A £6m memorial to the 55,573 airmen of Bomber Command who died fighting Nazi Germany is to be unveiled by the Queen.
She will be joined by royals including the Prince of Wales at the dedication ceremony in London's Green Park.
Some 6,000 veterans and families of the deceased will see a Lancaster Bomber drop 82,000 poppies in a fly-past.
Britain's policy of large-scale area bombing near the end of World War II has been criticised by some, stalling progress on a memorial for decades.
Veterans from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other Commonwealth countries who served and died alongside the British crew will also attend the ceremony.
The memorial, designed by Liam O'Connor, built in Portland stone features a bronze 9ft high sculpture of seven aircrew.
It also has a roof made from aluminium reclaimed from a Handley Page Halifax III bomber shot down over Belgium in May 1944.
An inscription says it "also commemorates those of all nations who lost their lives in the bombing of 1939-1945".
Veteran pilot Alan Biffen, 87, said: "I am so glad that at long last Bomber Command is being remembered not only for what it achieved but also for the lives of the young men who never came back.
History of Bomber Command
- Formed in 1936
- Mission to attack Germany's air bases, troops, shipping and industrial complexes connected to the war effort
- Crews from UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and all corners of Commonwealth plus occupied nations like Poland and France
- Average age of bombers about 22
- Switched to inaccurate night bombing to reduce casualties
- First "thousand-bomber raid" in May 1942 - against Cologne, three months after "Bomber Harris" made commander in chief
- Famous Dam Busters raid of May 1943 struck at dams surrounding Ruhr Valley
"Many of them were boys. I myself added a year to my age at 16 so that I could join the air force."
Almost half of the 125,000 men of Bomber Command died dodging night fighters and anti-aircraft fire in raids over occupied Europe.
The ceremony is the culmination of a five-year campaign, spearheaded by the late singer Robin Gibb.
The Bomber Command Memorial Appeal secured funding from public donations and private donors John Caudwell, Lord Ashcroft and Richard Desmond.
There were no campaign medals for Bomber Command after the war and no mention of them in Churchill's victory speech.
The unit was criticised by some for raids on Dresden in the closing months of the war.
The fire-storms caused by the RAF and US Army Air Force killed about 25,000 civilians destroying the city centre.
The event will end with a flypast by five GR4 Tornado bomber aircraft and the RAF's last flying Lancaster Bomber, which will drop the poppies over the park in remembrance for the aircrew lost.
The RAF Benevolent Fund will take over guardianship of the memorial.
0 comments:
Post a Comment