​​Established in 1917, the airfield was a naval seaplane training school during the First World War. In 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service became part of the newly formed Royal Air Force and had over 460 personnel based here. The airfield was closed in 1918, but reopened in the 1920s for aircraft training. In 1939, the Fleet Air Arm transferred to Admiralty control. Lee on Solent was one of the first air stations to be commissioned and was renamed HMS Daedalus.

​On 16 August 1940, the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) conducted a heavy attack on HMS Daedalus which caused considerable damage. At around 13:10, the airfield was attacked by Ju88 Junkers and Bf110 Messerschmidts that seriously damaged several buildings and killed a number of people.

​It was from here that 825 Squadron took part in an attack on the two German battleships Scharnhorst and Gniesenau in February 1942.

​On D-Day, 6 June 1944, this airfield was the busiest in the country with over 100 aircraft based here. A total of 435 sorties were flown from here on that day. This meant an average of three operation sorties per pilot, with each sortie lasting for one and a half hours of flight time on average.

​The airfield continued to be used throughout the battle of Normandy. After the war, it played an important part in electrical, radar and ground training.