Click for the website. Image above from East Kirkby. Facebook Page.
The installation represents an Avro Lancaster bomber, in flight, heading “home” to RAF Swinderby, just 3km away. The site is particularly fitting, not only because of its perfect vantage point, but also because a number of aircraft, including Lancasters crashed nearby during the Second World War.
Although intended to be a reminder of all Bomber Command crews, one such aircraft, Lancaster R5689 (VN-N) crashed on 18th September 1942 as it limped home from a mission over the Baltic Sea and five members of its crew perished. Because that crash site is so close, and the fact that VN-N was also the most photographed Lancaster of the war it has been chosen as the basis of this landmark to serve as a permanent reminder of Lincolnshire’s link to war-time aviation.
Lancasters are very large – 26m long and with a 31m wingspan. This will make the installation taller than the Angel of the North which stands 20m tall.
The structure is a mild-steel structural frame partially clad in mild steel sheet in a similar fashion to the example of a Spitfire below. Once the structure takes on surface rust, the colours will be similar to the markings on an actual Lancaster.
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