At Detling in Kent this Air Ministry type 27 pillbox still survives. It is a variation on the standard type 27 in that it is five sided, but only two loopholes.
he pillbox has a central open well with light anti-aircraft machine gun mounting. (not shown)
This shows the low entrance. The airfield was originally RNAS/RAF 1918-1919. It became an operational airfield of RAF Fighter Command on 14th Sep 1938. After the war it was used for Signals 1946, a Gliding School 1946-1955 and Army co-operation in 1955. It is now the site of the Kent County Showground.
The pillbox formed part of RAF Detling's ground and ground-to-air defences. During the Battle of Britain Detling was one of the 11 Group satellite airfields used by units on a day-to-day basis as required, often flights or squadrons would detach to such an airfield in the morning and return to their main operating and maintenance base in the evening. On Eagle Day, 13th August 1940 in the Luftwaffe's most successful bombing mission that day, one hundred Bf 109s and eighty-six Ju 87s attacked Detling airfield unopposed, destroying twenty-two aircraft on the ground and killing sixty-seven personnel who were in the mess hall.(Photos Tim Denton)
To see a map or aerial photo of this location.
