There are at least two of RAF West Malling buildings remaining. The Control Tower (now a coffee bar) and the Officers Mess (now council offices)'
An interesting wartime story -
German Landing, April 1943
On a misty evening on 16 April 1943 a single-engined aircraft was heard approaching the airfield by the crew of a Beaverette Mk III armoured car of 2769 Field Squadron RAF Regiment, which was on routine patrol around the airfield. The plane, a German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter, circled twice and then landed. The driver of the armoured car, AC Wilding immediately swung his vehicle into the path of the aircraft to prevent it from taking off again. With no means to escape, the pilot, Feldwebel Otto Bechtold, immediately gave himself up. Driving back to the airfield from the Guardroom, they saw a second Focke-Wulf Fw 190 land, but before the armoured car could reach it, the pilot realised his mistake and turned his aircraft around to begin a take-off run. The car commander, LAC Sharback, at once opened fire with his twin Vickers machine guns and the aircraft slewed off the runway and caught fire. The pilot, wounded in the shoulder and leg and with his flying suit in flames, was thrown clear of the aircraft as it overturned. The two gunners ran to the pilot's rescue, extinguished his burning clothing and dragged him clear of the aircraft. Unfortunately, when one of the Station's fire trucks was attempting to extinguish the flames, the aircraft exploded in a ball of fire, scattering debris over a radius of 300 yards and seriously injuring several of the RAF Firemen. Within a few minutes, a third Fw 190 crashed on the approach to the runway and a fourth aircraft ploughed into a nearby orchard and burst into flames.
The serviceable aircraft was flown to Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough the next day for detailed examination and was eventually repainted in RAF livery, designated as a prototype or experimental aircraft.
The German pilots revealed that they had become lost in thick fog over the English Channel, believed they were over France, and had been directed to the airstrip by a searchlight at Detling
