Bomber Command Centre struggling

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24 years 2 months

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-30623914

Time to put hands into pockets again.

Moggy

Original post

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24 years 2 months

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Its a lot of money for a spire and visitor centre and then the ongoing maintainace and security costs !

A couple of million would get the Hampden finished and on display.

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14 years

Posts: 4,996

Perhaps an over ambitious project ?

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15 years 10 months

Posts: 582

A great project that is long overdue but let's hope they shave off a couple of quid and loose the spire. No visitor to Lincoln will ever associate it with a Bomber Command memorial. All that wasted money spent on modern art that serves no purpose what's so ever could be channelled towards the construction of the Interpretation centre.

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15 years 2 months

Posts: 258

This is what happens when you let architects loose !

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24 years 2 months

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Not quite sure what their vision is ! Initially it was to recognise the losses of aircrew flying from Lincolnshire -that has changed somewhat to the 'International' aspect which to my mind minimises the need for it to be on a hill next to Lincoln. If they wish to grow their role why does it need to have already spiralled from 5 to 8 million in a matter of months! There is then an ongoing need to employ people to maintain and staff what you have built!

With a wealth of bomber facilities scattered around Lincolnshire -maybe the spire should be continued with but a centre built somewhere where there is a WWII bomber -i.e East Kirkby!

Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

Story of yet another project which has outgrown its ambitions. There will be an understandable reluctance to dig into pockets to further fund this. Indeed a scaled down centre at somewhere like East Kirby would gain much more support I am sure.

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18 years 4 months

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It is to the credit of the fund raisers that they have managed to make any progress with this concept. I am wary of being critical when they have done so much. It seems easier to raise funds for a brand new building and park than it is to keep fund raising for existing locations which already are memorials. From my distant viewpoint I would rather support East Kirkby and the memorial in London.

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15 years 5 months

Posts: 824

This is what happens when you let architects loose !

What an ugly pile of rusty scrap, fronted by a bus terminal. Doesn't look good when compared with THE Bomber Command Memorial we have already.

Member for

15 years 10 months

Posts: 582

Lincolnshire and Bomber County is a perfect location but what a real shame that the London memorial wasn't sited at the proposed location. The 7 sculpted airmen looking out over Lincoln Cathedral would have made a fantastic sight.

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13 years 2 months

Posts: 1,101

It saddens me that vast amounts of money are readily given to so called Artists & Architects, to design & build sculptures etc. Yet hardly anything is given to the people who actually risked their lives in Bomber command during WW2.

Design some crappy sculpture for a memorial- here's £250,000.

Risk your life over Germany etc, fighting tyranny- here's a crappy sculpture "70 years late cos the government tried to diss-own you" & a pension you can't live on.

Bob T.

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16 years 7 months

Posts: 460

I hope this project survives. I always thought that the magnificent BC memorial in London should never have been built there, it should have been placed somewhere that was operationally significant. Nevertheless, I applaud the great efforts underway to create the Lincoln memorial and am pleased that those driving the project forward want to put it in a public place where access isn’t an issue.
Ed

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24 years 2 months

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I never cease to be amazed how many architectural experts we have on this forum. There is obviously some correlation between architectural qualifications and an interest in historic aviation.

Moggy

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18 years 2 months

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It is my understanding that significant aspects of the project have been amended after discussion with veterans and their relatives; not least that access to the names will now be possible (rather than being on the 'spire' as was the original plan).

Each of the veterans that I have spoken to about this project has been enthusiastic and wholeheartedly supportive of the project.

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 9,780

It makes you somewhat head scratch when the building description includes the 'crouching beauty' form of a Lancaster bomber !!! Its great having these flights of fancy but I thought the idea of the spire was to symbolise the bomber crew losses - does the building have to do it as well ? Saying that you hope to get the money whilst there are still former crew members around pulls on the heart strings a little ! Maybe being realistic and saying that you cannot afford it would be better - come up with a better plan!

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24 years 2 months

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Perhaps with hindsight they would have been better following the example of the excellent Capel-Le-Ferne Battle of Britain Memorial, which has been built in stages as funding permits, rather than the 'all or nothing' approach which seems to have been adopted.

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11 years 5 months

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Surely expert or not we all have a right to express our opinion on the merits or otherwise of the design.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

Totally. It was simply a comment.

I'm no great adherent on the "put up a square tin shed and use the money saved to resurrect an airframe" lobby, but that is a perfectly valid point of view to hold also.

Moggy

Member for

19 years 1 month

Posts: 424

this looks a little over kill to me but i do live on the other side of the world.......my wife and i visited the bomber command memorial in londol earlier this year...and i can tell you it was an experience,not much brings emotions to me these days but that did...you should be proud of it,my wife has almost no interest in aviation history(even though her grand father was a mechanic on RAAF spitfires in darwin and PNG)....but she was moved..it's a great memorial.

If another has to be built it should be near or on a former base....east Kikby seems like the best place to me.

Member for

18 years 2 months

Posts: 7,742

From my knowledge and understanding of the project, I suspect that the one thing that is fixed is the Canwick Hill location.

I also feel that Mike J makes a valid point in post #17.