The very first mission of the South East Thames Air Ambulance was December 23rd 1989, showed the life-saving potential of the service. Sixteen year old Michelle Leather, who lives near Tenterden, was flown to the William Harvey hospital, Ashford and was receiving treatment within seven minutes of being released by the helicopters paramedic team.

The initial agreement in 1989 was for McAlpine Helicopters Ltd to provide the helicopter and pilot free for six months while the health authority underwrote the costs.

In 1990 the Air Ambulance Appeal was launched and six moths later a lottery that raised £200,000 a year, to help keep the life-saving crew flying.

At the time, Kent's Chief Ambulance Officer stated, "There is no doubt that lives have been saved. In its first week of service it answered eight calls. In two of those it was considered that the patient would probably have died had treatment not got there so quickly".

Thanks to you, the county of Kent, since 1991 almost every penny of the £1.7 million needed each year to run the Air Ambulance has come from public donations. Monies raised cover everything. The paramedics, fuel, training, equipment and medication.

An article in ‘Third Sector’, a charity publication, claims that the public believe that the average costs for administration are 40% and fundraising is 35% of charity income. Kent Air Ambulance, show costs of just 11.5% for administration and 14% for fundraising, well below public perception and below the national average.

It was an accident which brought the county together in grief.July 26 will forever be a day of mourning for everyone connected to Kent’s air ambulance service.

Tragedy struck on that day in 1998 when the air ambulance crashed in a field near Burham, killing pilot Graham Budden 40, and paramedics Mark Darby 37, Tony Richardson 47.

L-R Pilot, Graham Budden and Paramedics Tony Richardson and Mark Darby.

Amid the enormous wave of sympathy, donations poured into the Kent Air Ambulance Trust, ensuring the swift resumption of the service in tribute to the three men. Just five weeks later a new helicopter took to the skies bearing the initials GMT.

By the time Kent's air ambulance was celebrating its tenth birthday, the trust was preparing to move forward to a new purpose-built home in Marden, which meant that the helicopter and crew were working alongside the charity staff, who were previously based in Staplehurst and Ashford.

In March 2000 the Kent Air Ambulance Trust received our MD 902 Explorer G-KAAT. There were many benefits of this new model including; greater cabin area in which to work. Safety aspects such as; No tail rotor enabling our crew to land in smaller spaces, high rotor blades and exhaust so hot gases are not blowing out low down to the ground. In the near ten years we have had our life-saving helicopter, over 3000 flying time hours have been accrued.

Flying fast, direct and unhindered at over 150mph the Kent Air Ambulance can reach any part of Kent within 15 minutes flying time and can transport patients to the nearest major hospital or specialist unit in a fraction of the time taken by land ambulance.

In Autumn 2005, the Kent Air Ambulance Trust commenced a clinical trial to formally record the value of carrying doctors on board.This provided the groundwork to convince the Department of Health that the doctors on air ambulances should be government funded. Paramedics on board air ambulances became centrally funded in this way in 2002. Doctors are still currently paid for through the charity.

This meant that we could bring a full Accident and Emergency service to the patient as opposed to simply taking the patient to A&E. It also meant that crucial diagnosis can be made at the scene of the incident and if necessary, patients can be referred to a hospital with a specialist unit who can best deal with the injuries sustained.

During the period working with doctors on board, the research showed that in 15% of cases it had made a real difference to the patinet's outcome.

Then 2006 saw the introduction of a dedicated Helicopter Emergency Medical Service desk at Ambulance control, staffed by one of the charity's own crew would allow the Kent Air Ambulance to focus on the most relevant medical emergencies and increase these positive outcomes even further

In June 2007, with support from Penelope Keith CBE, the Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance was launched from Dunsfold Park, situated on the Surrey and West Sussex border.

This was a significant move forward for the Kent Air ambulance Trust, as it was agreed between the counties that if two emergencies were to happen at different ends of Kent, it would be possible to draft in the Surrey and Sussex helicopter if the Kent helicopter was already attending one of the incidents. 

On 24 September 2007 the founder of the Kent Air Ambulance, Kate Chivers, was honoured in a special ceremony at the base in Marden by having the current helicopter named after her.

In a moving and at times tearful ceremony, 50 invited guests were treated to a historical slide show featuring shots from when the helicopter was launched in 1989. The audience then heard from Sir Peter Baldwin, former chairman of the trust; ‘Kate did this because she thought it was right and gave it her total devotion.’ The current chairman, Tony Monteuuis added ‘Kate is a woman of great vision, great energy, great enthusiasm and without her we wouldn’t be here today’.

Since its launch in 1989 the Kent Air Ambulance has attended over 14,000 incidents, and average two to three missions per day. Hundreds of lives have been saved that without our help may not be here today.

A future dream of the Trust is the ability to offer our service not only during daylight hours but at night. The helicopter would need equipment costing in excess of £1 million.

As part of the many events celebrating the charity's 20th anniversary a team of Kent Air Ambulance staff, patients and supporters are cycling across Cuba to raise money during this celebratory year. The charity staff alone hope to raise £20,000 and if you would like to sponsor the team please visit:

www.justgiving.com/teamkaatcyclecuba

Please click here to view our full list of our 20th Anniversary celebratory events