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- RAF -
The link that binds the Royal Air Force with Lincolnshire was forged in the heart of conflict. The Royal Flying Corps used airfields at South Carlton, Kirton-in-Lindsey and Elsham in the First World War, and when the Second World War was at its height, Lincolnshire was home to 46 RAF stations. Lincolnshire became known as Bomber Country, and the famous Dambusters of 617 Squadron launched their bombing raids on the dams of the Ruhr from Scampton.
Many of those airfields are now defunct, of course, but the RAF still thrives in some of them. Huge AWACS aircraft fly in and out of Waddington, south of Lincoln; the famous Red Arrows aerobatic team is now based at RAF Cranwell, northwest of Sleaford; and since 1986 enthusiasts have visited Coningsby, on the fringe of the fens north of Boston, to see the aircraft and crew of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
Formed in 1965, the Red Arrows were initially based in the Cotswold’s; now they are yellowbellies in red flying suits: a team of pilots flying nine Hawk jets at air shows and displays all over the world. Their home is noteworthy, too: Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, built of stone-dressed red brick by Sir James Grey West in 1931, is far more elegant than your average RAF station. Its best-known landmark, the splendid dome and columns of the college chapel, was added in 1962.
Visitors to RAF Coningsby come far and wide not for the buildings but for what is inside them. For this the home of Britain’s last flying Lancaster Bomber, an aeroplane whose evocative drone can be heard overhead hereabouts throughout the summer. This special flight is best known as a trio: the Lancaster is usually seen in harness with a Spitfire and a Hurricane. But the Battle of Britain Flight actually comprises a Lancaster, two Hurricanes and four Spitfires as well as a Dakota.
There is even one airfield, long abandoned by the RAF, where memories of wartime endeavour are kept alive by local people. Brothers Fred and Harold Panton run the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby, where their pride and joy is Lancaster NX 611 ‘Just Jane’ – not yet airworthy, but still a magnificent sight.
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