The next thing on our Lincoln to do trip was to visit the IBCC. We were staying at the Premier Inn which was in an ideal location to do everything we wanted to do in Lincoln. I checked the map and decided it was an easy walk from our hotel and would take about 30-40 minutes. We could have caught a bus or even got a taxi, both very convenient.
Setting off south down the busy A1434, it was rush hour, it was busy and the footpaths were quite congested with students heading for the colleges and Uni. The footpaths are quite wide and we made good progress. At one point we had to cross the road and take 2 flights of stairs onto a flyover which led down to Canwick.
On route we crossed the River Witham and the footpath of the Spires and Steeples trail which fellow blogger Bowland Climber had recently completed.
We passed a well kept cemetery and I noticed on the map there was a large field area called "Cow Paddle". We crossed the road again onto south common, a stretch of open land, "common land" which had many horses grazing. An unusual sight in a town these days.
A footpath borders south common and takes you to a gate in the IBCC north fence. It was icy and quite steep in places, muddy too but we made it to the fence without falling or ice skating back down the slope. The gate was locked and the sign read "not open until March". I thought why don't they put a sign at the bottom of the path and save people wasting time. A question I asked in the IBCC reception. The answer I received was "I didn't know it was locked".
Anyway we walked round the perimeter fence until we came to a bus stop with the adjacent gate open.
We paid the entrance fee of £12 each and I got £1 off for being an old codger. Very generous. The museum was only opened in 2018. The centre was created to mark the sacrifice given by Aircrew, ground crew and all the support staff that lost their lives whilst serving with RAF Bomber command.
The first thing you see apart from the 31metre tall memorial spire which is a visible landmark from everywhere is a model bomber.
Large Model Lancaster Bomber, outside reception.
Once inside there is an interactive map showing you where the air bases were including the training bases. There is also a gift shop which I thought was very expensive. I was going to buy a "t" shirt as I am a bit of a collector, but not at £26. There is also a very nice cafe which we sampled. The staff being extremely enthusiastic.
Once into the museum proper, we sat down in an amphitheater to watch a film about the history and reasons for RAF bomber command. 60 nations were involved with BC and there is a large map on the wall with all the missions lit up by date so that you can see where the bombers were used as the conflicts grew. As we all known the life expectancy of a bomber crew was not very long, bombers are large, slow and easy targets for anti-aircraft guns. I didn't realise that Bomber Command still operated until 1968.
The reality.
There was lots of video footage and audio of what was said during a mission and also individual memoirs of those that survived the war.
In the grounds of the IBCC there are memorial gardens and as I mentioned earlier there is a 31 metre tall spire and many walls of remembrance with the names of those that never came home. We saw quite a few of our own namesakes with we will look into in the near future.
Looking through the spire you can see Lincoln Cathedral.
A view of Lincoln Cathedral from outside the spire.
Looking upwards through the spire. It reminded me of a bomb bay.
Anyone remember the Anderson shelter. I remember going down into my Gran's shelter in the 1950's.
I hope that this next paragraph doesn't put anyone off from going because it is worth a visit.
I was somewhat disappointed with the Museum. It's more of a learning centre and remembrance centre in my opinion. A museum should have lots of memorabilia, Bombs for example of the different types used for different objectives, maybe one bomber at least. I wanted to climb into a bomber. Bomb aimers tools, charts, Anti aircraft guns, Searchlights etc etc. This is what I had an impression of in my mind before going and that is the reason I was disappointed.
It would have been nice to see this old Fordson tractor. Well, there has to be a tractor doesn't there.
Image courtesy of IBCC.
A couple of images taken from the wall of the cafe. I thought they said it all.
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