102ft Bomber Command memorial unveiled in ceremony

[Blackleaf]

A memorial to the thousands of crewmen who served in Bomber Command during World War Two has been officially unveiled in Lincoln.

The memorial spire and walls of remembrance are the first significant development in the creation of the International Bomber Command Centre.

Lord Howe, Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence, cut the ribbon.

The ceremony, presented by historian Dan Snow, was attended by 300 of the remaining Bomber Command veterans.

The memorial spire was designed by Stephen Palmer of Place Architecture, and is higher than the Angel of the North.

It is 102ft (31.09m) tall - the wingspan of the Avro Lancaster - and the width at the base is 16ft (5m), the overall width of a Lancaster wing.

Bomber Command memorial unveiled in ceremony

2 October 2015
BBC News

The spire is 102ft (31.09m) high - the length of the wingspan of a Lancaster Bomber

A memorial to the thousands of crewmen who served in Bomber Command during World War Two has been officially unveiled in Lincoln.

The memorial spire and walls of remembrance are the first significant development in the creation of the International Bomber Command Centre.

Lord Howe, Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence, cut the ribbon.

The ceremony, presented by historian Dan Snow, was attended by 300 of the remaining Bomber Command veterans.

Mr Snow said: "This is Bomber County, Lincolnshire is Aviation County. Aircraft were made here, pioneered here and flown from here during both world wars.

"Aviation is inextricably linked with Lincolnshire and it is exactly right that the memorial is here."

Lincoln has been chosen as the site for the new International Bomber Command Centre as Lincoln Cathedral, the tallest building in the world from 1300 until 1549 when its central spire collapsed, provided a landmark for crews both leaving and returning from missions and, for those who failed to return, the Cathedral was often their last image of home

The spire is based on two wing fragments, tapering as they rise towards the sky

A number of flyovers by different aircraft were organised for the occasion, including the last flying Vulcan, a Blenheim bomber, two Tornados, three Hawks and the current MacRobert's Reply - a Short Stirling bomber.

The memorial spire was designed by Stephen Palmer of Place Architecture, and is higher than the Angel of the North.

It is 102ft (31.09m) tall - the wingspan of the Avro Lancaster - and the width at the base is 16ft (5m), the overall width of a Lancaster wing.

The spire was delivered to the site and erected in seven-and-a-half hours on 10 May this year, marking the 70th anniversary of VE Day.

The walls of remembrance record the names of the 55,573 men who lost their lives serving in Bomber Command.

Tony Worth CVO, chairman of the International Bomber Command Centre Trust, said: " It has been a momentous day both in terms of having reached this milestone in the creation of International Bomber Command Centre, which has taken eight years so far, and in having, in one place, so many of the last remaining veterans."

The walls of remembrance record the names of the 55,573 men who lost their lives serving in Bomber Command

Bomber Command

125,000
Aircrew served in Bomber Command in World War Two

364,514 operational sorties flown
55,573 aircrew killed in action
25,611 killed flying from Lincolnshire
70% of aircrew were killed, taken prisoner or injured International Bomber Command Centre

Getty Images

The International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC)

The International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) is being created to provide a world-class facility to serve as a point for recognition, remembrance and reconciliation for Bomber Command.

The Lincolnshire Bomber Command Memorial Trust, in partnership with the University of Lincoln, aims to open the Centre in 2016.

Lincoln has been chosen for the site as it provides a central point for all 27 bases that earned Lincolnshire the title of ‘Bomber County’. Lincoln Cathedral provided a landmark for crews both leaving and returning from missions and, for those who failed to return, the Cathedral was often their last image of home. Lincolnshire housed over a third of all the WW2 Bomber Command Stations making it the ideal home for this commemoration of the bravery of the men of Bomber Command.

The IBCC will provide the most comprehensive record of Bomber Command in the world and will ensure that generations to come can learn of their vital role in protecting the freedom we enjoy today.

International Bomber Command Centre



Bomber Command memorial unveiled in ceremony - BBC News

 

[Cannuck]

"People glorify the past when the future dries up" - Bono

The UK gets sadder every day

 

[darkbeaver]

"People glorify the past when the future dries up" - Bono

The UK gets sadder every day

Yer quoting a pop star Cannuck, and he lifted the quote from the past where it came to so many finer minds. No matter I agree with your sentiment. The UK is a decrepite mouldering ruin governed by sexual perverts. A war memorial where nobody remembers anything but the propaganada shoveled into to thier tiny little heads from the first visit to public school. It actually glorifies a hidious disgusting war that murdered hundreds of millions for bankers and thier filthy employees. They might as well have build a giant public sh ithouse.

 

[coldstream]

My Dad served in a Polish Wing of Bomber Command, before he married a Canadian girl he met at the Commonweath Air Training Plan in Toronto.

He was a Navigator in a Lancaster, flew 36 missions over Germany... one of the 50% of the Command who actually survived the War. Great to see them remembered and honoured.

 

[billshaver]

unfortuneately i see different....somthing to remind people of the struggle to conquer injustice...the torch be your to hold it high , if ye breaks faith wth those that died, though we may lie in flanders field , take up the quarel with the foe..the torch be yours to hold it high, meaning stand up against injustice, injustice wears many faces..no not only the opposing arm in the field actually with them the opposing army its the same injustice heaped on them...so they have a comminality in this fight....the fight for freedom for all, mankind.

 

[darkbeaver]

My Dad served in a Polish Wing of Bomber Command, before he married a Canadian girl he met at the Commonweath Air Training Plan in Toronto.

He was a Navigator in a Lancaster, flew 36 missions over Germany... one of the 50% of the Command who actually survived the War. Great to see them remembered and honoured.

My grandfather was a corvette captain in WW2 he sank steel tubes full of humans when ever he got the chance. He was an empty headed young man and would have attacked anything his command told him to. Remembering the dead is important but glorification of the most eveil act a human can participate in is not. It serves no purpose other than to groom the next lot of empty headed young men to commit the ultimate sin of war. All the sacrifice was for naught, nothing was decided except who would share in the blood soaked looting of continents, war was not impeded for one second and nothing but more efficient war was learned and every glorification out of the context of the facts is the same as pissing on dead.

 

[AnnaG]

Yeah. remember the people, loathe the event.

 

[darkbeaver]

Yeah. remember the people, loathe the event.

Exactly, I have never gotten a lump of pride in my chest when I think of the destruction of Europe of the senceless butchering of so many millions of innocent men women and children. What is there to be proud of? War is the ultimate failure.

 

[billshaver]

precisly....remember those who have passed thats what this is for ...not glorification of the awful deeds....they shall be remembered each day at the setting of the sun...last post!...at least once in your lives travel to belgium...vist sights remember..have afew drinks...remember ...lok for graves of relatives long passed, stop at Yrpes & be there at the Mehien gate at sn set...very touching....

 

[Blackleaf]

Exactly, I have never gotten a lump of pride in my chest when I think of the destruction of Europe

You can blame Nazi Germany for that.

Great to see them remembered and honoured.

It's about time these heroes were honoured. The heroes of Bomber Command had to wait until June 2012 to get their first memorial, which was unveiled by the Queen in London's Green Park.

 

[coldstream]

My grandfather was a corvette captain in WW2 he sank steel tubes full of humans when ever he got the chance. He was an empty headed young man and would have attacked anything his command told him to. Remembering the dead is important but glorification of the most eveil act a human can participate in is not. It serves no purpose other than to groom the next lot of empty headed young men to commit the ultimate sin of war. All the sacrifice was for naught, nothing was decided except who would share in the blood soaked looting of continents, war was not impeded for one second and nothing but more efficient war was learned and every glorification out of the context of the facts is the same as pissing on dead.

Some things are worth fighting for.. and dying for.

It's a fanciful and idealistic thought thinking we can put an end to war, and 'just get along'. But that's not the universe we live in, where there are manifestations of good and evil that will always vie. Sure there's good and evil in all things and all people.. but that doesn't diminish the fact that these themes resonate through history, and coalesce around movements.

Palpable evil.. like the Nazis.. must be met and fought.. in spite of all the destruction war brings to innocents.

 

[petros]

A not an overly long c&p of the Brits being slow to honour our glorious dead.

Canada already built a monument to every airman and ground crew member in the entire Commonwealth that perished.

It pretty f-cking humbling to stand before.

 

[darkbeaver]

Some things are worth fighting for.. and dying for.

It's a fanciful and idealistic thought thinking we can put an end to war, and 'just get along'. But that's not the universe we live in, where there are manifestations of good and evil that will always vie. Sure there's good and evil in all things and all people.. but that doesn't diminish the fact that these themes resonate through history, and coalesce around movements.

Palpable evil.. like the Nazis.. must be met and fought.. in spite of all the destruction war brings to innocents.

I agree with you sentiment however, I am in no way assured of the accuracy of the common histories fed to us since childhood and always I remember who writes these histories and always I exercise resonable doubt. There is no win when one evil is replaced by another of even greater magnitude. I harbour no illusions whatever about the number of murdered on all sides and the distribution of destruction. I have resigned myself long ago to the absolute necessity of war, this dimension is hell afterall and one can only win in hell by playing the game according to the laws of the gods.

 

[darkbeaver]

A not an overly long c&p of the Brits being slow to honour our glorious dead.

Canada already built a monument to every airman and ground crew member in the entire Commonwealth that perished.

It pretty f-cking humbling to stand before.

Any time I see those walls of names it infuriates me at the waste and stupidity those men were consumned like cartridriges for reasons other than honourable despite what we are told, and no ammount of commemerative stone works can make it honourable.

 

[petros]

Those wall include those who died of boredom.