The USAAF Ninth Air Force required several temporary Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) along the channel coast prior to the June 1944 Normandy invasion to provide tactical air support for the ground forces landing in France.

The group consisted of the following operational squadrons and fuselage codes: On 30 June the 363rd was alerted for movement to the Continent, its new base being the airfield at Maupertus (ALG A-15), near Cherbourg.

Upon its release from military use, within a year there was little left to indicate that these 400 acres (1.6 km2) to the east of Staplehurst village had once been a thriving fighter airfield.

The location of the airfield can only be discerned by looking at the aerial photography and following the path of Chickenden Lane, which runs almost parallel the former main 10/28 runway.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency