A life-sized Lancaster Bomber has been unveiled in Lincolnshire, just off the A46. It is taller than the Angel of the North.

by Resident_Coyote_398

40 comments

  3. The support poles represent search lights and it has stripes to allow wind to pass through.

    It’s erected near the actual location that [Lancaster R5689 (VN-N)](https://www.airhistory.net/photo/721986/R5689) crashed while trying to return to RAF Swinderby in 1942. Notice that it only has two engines working. Just 1 out of the 3249 Lancasters lost in action during the war.

    I hope Halifax crews get some recognition one day.

  4. Almost as good as the papier mache camel on the M5.

  5. Just saw this on the local news being a east Anglia boy, next time I’m in Lincolnshire going to have to go see it

  9. I saw one of these do a flypast at an airshow. The sound was unforgettable but what really struck me was the sight. Seeing that thin silhouette on the horizon slowly getting bigger, you can’t help but be transported to the 40s, seeing one return and knowing the crew are safely on their way home, hoping it’s your brother, father, or husbands plane. Knowing that more left than returned. The average Lanc lasted just 5 missions. Imagine the feeling of those crew, relief at being home free, but most likely having seen their mates go down in flames and knowing it could just have easily been them. And that they’ll be out again into the fray before long. My great-uncle was lost in a Lancaster, I think it went down over the sea.

    When I was a kid I read PoW escape stories like the Wooden Horse and the Great Escape (and much later, the incomparable Moonless Night). For me, the action of those WW2 escapers embodies the British spirit – that resourceful, cheeky, camaraderie really resonates. That refusal to give up even under the worst conditions. That doggedness.

    As an adult I got into wrist watches, and for a milestone birthday I wanted to get a watch that would have been worn by those PoWs. Turns out the majority of PoWs would have been bomber crew, and the navigators were issued with Omega watches to help them navigate by dead reckoning.

    Wearing my 1943 Omega as that Lancaster flew overhead felt very appropriate. Like a homecoming. To wear a watch worn by those men is a privilege.

    edit: Here’s the pic https://imgur.com/a/oVWIIWz

  10. I like the person on the planning committee who decided a statue of a peaceful, graceful biblical character should be one-upped by a statue of a heavy bomber.

  12. It’s been common in skyscrapers to add a big spire to the top so you can claim you are the tallest, angel of north just needs a hat or something to take the crown back , or a crown – with a spire?

  14. I just don’t understand why they built these planes just to bomb Lancaster. I mean, it’s not *that* bad.

  15. That won’t fly, it’s got holes in. I must admit they built them better 85 years ago.

  19. Wow, that’s fantastic. Didn’t know it was being erected. Will have to stop by on my next trip to Lincoln.

  20. That is wonderful. I wish there were more of these types of artworks/sculptures around the UK. I love this. I want one in my garden 😉

  21. This country has a huge problem with being stuck in the past. That and it’s obsession with WW2.

  23. My Grandad lost a brother in one of these somewhere over Normandy.

  26. My takeaway here is the angel of the north must be smaller than I imagined

  28. It didn’t take long for someone to stick a flag to it…

  29. Got rid of the plexiglass from the gun turrets then.

  35. One just did a flyby on Sunday at the Ayr Air Show in Ayrshire. Amazing to see, just huge and loud.

  36. Is the flag part of the original installation or an add on?

  37. A love that ‘angel of the north’ has almost become an official measurement in the UK. I’m not sure it’s possible to unveil a piece of public art without ensuring everyone knows how it compares.

  38. We Yellowbellies are very proud of it. I saw it in the flesh this week when en route to Nottingham.

    The view going NE (into Lincs) is much better than that going SE (into Notts), as is appropriate.

  39. There’s a sculpture being erected in Warrington to celebrate the part Burtonwood airbase played in WW2, I drove past it earlier ready to be lifted into position…it’s fucking rubbish

  40. Genuinely awful bit of “art”. It says nothing. It makes you feel nothing. It doesn’t challenge, provoke, make you think, make you reflect. It isn’t aesthetically interesting or beautiful. It’s just a big plane. At best you go “there’s a big plane”.

    Ok, it’s a memorial to a crash. But memorials should be beautiful or interesting or intriguing too.

    And apparently you can’t even access the site to go and see it.

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