were allocated by flying control, while the southern lane was the emergency lane on which any aircraft could land without first making contact with the airfield. The hilltop site was chosen as it was usually fog-free and had no approach obstructions. Being close to the front line, the airfield became something of a magnet for badly damaged aircraft that had suffered from ground fire, collisions, or air attack but retained a degree of airworthiness. The airfield became something of a "graveyard" for heavy bombers and no doubt the less-damaged portions of aircraft landing or otherwise arriving here sometimes provided spare parts for other Allied aircraft in need of repair. The museums on site display some startling aerial views dating from this era and the post-war years. After the war, the runway was reconfigured, becoming 200 feet wide with a full-length parallel taxiway, both within the original paved width. USAF use During the Cold War of the 1950s the United States Air Force used RAF Manston as a Strategic Air Command base for its bomber, fighter and fighter-bomber units. In the early 1950s, SAC's backbone bombers were the Convair B-36 Peacemaker and Boeing B-47 Stratojet. To support this strategy, the SAC 7th Air Division was established in May 1951. At the time, Manston had only partially recovered from the ravages of the Second World War. There were still makeshift bomb shelters, i.e. trenches with tin roofs, and many large circles of lush green grass where Luftwaffe bombs had cratered the runway. The RAF control tower overlooked a bizarre hilltop runway, which was an extraordinary wide and long. The 7th AD expanded Manston by building concrete bunkers suitable for nuclear weapons and upgrading the support facilities for long-term use. By the summer of 1953, the 7th AD began a series of temporary deployments of B-47 and B-36 wings from the United States to the United Kingdom. These deployments generally involved about 45 aircraft, together with about 20 Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighters which were maintained at the English bases for 90 days. At the end of the Temporary Duty (TDY), they were relieved by another SAC wing that was generally stationed at a different airfield. These deployments continued until 1955 when SAC shifted its rotational deployments to RAF Fairford and Manston was turned over to the United States Air Forces in Europe. In July 1951 SAC deployed the 12th Fighter-Escort Wing to Manston to