I add myself to the list of those sad to see Manston close, both from a sentimental point of view as one who has worked there and from a detatched angle as it hasn't been developed into a viable and sustainable business over the sixteen years or so since the RAF sold it to civil ownership.
My hope is that the current owners are serious in their willingness to sell it as an airfield and that we don't hear of half a dozen diggers arriving early one morning to start breaking up the hard surfaces and therefore make it unusable to anyone apart from land developers.