Friday 14 February 2014

Bomber Command centre to 'echo' Lancaster shape



Bomber Command centre to 'echo' Lancaster shape

Readers may be familiar with the memorial to RAF Bomber Command that was unveiled by HM Queen Elizabeth II in Green Park, London, a couple of years ago.  Until then there had been no official memorial to the bomber crews who died during the Second World War.  Now there is soon to be a second - as well as the first museum devoted to that arm of the RAF - in Lincoln, to further honour the men of Bomber Command.

source
Both edifices look to be magnificent.  The monument - to be called the "Spire of Names" - will tower 164ft into the sky and feature the 25,000+ names of every bomber airman from Lincolnshire who perished in the conflict.  Sitting on Lincoln's Canwick Hill it will overlook the nearby Lincoln Cathedral, which was well-known to locally-based bomber pilots as both a navigation aid and a welcome sight upon returning to base.  Recently the Spire project was given an anonymous £750,000 donation, allowing it to go ahead.

As detailed in the main article, the nearby visitor centre has been ingeniously designed to resemble the outline of an Avro Lancaster bomber, that most famous mainstay of RAF bomber squadrons.  It is also set be named The Chadwick Centre, after Avro's chief designer Roy Chadwick.

All this adds up to an excellent and beautiful form of remembrance for all the brave men of the RAF Bomber Command, as well as those at the Avro works and doubtless many more local and national war heroes to boot.  I'm sure it will be a credit to Lincoln and all the airmen who gave their lives in service to their country.

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