A new aerial photograph shows how an estate continues to expand as more and more homes are being completed on a former RAF airfield.

The drone shot shows the extent of the construction still under way at Kings Hill, which was once RAF West Malling.

Bellway Kent is building 542 homes across five development areas for a scheme called Aviation Park, the latest in three decades of development at the old airfield.

The developer says 402 properties will be for the private market, while 140 affordable homes will be available for local people through low-cost rent or shared ownership.

To the right of the photo, the recently completed 52-home Liberty Quarter, off Park Drive, can be seen. Of the 52 new homes, 45 are already sold.

Blenheim Green is the name given to the construction around the linear park in the centre of the image, where 14 of the planned 140 homes have been completed.

Bellway also started work this year at DeHavilland Place, off Jubilee Way, and the southern tip of this development is just visible in the top right-hand corner of the aerial image.

Of the 210 homes planned there, 84 will be affordable properties. The first residents are due to arrive in December.

In addition, Bellway is building 70 apartments at Westland Place, off Abbey Wood Road, and 70 apartments at Gloster Chase, off Kings Hill Avenue, with 84 of these pre-sold for private rent and 56 being delivered as affordable housing.

Mark Harrop, from Bellway Kent, said: “This drone photograph illustrates perfectly the sheer scale of the project we are undertaking at Kings Hill.

“We are very proud to be playing a major role in this ambitious scheme and are thrilled to have won an award for our part in the Kings Hill regeneration project, winning the Best Regeneration Project category at the Evening Standard New Homes Awards in September 2023.”

Aviation Park is part of the wider Kings Hill project, where more than 3,500 homes have been built or planned since work began on the “village estate” in 1990, along with commercial premises, three schools and dozens of shops.

Information about the homes available at DeHavilland Place, Blenheim Green and Liberty Quarter, can be found here.

Mr Harrop said: “The sense of history at RAF West Malling is powerful. Residents appreciate the heritage of the site and are quite taken by the Pickett-Hamilton fort, a rare example of a sunken concrete gun fort built to defend the RAF base’s runway, which has been restored and takes pride of place within the new linear park.

“We felt we could not create new communities on this site without paying tribute to the bravery and steadfastness of the people who worked and flew from here and this is reflected in the names we have chosen for our project and the five developments within it.”

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The Kings Hill estate is changing in other ways too.

This month, 28 roads on the estate are to receive yellow lines - the first time they have appeared on the estate.

From now on Tonbridge and Malling council intends to fine motorists who ignore the new rules.

A second phase of additional yellow lines will follow later.

RAF West Malling began life as a landing ground for aircraft during the First World War.

It opened as a private airfield in 1930 and was visited by such famous aviators as Amy Johnson and Alan Cobham.

In the Second World War, it was taken over by the government and renamed RAF West Malling.

It became a front-line fighter station opposing the German Luftwaffe. Guy Gibson, of Dambuster fame, was based there for a while.

After the war, it was home to some of the RAF’s first jet fighter squadrons, flying Gloster Meteors.

The RAF station ceased operating in 1966 and the site was sold to KCC in 1971, who later released the land for development.

Several remains of the airfield’s history remain. The Gibson building, once the station’s officers’ mess, is now home to the Tonbridge and Malling council offices.

The airfield’s control tower also survives.

The Pickett-Hamilton fort was an unusual machine gun post. It could be lowered into the ground when not in use so as not to obstruct the runway.