Bomber Command Memorial wins an award!

I have put my money where my mouth is on a few occasions! I do seriously want to have a look at the Hampden after seeing the last pictures posted of her.

Put your money where your mouth is then…
Send them a big cheque, or go to the next MBCC open week and bung a wad of tenners into the donations box.

Smirky -twenty years down the road we have a Hampden at Cosford which could have been restored delighting the former crews who fought on them years ago if drive -vision and money had been thrown at it. Whether your perception is that the crews should be remembered in stone or metal to my mind the display of aircraft whether on the ground or in the air in the case of the BBMF Lancaster is the most fitting way to remember the crews.

It is one of those things we seem to excel at.. Memorials, and I do not mean that to be taken lightly.
We seem to have a knack at producing a simple emotive building and a focal point that carries off the purpose for it being there without intruding on the reason it is there. The Bomber Command Memorial has a focal point in such a powerful and poignant sculpture within, while the building itself reinforces that in its clever simplicity which brings it all together from the inscriptions to the Geodetic roof structure designed to reflect the structure of the Wellington bomber. It seems to offer a place of solace and thought in the hustle and bustle that London is.

A well deserved award.

..

Let’s show a bit of dignity here and play nicely.

Of course the surviving crews were not waiting with baited breath for medals or statues.

But what a fine sculpture this is and richly deserving of a prize; the harrowed expressions and the anxious stare to the skies to me say it all perfectly.

And what a shame that too many of the survivors have passed away without seeing it completed.

Philip Jackson was commissioned to carry it out as a job . A job he did well. The point is that the press always seems to feel that the crews of Bomber Command were in some way ignored . They were not they just carried on with life – we cannot make up now for any perceived lack of recognition seventy years ago.

So do you think the memorial was ‘six decades late’ ?

David Burke – well thanks for that. I’m sure that point was uppermost in Philip Jackson’s mind when he received his prize. Your comment sums up why I’m always wondering why I even bother coming back to this forum in the first place.

I like the sentiment but do we really need to be subjected to the constant spin on history ala :’The Memorial was already six decades late’

There is always the perception that all the former Bomber crews anxiously waited at the door for ‘missing’ medals to arrive or for news of the
construction of a ‘new’ memorial. The reality is that the majority of the crews got on with their lives – certainly its not something they would ever
forget but the idea the building more memorials because we don’t have enough or they don’t commemorate the crews well enough is flawed.

Fine example of neo classical architecture. Indeed, what else would suffice for the center piece ?

Well done indeed and very well deserved. It’s a fine piece of work.