The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre’s opening event for 2014 was a poignant commemoration of one of World War Two’s most infamous operations - the Nuremburg raid by Royal Air Force Bomber Command on the night of 30/31 March 1944. Greg Marsh writes for GAR.
Huw’s account of the raid was published recently so I don’t want to overlap the details contained in his excellent article, suffice to say please give it a read if you haven’t done so. What I will add is that the raid was almost responsible for the creation of the museum, as Christopher Panton, the brother of founders Fred and Harold, was a Halifax airman who was lost that fateful night. His death was the impetus for the creation of the centre, which remains a fitting memorial to not just Christopher, but all Bomber Command crews who died during the war.
A pair of afternoon taxy runs was complemented to a rare night time taxy at 7 pm. This was the only opportunity to savour this magical occasion this year, besides the November fireworks event. It took on extra poignancy too, being so close to the 70th anniversary. My mind couldn’t help but reflect on the squadrons of Lancasters and Halifaxes that left airfields all across England that evening, and the incredible cacophony it produced.
An imaginative tribute the museum also laid on was the Nuremburg Cross laid out by the Control Tower. This saw a large wooden cross laid on the ground, with each aircraft represented by a piece of paper bearing the names of each crew who participated that night. Accompanying these, were glow sticks to represent each individual; yellow indicated they lived, red meant they died… A truly powerful memorial.
http://www.globalaviationresource.com/v2/2014/04/15/aviation-event-review-east-kirkby-nuremberg-raid-commemoration-2014/
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