A number of experimental and prototype blimps were designed and tested there and until 1916, it was the lead airship training establishment in the Royal Naval Air Service.

Miskin, the landowner agreed to surrender his lease on Kingsnorth Farm so that an airship test hangar could be built.

[5] The C-Class airship (Coastal Class) type followed, with aircrews trained at the site until the then-named RNAS Cranwell took over this role mid-war.

[5] Testing of the NS-class airship (North Sea) also took place at RNAS Kingsnorth, with successful flight trials first completed in February 1917.

[9] By 1914, RNAS Kingsnorth was also home to a newly formed Naval Met Service, which provided weather information to airships operating locally over the North Sea.

A new development, called MedwayOne, is planned to include storage, a data centre, lorry park, and manufacturing space.