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Flames in the Night - what happened over Lincolnshire...

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Shippo
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon May 14, 2012 11:43 pm

Flames in the Night - what happened over Lincolnshire...

Post by Shippo » Mon May 09, 2016 9:08 am

"Museums at Night" is the annual after-hours festival of Arts, culture and heritage when many museums and heritage sites open their doors for special evening event. It is an evening of celebration when, along with hundreds of European museums, galleries, libraries and heritage sites , including several in the Lincolnshire, events take place. The celebration takes place over the weekend of Thursday 12th to Saturday 14th May 2016. A huge range of venues take part in this nationwide initiative giving a chance to discover new exhibitions, see special presentations, and engage in a wide range of fun activities and explore culture in a new light.

In 2015 over 400 arts and heritage venues opened their doors at night, staging 700 events and attracting over 180 thousand visitors nation-wide. Thorpe Camp Visitor Centre was one of them. Museums at Night is taking place again in 2016.

Now people would have thought two words Thorpe Camp was a holiday camp with a "Hi de" flavour. But it is far from that! The centre is in the grounds of former RAF Woodhall Spa. The airfield was constructed on former farmland as a satellite station to RAF Coningsby and opened in February 1942. Four RAF squadrons were based there during World War Two and these were 97 Squadron, 619 Squadron, 627 Squadron, and the famous "Dambusters" called 617 Squadron. On 14th March 1945 a Lancaster bomber from RAF Woodhall Spa dropped the first 22 000lb Grand Slam helping to destroy the viaduct at Bielefeld in Nazi Germany.

The Petwood Hotel, now well known throughout the world in the village of nearby Woodhall Spa was commandeered along with much local accommodation for the air and ground crew flying from the airfield.
Even Wing Commander Guy Gibson flew on missions from this airfield, a member of 627 Squadron, but on one mission and his last, he and his navigator Squadron Leader Jim Warwick flying in a twin engine Mosquito fighter bomber failed to return having been killed in action.

A special presentation of FLAMES IN THE NIGHT, a lecture by aviation historians, Cliff Clover and Mike Hodgson who, together, will relate the story of the development of the German Zeppelin airships and the bombing attacks over Lincolnshire during the Great War. The event will also see the launch of a new book ‘Flames in the Night’ (The Zeppelin Raids over Lincolnshire) by aviation historian and author, Mike Hodgson.

This what happened in the London raids of the Great War on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD0NBl5yhFo

The talk which will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, 14th May, at the Thorpe Camp Visitor Centre, Tattershall Thorpe, a volunteer managed Centre telling the story of RAF Woodhall Spa and of life in Lincolnshire during World War II

Following the lecture, the Visitor Centre will open for a special night-time viewing for guests and visitors. Light refreshments will also be available.

Tickets for the event are £5 and, along with further details, can be obtained by telephone (01526 342249) or via the Centre’s web-site www.thorpecamp.org

For any further information please contact Mike Hodgson on 01526 342249


John Shipton
Friends of Metheringham Airfield
Lincoln

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