22 Squadron RAF moved to the airfield on 10 March 1938 firstly using Vickers Vildebeest and then the Bristol Beaufort.

It was possibly during this time when Flying Officer Kenneth Campbell won his Victoria Cross for a daring attack on the German battleship Gneisenau which was located in Brest harbour during April 1941, which took his life.

53 Squadron RAF was operating the Hawker Hector from the airfield firstly between 24 November 1940 and 20 March 1941 before re-turning on 29 April 1943 staying until 25 September 1943 using the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.

59 Squadron RAF moved in to Thorney island on 3 July 1940, initially flying anti-submarine patrols and bombing raids against the German invasion ports with Bristol Blenheims but left on 23 June 1941.

236 Squadron RAF was operational during the Battle of Britain as on 4 July 1940 it moved to the airfield using Bristol Blenheims carrying out anti-shipping patrols.

The squadron changed aircraft in October 1941 to Bristol Beaufighters before moving to RAF Wattisham in February 1942.

404 Squadron RCAF formed at RAF Thorney Island on 15 April 1941 conducting coastal patrols flying the Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV, Bristol Beaufighter[16] and the de Havilland Mosquito Mk.VI[17] before moving to RAF Davidstow Moor on 20 June 1941.

407 Coastal Strike Squadron (RCAF) was formed at Thorney Island on 8 May 1941, first training on the Bristol Blenheim.

On 29 January 1943 it was re-designated 407 General Reconnaissance Squadron, and for the remainder of the war it protected friendly shipping from the U-boat threat operating the Vickers Wellington.

[22] + data from[8] The airfield was also used by squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm for instance, in April 1945 703 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) was reformed as the "Air Sea Warfare Development Unit" at RAF Thorney Island to conduct experimental trials on a large variety of aircraft including the Grumman Avenger, Fairey Barracuda, Fairey Firefly and de Havilland Sea Mosquito.

Equipped with Bristol Beaufighter TF.10, it was a strike unit in RAF Coastal Command until disbanded on 15 October 1947.

A mistake in embroidery work resulted in a batch of Squadron badges bearing the title '242 Operational Conversation Unit'.

[28] The first Lockheed C-130 Hercules was delivered on 7 April 1967 by a Royal Air Force crew from the United States of America and shared the airfield with the Armstrong Whitworth AW.660 Argosy and later the Hawker Siddeley Andover C.1 which was operated by No.

Subsequently, the Royal Navy expressed an interest in utilising the base, but in 1980 West Thorney became host to many hundreds of Vietnamese refugee families, accepted by the United Kingdom for resettlement.