Manston was where I flew for the first time with 1 AEF in 1976. I can still remember the Belfasts parked on the opposite side of the airfield, the chicken curry in the Airmen's mess on a Sunday lunchtime and lining up in the kitchen to get a fried egg straight from the pan at breakfast when we did a weekend camp there. The chef's assistant was apparently an ex-POW from during the Battle of Britain who stayed in the UK after the war. Might have been a tall tale but as I remember him, he would have been about the right age then.
Ninety odd glider launches from there as well. I visit what is left whenever I can when visiting Kent, its sad to see it going down the pan, although that said, communication links in north-east Kent are a lot better than they used to be and presumably can only get better.