Day at East Kirkby With Photos This time

thats a shame would have travelled a fair distance to see/experience that,the closest i came to this was walking through a mock up section of a halifax at the IWM with “sounds”, is it still there, cos im talking a fair few years ago now

Yes it still is located at Lambeth, although the sounds were missing last time I visited this january.

Cees

Doesn’t Kermit Weeks have something similar in a B-17 at Fantasy of Flight?

thats a shame would have travelled a fair distance to see/experience that,the closest i came to this was walking through a mock up section of a halifax at the IWM with “sounds”, is it still there, cos im talking a fair few years ago now

When I sat in the rear gunner turret the very same thoughts, about how the hell do get out of turret let alone the plane when on fire. Thats went through my mind. The bravery of the crews beggars belief.

My 2 mates were on Just Jane when she was towed back in the hanger, and they said with no light it was even worse. They could not see
there hand in front of there face.
I have always had great admiration for the men of Bomber Command, but after going on board the Lancaster that has gone even
higher now.

Dave

This is the sort of thing that I truly believe we ought to make more of with our museums. Trying to give museum visitors some sense of history, some sense of the experiences that these guys went through. Much as I love aviation museums in general, very few of them really manage to do this. Okay, I understand it’s not always practical to do so, but Digsworth’s words above really do highlight it for me.

I had the privelege of helping to guide a group of schoolkids around Duxford on a school trip a few years ago, and at the start of the day I asked all seven what they really wanted to see. Most said Concorde, or the adventure playground, but one quiet little kid said that she wanted to see the Lancaster. I asked her why, and she told me it was because her Grandad used to ‘fly at the back’. Towards the end of the day, we ended up back at Hangar One, and I quietly led the kids round towards the back of the Lancaster without many of them realising what it was. I asked them all whether they’d seen what they wanted to see, and then told this little girl to turn round, because there, not six feet away, was the place where her Grandad spent his war. I was expecting ‘Oh wow!’, but I got tears. And a hug to say thank you. And of all the kids that had been on that trip, I have no doubt that she is the one who will remember it most in years to come.

A few years ago, a chap I knew quite well decided that he’d like to try and create an interactive exhibit out of an old Lancaster rear fuselage section. He intended to restore it internally, fit a representative turret, place video screens around the outside of the turret showing shadowy images of Luftwaffe night fighters and glowing fires on the ground. It would be unlit, refrigerated, and would have the noise of engines, flak and gunfire, and the smell of cordite, and the idea was get people to go in and get some kind of a feel for how it would have been to be a rear gunner. Unfortunately, nobody wanted to take it on. Health and Safety, old boy. Health and Safety…

An opportunity missed. 🙁

Robbo, thanks for you kind remarks mate. It a day that will live long in the memory. From the your comments I take you feel the same way.

EN830
Total agree with you mate. Inside I had a job with just my jacket on moving around, god know what it must been like with all the
clothes the crew had to wear. I sat in the rear gunner turret it was tight and I am a Short A**s !!!

When I sat in the rear gunner turret the very same thoughts, about how the hell do get out of turret let alone the plane when on fire.
Thats went through my mind. The bravery of the crews beggars belief.

My 2 mates were on Just Jane when she was towed back in the hanger, and they said with no light it was even worse. They could not see
there hand in front of there face.
I have always had great admiration for the men of Bomber Command, but after going on board the Lancaster that has gone even
higher now.

Dave

Not been on a taxi run, but was shown around BBMF’s Lanc a few years ago, though it looks a big aircraft on the ground, it doesn’t appear that way once you are inside. I tried to imagine how the crews would get out in an emergency, especially when the doomed aircraft was being thrown all over the sky. I have every respect for the guys who served on these and the other bomber command types.