This year marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day). In commemoration of this event, Boston High School in Lincolnshire was fortunate enough to secure a flyover of one of the only two remaining Lancaster Bombers, one of the most famous RAF heavy bomber planes of World War II (WWII).
The Bomber held significance in WWII, used for precision bombing raids, battles like the Battle of Britain, to carry heavy loads and performing long-range missions. It is most known for its role in one of the most high-profile missions of the war: the attack of Ruhr Valley in 1943, which is more commonly known as the Dam Busters Raid, in which 19 of bomber planes were adapted to carry and drop the famous Bouncing Bomb.
Roy Chadwick and his team were responsible for designing the Lancaster; 7,377 aircrafts of this model were made by six major companies at ten factories on two continents. The initial prototype was constructed in Manchester and made its first flight in January 1941.
Lincolnshire is deeply connected to the Lancaster Bomber, its connections going back to 24th December 1941, where, according to Lincolnshire Life, the Lancaster first entered into the RAF with 44 Squadron based at RAF Waddington, near Lincoln. Four months after that, in April 1942, six of the Lancasters from 44 Squadron at RAF Waddington were accompanied by another six Lancasters from 97 Squadron at RAF Coningsby, near Horncastle and Boston, Lincolnshire, to carry out a low-level daylight raid on Augsburg, which was the furthest place in Germany that the Bomber Command had targeted. Lincolnshire was home to 49 airfields, more than any other county, and was therefore given the nickname ‘Bomber County’, due to the number of Lancasters that took off from air bases in the county.
The Lancaster that will fly over Boston High School is preserved by the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre in East Kirkby. It is a family run museum set up in 1989 to serve as a living memorial for the 55,573 men from the Bomber Command who lost their lives in WWII. It is home to two of the rarest aircrafts, a Lancaster Bomber MKVII and a DH Mosquito NFII, as well as many wartime vehicles including a Ford WOT1 Crew Bus, which is the only one of its kind in existence. They are based at the old wartime airfield RAF East Kirkby, and still retain the original Control Tower from the 1940’s, as well as their modern-day hangar being built on the original wartime hangar base. Andrew Panton from Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre said, ‘If one person leaves the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre with a better knowledge of Bomber Command, their losses and what they gave for our country then we are one step closer to repaying our debt to them’.
It is a rare opportunity for the school to have secured this flyover from one of the two only functional Lancasters, and this is surely going to be an unforgettable experience.
By Ruchita and Anabia Yr9
Boston High School Newsroom