I propose a National Bomber Command heritage centre in Lincolnshire

When I wrote my initial thread I did put a some thought into what I felt would be a better geographically i.e. Lincolnshire or Yorkshire as both can make an equal claim.

My choice of Scampton was made on the fact it’s history is as well known internationally, it is very complete, reletively accessable , but more importantly (this day & age) available in a few years at little cost to the taxpayer to set up.

But my main reason for making the suggestion is that the U.K’s “big three” have many aircraft that have yet to see the light of day. It goes without saying- most bombers are large aircraft, so concentrating them in a (near) central site would release a helluva lot of room to display many of those in storage.

Sorry if seems that I was dismissing any potential Yorkshire sites- it was not intentional.:o

I agree Lincolnshire would be an excellent place,but how many bomber bases were in Yorkshire?

Ken.

I am with Quinney on this one. Lets not forget Yorkshire. After all Elvington has every thing East Kirkby has in terms of infastructure.

Guys, we are already working out butts off to get something going at RAF Bicester, for the WWII period and formative years only, I admit! Also there is a Museum dedicated to the Cold War period over at Upper Heyford, but that is more general, rather than purely focused on the RAF Bomber Command Cold War years :0)

I won’t hijack this thread, but we have immense support of all local Parish Councils, the District Council, and the local business community in area.

I suppose whatever will be, will be though…and good luck to all! 🙂

I too think Scampton would be ideal – it will soon be vacant, but everything is still there, and it also has excellent access, situated as it is beside the A15.

Other options would be Metheringham where lots of runway left. Perhaps something could be done with Binbrook or Hemswell.
Steve

There is only a narrow strip of one of the runways and part of a taxiway left at Metheringham (both now used as public roads).

There are only two very short sections of runway left at Hemswell, and the hangers and buildings were sold off and are now a grainstore and an antique centre and hotel respectively.

The runways at Binbrook were dug up soon after the station closed (there are only narrow ‘bits’ left as access roads to the land which is now farmed). The buildings and hangers are now in various industrial uses.

In short, East Kirkby has more to offer than any of these three, but is not as accessable as Scampton.

Unfortunately it took the Pantons to use their own money and time to do the decent thing. Well done to them. Governments then and now are still reluctant to recognise the sacrifice made. We can pay people large sums of lottery grants to go to the Olympics

In fairness, the Pantons have never asked for any outside funding.

Had the same thought.

Funny you should come up with this idea; we were at RAF Scampton just yesterday as guests at the station family’s day. Looking around at the mix of both WW11 and Cold War era buildings we had exactly the same thoughts. With Guy Gibson’s dog’s grave well looked after outside the old 617 Sqn hangar and the general atmosphere, it would be both a perfect and fitting venue for a Bomber Comand / Bomber county museum, and with the station now scheduled to go into care and maintenance in 2 or 3 years time, it’s a good time to act.
Pity about all the coloured dye stains on the aprons left by the Red Arrows though, should be oil stains from big piston engines if you ask me!

East Kirkby already established would be ideal. Lots of room and attracting all the seaside visitors in the summer. It’s proximity to Coningsby attracts the BBMF flying in the local area.

Fully agree. Other options would be Metheringham where lots of runway left. Perhaps something could be done with Binbrook or Hemswell. However EK is already 90% there with a Lanc and control tower ! Unfortunately it took the Pantons to use their own money and time to do the decent thing. Well done to them. Governments then and now are still reluctant to recognise the sacrifice made. We can pay people large sums of lottery grants to go to the Olympics and then fail to even meet their boxing weight and enter (over £60K a year). Perhaps you prefer the £100,000s spend by the London mayors office that turned out to be bogus charities.

I admit to being a little bitter on this one as my grandfather was a FE on Lancs at Bardney (survived and died 1980).

Still the enthusiasm and respect by people on this site shows all is not lost.

Steve

Sounds like a good idea but East Kirkby might struggle to get any HLF funding because I don’t believe that it is a Registered Museum or indeed a Registered Charity.

Certainly no mention of either on their website.

East Kirkby already established would be ideal. Lots of room and attracting all the seaside visitors in the summer. It’s proximity to Coningsby attracts the BBMF flying in the local area.

I think we are all in agreement that Lincolnshire would be the most appropriate place for it if only on the grounds that the county was home to more of the RAF bomber bases in WW2.

I agree Lincolnshire would be an excellent place,but how many bomber bases were in Yorkshire?

Ken.

I think we are all in agreement that Lincolnshire would be the most appropriate place for it if only on the grounds that the county was home to mose of the RAF bomber bases in WW2. I would love to see something done in their memory just that it should have been done years ago.

I agree….

and, no offence but if Land Girls get a medal…… come on “establishment”…. get to it

I’d say Lincs would be a perfect place for it.

Thanks for posting that. I would love to see it preserved.

Your pm replied to-many thanks.

Too big to post Mike – but please check your PMs.

Mike ignore PMs – link found for all!!

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.18338

I don’t know about Peter I think a lot of us would be interested in reading it.

In 2004 there was a survey carried out and document produced for English Heritage entitled “RAF Scampton – Historic Characterisation”.

69 pages worth – but it makes interesting reading.

If I can get hold of a copy would you like to see it Peter? 😉

Scampton would be an awesome place to preserve but can you imagine the security that would be needed? It is bad enough when a base closes and gets ransacked shortly after!

I think the only medal they were entitled to was the Aircrew Europe Star.

I think its a fantastic idea. Surely that would deserve a lottery grant. With some talks/hammering things out you could place all relevent aircraft/relics in the 1 centre honouring all who served in bomber command. After all these lads still don`t have a campain medal.

At least the county are already making a start http://www.visitlincolnshire.com/exec/100026/6/

There’s also the Lincolnshire Integrated Aviation Heritage Partnership [LIAHP] that was featured in the editorial section of a recent issue of FlyPast; and drew several medical comments on a previous thread. They also had a stand in Hangar 3 at the Waddington Airshow.