Photographers, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, East Kirby, 30/04/16.

Tags

East Kirby, Just Jane, Lancaster bomber, Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, mobile phone camera, mobile telephone camera, photographers

http://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/

Photo Archive: Small Scale Replica of The Wooden Horse, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Spilsby, 12/06/14

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Eric Williams, escaping, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Michael Codner, military museums, Museums, Oliver Philpot, Prisoners of War, RAF, RAF Escape Museum, RAF Escape Society, Royal Air Force, Second World War, The Wooden Horse, World War Two

I can’t recall the scale.

The story of the “Wooden Horse” escape from Stalag Luft III, during the Second World War, came to my attention via the 1950 film “The Wooden Horse” starring Leo John Genn [who also appeared as Mr. Starbuck in “Moby Dick“, 1956, and in “Green is for Danger“, 1946; two of my favourites] and David Tomlinson.

The film was based on the novel, “The Wooden Horse“, by Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams, RAF, who was one of the three men to escape from Stalag Luft III, a German Prisoner of War camp, located in what was then Lower Silesia, which is now in Poland, with the help of a vaulting horse, constructed by the prisoners of war. As I understand it, Williams, Flight Lieutenant Oliver Philpot MC, DFC, RAF and Second Lieutenant Michael Codner, Royal Artillery, successfully escaped captivity via a tunnel, the entrance to which was concealed beneath the horse. The tunnellers were carried out to the exercise yard hidden within the horse. Cover was then provided by the PoWs vaulting over the horse whilst the tunneller worked beneath them; the vaulting also confused the seismographs used by the camp guards to detect any digging. When the vaulters called it a day they carried the horse back inside, along with the tunneller hidden within it and the soil excavated from the tunnel. Following their escape the three men headed for the Baltic; Williams and Codner, with the help of the Danish Resistance, managed to reach neutral Sweden, whilst Philpot headed for Danzig, now Gdansk in Poland, where he stowed away on board a Swedish merchant vessel.

The Wooden Horse forms part of the RAF Escape Society’s collection, on display at the RAF Escape Museum, in the grounds of the Aviation Heritage Centre.

Photo Archive: “The Escape” Pub Sign, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Spilsby, 12/06/14.

Tags

Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Military History, Museums, Public houses, pubs, RAF, RAF Escaping Society, Royal Air Force, Second World War, signs, Whitbread, World War Two

Cheers!

To quote from the RAF Escaping Society Museum website, “The RAF Escaping Society Museum was first established in the mid 1960s at a Whitbread public house in Mabledon Place, off Euston Road in London. The pub – renamed The Escape – was in more of a student than a tourist area and attracted insufficient interest”; what a shame! But at least the sign has found a new home at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre.

“Just Jane”, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Spilsby, 12/06/14.

Tags

British History, Historic aircraft., Just Jane, Lancaster bomber, Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, RAF, World War Two

The Lancaster bomber (viewed from the NAAFI).

Here are four of my best photographs of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre’s famous Lancaster bomber, “Just Jane”, which I was lucky enough to see taxiing around the East Kirby airfield yesterday afternoon. The smell and the sound of the aircraft are just as fascinating as its appearance, so if you are planning a visit, I’d recommend checking that the Lancaster is going to be running on that day and the time its running [if I’d arrived 30 minutes later we would have missed it completely).

Viewed from the 1st floor of the Home Front exhibition.

Viewed from where I was drinking my ginger beer.

Going back to the hangar.

…and as I usually post my top five photographs, here is something completely different from the Centre’s vast collection of artifacts:

Beans & Sausage tins (empty).

If you would like more information about the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre follow the link here: http://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/