Bomber Command Memorial (Merged)
Hugh, how good to see you posting here, and how right you are. BCA and HF need maximum support to see the Bomber Command Memorial in London become a reality. It's been a long and utterly unjustifiable wait for you and your colleagues to see this happen, but happen it will, and soon we hope!
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July 13 - Windsor Race Course
...from the Heritage Foundation website it seems like July 13 Mr Gibb will be doing a a Concert for the Bomber Boys, donations to the B.C.A
Hope that is of use.
Best regards
Tony
BOMBER COMMAND HERITAGE
http://www.bc-heritage.org
"...our journey together."
Hope that is of use.
Best regards
Tony
BOMBER COMMAND HERITAGE
http://www.bc-heritage.org
"...our journey together."
It’s the latest controversial artwork from Antony Gormley, the Turner prizewinner.
People who aspire to high art need only climb on a Trafalgar Square plinth and pose as a sculpture. They will take it in turns for an hour, to do, literally, whatever takes their fancy. He gets the £300,000 fee from the public purse for their 60 minutes of fame.
The artist, who specialises in taking moulds from his body, was confirmed this morning as the next recipient of the commission to fill the empty 1840s plinth in London’s historic square.
People who aspire to high art need only climb on a Trafalgar Square plinth and pose as a sculpture. They will take it in turns for an hour, to do, literally, whatever takes their fancy. He gets the £300,000 fee from the public purse for their 60 minutes of fame.
The artist, who specialises in taking moulds from his body, was confirmed this morning as the next recipient of the commission to fill the empty 1840s plinth in London’s historic square.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co....=null&offset=0
So much for the campaign for the plinth to be occupied by a statue of the second military leader to save this country from invasion, Sir Keith Park. I fear that the apparatchiks that devised this weaze will scupper the London BC memorial proposed by HF unless public support for it takes off. The other moves to create a Bomber Command Heritage Centre at RAF Bicester continue apace, with the possibility of a National BC Memorial co-located there. The announced MOD plan is to dispose of the site for development this year. I think that would be a national tragedy. The Berliners are currently trying to save Tempelhof as a world heritage site (see thread on this forum). We should be just as eager to save Bicester to remember the sacrifice of 55573 brave men and the contribution of Bomber Command to victory over the Nazi tyranny.
On a rather more positive note the Times-on-line piece at:
The bomber crews who were tested at Lord’s and selected to fight for England - Times Online
reports that the joint BCA/HF proposal for the London Memorial is for it to be placed at Lords, site of the No.1 Aircrew Reception Centre where many of the crews began the greatest and most dangerous journey of their lives. If an appropriate setting is available there (in Regent's Park?) this would seem to be a very happy choice. For the memorial needs to remember the crews primarily as against the campaign that they conducted. Let us hope that this time it becomes a reality.
The bomber crews who were tested at Lord’s and selected to fight for England - Times Online
reports that the joint BCA/HF proposal for the London Memorial is for it to be placed at Lords, site of the No.1 Aircrew Reception Centre where many of the crews began the greatest and most dangerous journey of their lives. If an appropriate setting is available there (in Regent's Park?) this would seem to be a very happy choice. For the memorial needs to remember the crews primarily as against the campaign that they conducted. Let us hope that this time it becomes a reality.
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If the Memorial has to be in the London area this could be the best place to represent BC aircrew. Thousands went through the Aircrew Reception Centre at St John's Wood, billeted in requisitioned houses for about 3 weeks, marching between Lords and Regents Park for kitting out, vaccinations, being told about the 'naughty women' who might want to infect us, etc. Can I just add that a memorial bearing the names of 55,000 heroes with the aircrew figures standing as if to board the aircraft is my preference. Now let us make sure everybody in the UK knows about the plans.
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Bomber Command Memorial
Discussion today (01/07) on the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 after 1330hrs about the growing calls for fitting memorial to the 55000 aircrew who gave up their lives during the conflict 1939-45.
Expect the usual bleeding hearts with a 21st Century viewpoint of history besmirching their memory and trying to sully the actions of Bomber Command long after the event.......................
Expect the usual bleeding hearts with a 21st Century viewpoint of history besmirching their memory and trying to sully the actions of Bomber Command long after the event.......................
Thanks for that KW, unfortunately I missed your post and the prog. Would it be possible to post a resume of what was said? This subject is starting to take hold at last in the Nations conscience. Of course there will be pros and cons but overall it must be a welcome trend I feel.
OK, thanks to our friends at BCH and the timewarp of BBCi I've just caught the discussion at:
BBC iPlayer - Radio
and immediately fast forward in 15min intervals and one 5min one to 1hr35mins into the prog. Usual Auntie Beeb's Moral Equivalence balancing the martial John Nicolls and the peaceful Jonathon Bartley who believes that there was very little courage required in bombing "innocent" civilians. He might have done something in WW2 but along the lines of his Dad who was a Medic then. As Nicolls dryly observed then if everyone had elected that we would all be speaking a different language now!
OK, thanks to our friends at BCH and the timewarp of BBCi I've just caught the discussion at:
BBC iPlayer - Radio
and immediately fast forward in 15min intervals and one 5min one to 1hr35mins into the prog. Usual Auntie Beeb's Moral Equivalence balancing the martial John Nicolls and the peaceful Jonathon Bartley who believes that there was very little courage required in bombing "innocent" civilians. He might have done something in WW2 but along the lines of his Dad who was a Medic then. As Nicolls dryly observed then if everyone had elected that we would all be speaking a different language now!
Last edited by Chugalug2; 2nd Jul 2008 at 22:19.
Hope that the previous post is self-explanatory! Now that the BCA has put its weight behind an appeal for a National Bomber Command Memorial it will surely succeed. Their site at:
RAF BOMBER COMMAND IN WW2
has been appropriately updated, and provided you enable the required add-ons is an impressive and professional presentation worthy of viewing from end to end.
Joe2000 I hope that what is intended will meet the wishes expressed by your father and others that managed "to grow old".
RAF BOMBER COMMAND IN WW2
has been appropriately updated, and provided you enable the required add-ons is an impressive and professional presentation worthy of viewing from end to end.
Joe2000 I hope that what is intended will meet the wishes expressed by your father and others that managed "to grow old".
It's all happening now S'land, it seems. Here:
BBC NEWS | Programmes | Daily Politics | Bee Gee urges WWII honours
and here:
BBC NEWS | England | Bomber crew meet 64 years on
and here:
BBC NEWS | Wales | War men reunited 64 years on
Always the same, you hang around for ages then three all come along at the same time! Good to see things moving now!
BBC NEWS | Programmes | Daily Politics | Bee Gee urges WWII honours
and here:
BBC NEWS | England | Bomber crew meet 64 years on
and here:
BBC NEWS | Wales | War men reunited 64 years on
Always the same, you hang around for ages then three all come along at the same time! Good to see things moving now!
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The "skeleton" LANCASTER
The proposed "Skeleton" manned Lancaster would certainly be impressive, but this would, assuredly,be reflected in the price! I am much impressed by the strength of feeling expressed in the input from so many correspondents, and wish the campaign well. Many of those folks posting notices would seem to be unaware of the Bomber Command Memorial ledger stone in Lincoln Cathedral, which was unveiled before a congregation of the great and good, in which, as usual, the elected outnumbered the selected! The date was, I believe, sometime in 2006.
In closing, as an old Plymothian, I think you'll find that the airman on the Hoe Memorial is Don Bennett.
Phil Ferret (ex-Brat, as were so many of those BC casualties)
In closing, as an old Plymothian, I think you'll find that the airman on the Hoe Memorial is Don Bennett.
Phil Ferret (ex-Brat, as were so many of those BC casualties)
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Bomber Command Memorial
Yes, a 'skeleton' Lancaster? Is this the idea with the crew standing outside, appearing to take their turn in boarding for their next operation? If so, as I have said before, I am all for it. I know about the Lincoln memorial stone but up to now I think we have been tinkering with the idea of a memorial. My fellow aircrew deserve better than that and, maybe, we are going to get it.
Amen to that S'land. To answer, or more correctly not to answer forget's question, I have a vague memory (most of them fill that category now I fear) of the "Skeletal Lancaster" being suggested as a form of a cutaway Bomber with the crew at their stations type memorial in a much earlier post. Perhaps philferret could redirect us to it? Personally I have reservations about such a "concept" memorial. By its nature it would be complex, expensive, and not very robust. This memorial needs to impress not merely on Day1, but for years, decades and even centuries later. The natural material for that is traditionally stone, and forget has shown us how you can still incorporate some concept in an otherwise traditional stone memorial.
Hugh, good to get your continued input on what would be an appropriate memorial to your comrades. Hopefully BCA is already onto that as regards the Lords Memorial? That in turn will act as an inspiration for a more complex one outside the confines of a London site. As you say the days of half apologetic tinkering must now be put behind us and worthy memorials to honour those brave men be effected at last.
Hugh, good to get your continued input on what would be an appropriate memorial to your comrades. Hopefully BCA is already onto that as regards the Lords Memorial? That in turn will act as an inspiration for a more complex one outside the confines of a London site. As you say the days of half apologetic tinkering must now be put behind us and worthy memorials to honour those brave men be effected at last.