Photo of last wartime raid discovered

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Photo of last wartime raid discovered 

With the 70th anniversary of VE Day still fresh in our minds from a fortnight ago (did anyone see the celebrations on the B.B.C. and particularly the veterans' march past the Prince of Wales - what about that old boy at the end who insisted on getting out of his wheelchair to shake hands with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall?!  What a chap!), it's easy to forget that the war was still raging in Europe almost right up until the moment of surrender on the 7th May.

View image | gettyimages.com

Photograph discovered of 'last RAF bomb dropped on Germany'

This fact has been brought home again recently thanks in part to the discovery of a previously unseen photograph showing preparations for an RAF bombing raid on the German port of Kiel, with the date (written on the bomb, no less!) of the 2nd May 1945 - only 5 days before Germany's unconditional surrender.  Even more interestingly, this raid - by de Havilland Mosquitoes of 608 Squadron, based at Downham Market in Norfolk - has been confirmed as the last hostile operation undertaken by Bomber Command in the Second World War, so this photograph is most definitely an important historical document of the very last days of the conflict.



It was a fitting closure to aerial operations in the Second World War that Kiel was chosen as the target for this final raid (as it was feared that the remnants of the German Navy would make a last-minute dash for Norway, then still in Axis hands, from the town's large sea port) as it was also one of the very first targets to be bombed by the RAF back in September 1939 (as immortalised in the 1939 British propaganda film The Lion Has Wings, starring Merle Oberon and Ralph Richardson - from which the above clip is taken).

As is the way with newly-discovered photographs we marvel at the snapshot in time that they provide, which in this case is heightened by the knowledge that it was taken less than a week away from one of the defining events of the 20th century - the end of one of the world's bloodiest and all-encompassing wars.  An otherwise everyday wartime activity is thrown into stark relief by the fact that it turned out to be the last such action of the war and one wonders about the awareness of the men in the photo - what were their hopes and feelings on that last raid; did they know it would all be over in a matter of days?  We'll likely never know the answer to that question now since the original owner, pictured in the photo, passed away in 1979 (having, like so many of his generation, never talked about his experiences) but nevertheless it's welcome news that an historically-important image has been found and saved for the nation, fittingly in this the 70th anniversary year of the war's end.

Historic Lancasters' tandem flight takes place in Lincolnshire

Historic Lancasters' tandem flight takes place in Lincolnshire

Well here I am again, having survived a second week at the Temple of Mammon (I'd love to write this blog as a full-time job but would struggle to make it pay, I'm afraid!), with the exciting vintage news of the moment - the arrival of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Avro Lancaster in Britain!  The only other airworthy example in the world after the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's City Of Lincoln, C-GVRA Vera (or FM213, the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster) has joined its sister in the UK for a month-long series of displays - the first time two Lancasters will have been in the air together for over 50 years.

As reported earlier in the year Vera was flown across the Atlantic Ocean in stages before landing at RAF Coningsby, the home of the BBMF and its Lanc.  Having undergone various post-flight checks and practice formations, it has now begun being displayed around the country in the company of the British example

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Following a departure display for the press at Coningsby (with the planned flyover of Lincoln Cathedral on the 13th sadly postponed because of bad weather) the Lancs spent this weekend at Airbourne, the Eastbourne International Airshow in Sussex, plus several other displays around the south-east.  Over the next month they will appear at various events around the country, including Duxford, Shoreham and Goodwood - plus two special invitation-only events at Humberside International Airport in Kirmington, Lincolnshire.  I'm also delighted to note that, as I'd hoped, the pair will go to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre where a third powered Lancaster - Just Jane - is based and perform a fly-past while Jane does a taxi run.  What an image that will be, I'm sure!

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A full list of the planned displays is available on the CWHM's website - I hope there's one near you?  Clacton's probably my nearest, although it's on a weekday so I'm unlikely to make it ;(.  Perhaps Duxford, we shall have to see.  Or I could just camp out in my parents' garden since the flippin' things flew over them yesterday(!), no doubt on the way back from one of the Kent shows.

At any rate, the press is rightly making a big thing out of this once-in-a-lifetime event and there is bound to be more coverage as the month goes on.  It really is quite an amazing sight to see these two four-engined monsters in the air together, made all the more poignant by the thought of how much they represent - the 125,000 pilots who flew in RAF Bomber Command during World War Two and the 55,000 who did not return, plus the 7,300 Avro Lancasters that were built between 1942 and 1945 of which only 17 survive today.  It is a fitting homage to all these men and machines that these two aircraft should fly together again, as the veterans' comments prove.  I hope in their appearances around the country they will inspire and enthral onlookers and remind each generation of the sacrifices their vanished comrades made, and that this will not be the last time two or more Lancasters are seen in the air together at one time.

Lancaster bombers to fly together on UK summer tour

Lancaster bombers to fly together on UK summer tour

More Bomber Command commemoration news now, and this one is exciting almost beyond words (well, I'll try anyway)!

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight has been thrilling airshow crowds and remembrance parades around the country for decades and the undisputed jewel in its crown is the Avro Lancaster bomber PA474.  Joining the Flight in 1973 it has become a much-loved feature; one of only two airworthy examples left in the world it is highly valued in its own right.

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Avro Lancaster Mk X FM213 "Mynarski Memorial"
of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

The other Lanc in flying condition - FM213 - performs a similar office for the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Ontario, having been rescued from the scrapheap by The Royal Canadian Legion in 1978 (and restored to airworthiness by 1988).  A familiar sight on the North American display circuits the Canadian-built FM213 was, like PA474, completed just too late to see service in World War II - spending 20 years with the RCAF's Maritime Air Command Search & Rescue division.

Canada's Lancaster bomber to cross Atlantic for U.K. tour

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Avro Lancaster B I PA747 "City of Lincoln" of the BBMF

Now in a series of special one-off events FM213 and PA474 are scheduled to meet in the skies of Britain this summer in what is rightly being billed as a "once-in-a-lifetime event".  For the first time in 60 years two Avro Lancasters will fly together over two weeks in August (including, I note, my birthday - hmmnn, now there's an idea...!).

The CWHM will fly its Lancaster, in stages, across the Atlantic to meet up with the BBMF at RAF Coningsby.  That in itself is more than worthy of comment, since a Lancaster has not undertaken an Atlantic crossing since 1975 and we should remember that we are talking about a near 70-year-old machine here!  Just that flight alone will be testament to the aircraft's durability and the hard work of the museum engineers who work strenuously to keep this wonderful aeroplane flyable (the same can be said, of course, for PA474 and the BBMF).

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Avro Lancaster B VII NX611 "Just Jane"
of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre

Once FM213 has made it across and is checked over a number of displays and events are planned for that second fortnight in August.  Flypasts with the BBMF will commence on the 14th August with a series of as-yet unspecified shows to follow.  A tour of the country seems to be suggested; hopefully we shall know more nearer the time.  A visit to the taxiing Lanc undergoing restoration in Lincolnshire, perhaps (three of them, albeit on the ground, would surely be a sight to see)?  Hopefully a show near you will see both bombers in the air together.  Furthermore if you live near the Humberside Airport and have £3,500 going spare you can even pay to have a flight in one of the Lancasters (£7,000 for a cockpit seat), which are due to take place on the 18th-20th and 26th-27th August.

All-in-all then this sounds like an absolutely amazing opportunity and a fantastic way to commemorate the numerous martial anniversaries that abound this year (WWI 100th, WWII 75th, Bomber Command etc.).  I very much hope to get a chance to see the two Lancs in formation together some time, somewhere, this August.  Watch and listen to the footage at the top of this post, then try to imagine two (or even three if NX611 is involved!) instead of one - what a beautiful sight (and sound!) that will be!

Bomber Command centre to 'echo' Lancaster shape

Bomber Command centre to 'echo' Lancaster shape

Readers may be familiar with the memorial to RAF Bomber Command that was unveiled by HM Queen Elizabeth II in Green Park, London, a couple of years ago.  Until then there had been no official memorial to the bomber crews who died during the Second World War.  Now there is soon to be a second - as well as the first museum devoted to that arm of the RAF - in Lincoln, to further honour the men of Bomber Command.

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Both edifices look to be magnificent.  The monument - to be called the "Spire of Names" - will tower 164ft into the sky and feature the 25,000+ names of every bomber airman from Lincolnshire who perished in the conflict.  Sitting on Lincoln's Canwick Hill it will overlook the nearby Lincoln Cathedral, which was well-known to locally-based bomber pilots as both a navigation aid and a welcome sight upon returning to base.  Recently the Spire project was given an anonymous £750,000 donation, allowing it to go ahead.

As detailed in the main article, the nearby visitor centre has been ingeniously designed to resemble the outline of an Avro Lancaster bomber, that most famous mainstay of RAF bomber squadrons.  It is also set be named The Chadwick Centre, after Avro's chief designer Roy Chadwick.

All this adds up to an excellent and beautiful form of remembrance for all the brave men of the RAF Bomber Command, as well as those at the Avro works and doubtless many more local and national war heroes to boot.  I'm sure it will be a credit to Lincoln and all the airmen who gave their lives in service to their country.

Lancaster bomber roars over Worcestershire as part of Defford Airfield Heritage Weekend

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Lancaster bomber roars over Worcestershire as part of Defford Airfield Heritage Weekend

I've mentioned before how indebted this blog is to the news feeds & alerts that I'm signed up to in helping me to find vintage news and events near and far and this article is a classic example.

"A picture of a Lanc, and a Heritage Weekend?  I'll have a look at that", I thought to myself - with an eye to putting it on here - when the e-mail alert popped into my inbox yesterday.  And I was not disappointed as I read the splendid article to see the few remaining RAF Bomber Command servicemen who served at RAF Defford gathered together to share memories, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Avro Lancaster gracing the event with a few flypasts over the gorgeous Worcestershire countryside and the whole weekend generally being a rip-roaring success.  It's always heartwarming to see such an important piece of history as the the sole airworthy Lancaster in Britain appearing at events like these and it all certainly seems to have given a well-deserved boost to the new Defford Airfield Museum.

Then I clicked through the accompanying pictures.  Got to the fifth one.  Hang on a minute, that's...!  (Imagine me now doing a double take, taking off my glasses, squinting, putting them back on again etc.)  Yes, fellow blogger Tickety Boo Tupney was in attendance, suitably and immaculately dressed as ever and no doubt helping to lend the event an authentic 1940s air.

So this news item that I might otherwise have missed ends up having it all - a popular Heritage Weekend, pleasant scenery, a Lancaster bomber and another vintage blogger - and earns a place on Eclectic Ephemera!

WWII carrier pigeon message discovered in Surrey chimney

WWII carrier pigeon message discovered in Surrey chimney

Here's a corking story of the kind that is so beloved of this blogger and which we have had little of recently - a remarkable historical find with an edge of oddness about it.

Plenty of interesting, long-forgotten pieces of the past can be discovered during renovation work on old buildings and nesting birds are often a problem for those houses that still have a fireplace with a chimney.  Here, however, the two have combined to create this amazing discovery - the skeletal remains of a Second World War carrier pigeon complete with leg capsule and, more importantly, the original message still contained within! 

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Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire

The whole story is almost unbelievable in the way it has unfolded and it isn't complete yet.  The message, sent by an RAF sergeant from still-occupied Normandy in the early stages of D-Day and probably intended for Bletchley Park - a mere 80 miles from where the message was eventually discovered - or Field-Marshal Montgomery's London headquarters in St Paul's School, Barnes, is unusual not only for remaining attached to a dead pigeon's leg undiscovered (and undelivered) for over 60 years but for being in code when the majority of messages sent back from the D-Day operation were not.  This implies that the contents were of major importance and highly secret.

Quest to crack secrets of lost D-Day pigeon

Unfortunately no-one seems to know the code that was used and there are no extant records that reveal the cipher employed by this Sergeant W. Stot.  Unless the modern-day codebreakers at GCHQ in Cheltenham, to whom the message has been handed, can use their skills to decode this mysterious message the information it contains will likely remain unknown.  Would it have had an important bearing on the course of the war?  Hopefully GCHQ can tell us, but either way it is a fantastic tale.