Since Covid-19 made its way to the UK, there have been constant comparisons to the wartime effort.

The Heath Secretary Matt Hancock even said the 'extreme measures' introduced have never before been seen in UK peace time.

One place in Kent that was requisitioned in the Second World War, and is again being used in the fight against coronavirus is Lashenden Station 410, also known as Headcorn Aerodrome.

It provided an essential air base to the Royal Air Force (RAF) as well as the United States Army Airforce (USAAF).

As we enter another stage in history it is ready to help again, but all flights have stopped and the airfield has been turned into a Covid-19 drive-thru assessment centre.

Jamie Freeman is one of the owners of Lashenden Station 410 - a business that has been in his family since 1927.

"My family bought it at auction and they said it was a complete accident. I don't think they quite realised at the time what impact it would have.

"Back then it was a private airfield used by my great uncle Mark Freeman and then during the war the family handed it over to the military.

"In 1942, the RAF came down and surveyed the airfield. It was more of a farm in those days and that's when they then realised it had potential to be one of the auxiliary landing grounds for the push into Europe which came later on.

"It was then requisitioned by the airfield boards, who were members of the RAF, and converted into the wartime airfield used in 1944.

"It became a mustang base with 3,000 ground crew facilities that could operate nearly 24-hours a day."

"Wing Commander Johnnie E Johnson first turned up here with the 127 Canadian squadron flying spitfires. In fact I've still got his partners desk in my office which is very poignant.

"After that the 354th, 355th and 356th USAAF squadron came in they operated from here with the P47s and mustangs used for bomber support.

"We are in a similar position now where we are happy to hand the airfield over to the authorities to use in whichever way they need if it means we can beat the virus.

"The problem this time round is that it's an unseen enemy. During the war, you knew where the enemy was, you could track it down. With the virus you can't. From a fear point of view, I think this is as close as we'll get to knowing what it was like back then.

"The Second World War, was obviously a lot harder because it was five years of austerity. Rationing didn't finish until long after the war but the problem we have here is the speed of the virus and the way that it came into the country. We had very little time to prepare.

"During the Battle of Britain we had a bit of lead up to it, we had enough time to start making spitfires and hurricanes and therefore we had enough aircraft to fight the Germans."

Mr Freeman says Headcorne Aerodrome played a viral role back then, and he is prepared to do whatever it takes to do the same now.

"The airfield is actually designated under a wartime act so it can be requestioned again for military use at any time. At the moment it's not needed for anything more than the assessment unit but if it is needed, we adapted then and we'll adapt now if we have to."

The airfield was returned to its former owners and reverted to agriculture in January 1945.

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