Kingsfield was opened in the 1960s by the British Army Air Corps. An opening ceremony was held with an English Electric Canberra bomber flyover and 33 Field Squadron Land Rovers emerging from the back of a Blackburn Beverley aircraft operated by the No. 47 Squadron RAF. It earned the nickname Noddy Land as people stationed there only had morning shifts because of the afternoons being too hot. The airfield mainly operated as an emergency landing-strip.[2]
In September 1972, a Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft was left with one engine running during mid-unloading. During the time, the crew left the loadmaster in the cockpit to join an ice-cream queue. Due to a mistake, the brake pressure dropped causing the aircraft to taxi itself towards a nearby hangar. This resulted in considerable damage to the nose, in which the aircraft was tested with a touch-and-go maneuver to decide if it would be scrapped or not. Later on, C1 XV209 was prepared to be able to fly to RAF Akrotiri for full repairs.[2]
In the late 1980s, Kingsfield Airfield made headlines as the RAF conducted trials of 'desert pink' paint on aircraft at the base which made aircraft ‘invisible’ during flight. These trials became successful and was used on numerous RAF aircraft during the Gulf War of 1991.[2]
In the 1960s, the Crusaders Gliding Club was established at the airfield. The club used the two former RAF hangars for aircraft storage and maintenance on the southwestern side of the airfield, and also operated a fleet of 1 Scheibe Falke, 1 Slingsby T.21, 2 ASK 13s, 1 Schleicher K 8, and 1 Schleicher ASK 18. It operated there until 29th February 2012, when it was shut down due to the Airspace Rules set by the Cypriot Air Authorities.[3]
