TSSC Lincs trip August 8th to East Kirkby Aviation Heritage Centre

[SixasStandard]

The Lincolnshire Group spent a very enjoyable day last Saturday with a group drive to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby organized by the Lincs AO Dave Samways. We met up at the Winthorpe Shell Service Station at 9am and departed on the pre-planned route at 09:30, after 7 cars had assembled. At this point a creditable mention should be made regarding 'Dave' (sorry, didn't get his last name) who had driven all the way down from Leeds to take part in the event in his Herald 13/60 convertible. All the cars at this stage were either Vitesses or Heralds of various decriptions, including Dave's very nicely turned out and rare Vitesse Estate. The route took us on a mixture of fast 'A' roads and quiet country 'B' roads, including one rather isolated stretch that would stuggle to qualify for any classification at all if truth be told!! Fortunately my lowered suspension and twin sports exhaust didn't conspire to leave any Triumph components on this stretch of rural Lincolnshire!! The route took us past some very historic parts of Lincolnshire's aviation heritage, including RAF College Cranwell, RAF Digby, RAF Conningsby and the BBMF, before ending at the former RAF East Kirkby, now home to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, and their Avro Lancaster NX611 'Just Jane' and De Havilland Mosquito HJ711. AO Dave had pre-arranged with the Museum for our cars to be parked on the hard standing in front of the main hanger within the Museum grounds, so an ideal location for those visiting the museum to also view our cars. The cars generated a lot of interest, and several owners took the time to discuss their cars and answer questions from the public. After lunch a further two Triumphs joined the group, a Spitfire and a TR6, both of which were immaculately turned out, bringing the final tally of vehicles to 9 for the day. The weather was hot and  sunny throughout, so everything combined very nicely to make the trip a memorable and enjoyable one.

For those who have yet to visit the museum, it is definitely worth the effort, with various displays housed in the wartime buildings still on the site, including recreations of a typical WW2 Briefing Room, Nissen Hut Billet, WW2 POW escape displays and more, not forgetting the Station's former Control Tower.

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In the main hanger housing both the Lancaster and Mosquito there are numerous side displays of the excavated remains of WW2 crashes from the area, as well as examples of some of the large ordnance bombs carried by Lancasters during WW2, and video film shows from the period. The Lancaster has already been restored to Taxiing condition as part of a longer term effort to return her to flying condition. Taxi runs are held on a regular basis, so to view these you need to refer to the museum's website to check dates. It is possible to book places in the Lancaster during these taxi runs, but would have to be booked direct with the Museum and well in advance, as they are very popular. The Mosquito has also been returned to taxiing condition, and various packages are available for those interested to get closer access and even to take part in a taxi run. 

All in all it was a great day out for all concerned, so many thanks to organizer Dave Samways for putting it together. 

Ian        

[GFL]

I visited 3 years ago on one of the Classic car days, we saw the Lancaster Taxiing, had a short Air display by a visiting Spitfire, saw the Blenheim flying and also saw the Mosquito nearing completion of it's restoration in one of the Hangars.

It's a fascinating place and certainly worth a visit.

Gary