1 January 1940 and known as Royal Naval Aircraft Training Establishment Lympne (or simply RNATE Lympne), responsiblefor the Technical training of Air Apprentices and Air Fitters,[22] but was transferred back to the RAF in May 1940.

[4] During Operation Dynamo in May 1940, a French Air Force squadron with its Bloch and Potez fighters was based at Lympne.

[4] During the Battle of Britain Lympne was a satellite airfield for the stations of 11 Group, being used as a forward stage for flights and not the base for any squadron.

[28] On 15 August 1940 during the Battle of Britain, Lympne was bombed by Stuka dive-bombers of II Gruppe, StG1.

All the hangars were hit and those aircraft belonging to Cinque Ports Flying Club that had not been evacuated to Sywell were destroyed in the fire.

[29] Lympne was evacuated and only available as an Emergency Landing Ground until mid-September, when a flight of Spitfires from 91 Squadron arrived.

[26] In 1941, Lympne was to be the destination for the landing of an aircraft carrying Adolf Hitler in a daring kidnap plot.

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.

He stated that Baur was planning to defect using Hitler's aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 200, with him on board.

The RAF made plans to receive the aircraft at Lympne and 25 March was the date that the defection was expected to occur.

[24] Typhoons from 1 Squadron were based at Lympne from March 1942 to February 1944 to counter the thread posed by the Luftwaffe's newly introduced Focke-Wulf Fw 190s.

[4] 609 squadron operated missions in preparation for D-Day, participating in attacks against "Doodlebug" launch sites in the Pas de Calais.

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