Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre
This former heavy bomber station is now a museum of World War II bomber operations.
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Address:
East Kirkby, Lincs, PE23 4DE
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RAF East Kirkby opened on 20 August 1943 as a Bomber Command Station. In total, 212 operations were carried out from this airfield, from which 121 Lancasters failed to return. Another 29 were lost in operational crashes/accidents.
The airfield was closed in 1964. It was then the site of broiler sheds owned by Mansfield's J.B.Eastwood Ltd. It was bought in 1981 by Fred and Harold Panton, and is now home to an air museum, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, opened in 1988.
This is the only Airfield Museum in the Country recreated to its original design sited on an original World War II airfield. In 1988, the Pantons bought 'Just Jane', the gate guardian Lancaster bomber from RAF Scampton. This aircraft is regularly taxied out and stood with its four Rolls Royce Merlin XXIV engines running.
One of the main features to the museum is the Original Control Tower set up in 1940s style. There is also a display of the RAF Escaping Society collection, a tribute to all those who helped crashed airmen in occupied Europe. The displays include information and items from POW and Cencentration camps with stories of sadness and heroism.
By Road: Off the A155 south of Horncastle.
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