Gently bathed by the last fading embers of the cold November sun, Avro Lancaster NX611 'Just Jane' sat dormant on the apron at East Kirkby, her colours slowly drained by the twilight as her classic frame formed a silhouette against the clear Lincolnshire skyline. This was the first time I'd laid eyes on the Panton brothers' lady of the night, the crown jewel of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre. There's something about this sleeping beauty that strikes the chord of reflection. Perhaps it's due in part to the serene, reflective atmosphere that permeates through East Kirkby, borne out of the incomprehensible sacrifices made by Bomber Command during World War Two; or maybe the solemn beauty of Roy Chadwick's design - regardless of the reason, the point remains: you can't help but lose yourself every time you're in her presence.
East Kirkby’s history lies with Bomber Command. The station was constructed during 1942-3, with 57 Squadron being the first to take up residence in August 1943; indeed, the Squadron's 'B-Flight' would remain at East Kirkby under the guise of 630 Squadron for the remainder of Bomber Command's offensive. North of East Kirkby village were living quarters for some 1,965 men and 486 women, who formed the backbone of the airfield's operations until April 1945.
By the time the last raid was flown out of the airfield on 25 April 1945, 212 operations had been carried out. East Kirkby had seen 121 Lancasters fail to return from operations during this two year period. To put it into perspective, each Lancaster was crewed by seven men.
Following a period of operation under United States Air Force command, RAF East Kirkby was effectively retired into care and maintenance until 1981, when some of the remnants of the airfield were purchased by local farmers Fred and Harold Panton, who later acquired NX611, then a gate guardian at RAF Scampton, in 1983. Following a lengthy restoration into pristine condition, the Lancaster now forms the centrepiece of the growing Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre on the site of the former RAF East Kirkby.
Opened in 1988, the Centre consists of several segments, the main attraction of which is undoubtedly the hangar housing ‘Just Jane’ and fellow East Kirkby resident, C-47 Skytrain ‘Drag ‘em Oot’, a fairly regular participant at UK and European airshows. Other exhibits, all well worth a visit, include the restored Control Tower, a memorial chapel for those seeking quiet contemplation, the RAF Escaping Society collection, a Home Front exhibition and hundreds of photographs and memorabilia that you could spend hours pawing over. One of the latest additions to the Centre is the Early Bombers exhibition, which houses part of the Handley Page Hampden and Vickers Wellington restorations that are essential viewing during any visit.
The Pantons have a very personal relationship with the Lancaster and Bomber Command. On the night of March 30-31 1944, Pilot Officer Christopher Panton, serving under 433 Squadron, was lost in a raid on Nuremberg. Now, his younger brothers maintain 'Just Jane' as a memorial not only to their fallen kin, but to the 55,500 men lost in Bomber Command raids during the Second World War.
55,500 casualties are almost impossible to comprehend. The statistics are all the more staggering when you consider that each of those men left behind mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, children and countless friends and comrades. They were a brethren shattered by the mental and physical toll of night-long operations into the heart of occupied Europe, whose resolve and courage was tested nightly by mounting losses and odds that seemed to be ever more insurmountable following each sortie. Each November, the Pantons pay tribute to the sacrifices made by Bomber Command when they stage their yearly Lancaster night run and firework display.
The event began with a daytime taxi run at 3pm, capturing the best light of the day as the early evening sun coloured the airfield a classic autumnal gold. Following the first taxi, visitors had four hours to peruse the museum, enjoy a 60cm German searchlight demonstration (very evocative in the clear, cloudless night skies) or tuck into the fine food provided by the various NAAFIs onsite. My ostrich burger certainly lived up to the hype – locally farmed, one assumes. Even the International Space Station made a single flypast to mark the occasion! The event was later capped off by a stunning firework display – one of the largest in the country – and a massed launch of Chinese lanterns!
The event also caters very well for the photographers in attendance, with ‘Just Jane’ remaining well lit for the duration of the evening. This was my first night photo shoot and it was certainly a new and interesting challenge; something I look forward to doing more of in the future. It was also nice to see everyone being so respectful of those taking long exposure photographs (many of mine were 30 second exposures, meaning that people walking in front of the aircraft are generally not stationary for long enough to appear in the final image) from various positions around the aircraft in the run up to the taxi run itself.
With East Kirkby filled to the gunnels with spectators local and out-of-county (I made the three hour plus trip up from London for the event, for example), the crowds were moved to either side of the Lancaster in preparation for the start up. In the cool calm of night, the Lancaster conducts a moving symphony with the orchestra of four Merlin engines, each of which is run up to 2,000rpm during the run. The initial taxi run onto the old airfield is an impressive and poignant sight, but the return – with the aircraft looming out of the darkness, exhausts flickering in the otherwise empty black – is both intimidating and chilling.
This is where the real power of East Kirkby’s November event lies. It doesn’t take much for the sight, sound and smell of ‘Just Jane’ to provoke thoughts of the hundreds of airmen who left this little corner of Lincolnshire on operations deep into Europe night after night, month after month for three years, never to return. Indeed, it was noted by the commentators that a lone Lancaster failed to return from East Kirkby during raids mounted on the evening of 6 November 1944, further adding to the ghostly aura of this nocturnal beauty as she came into view.
With the taxi run complete, the crew ran up each engine individually, creating the amazing sight of red hot carbon being deposited from the engines in a captivating shower of golden-red sparks. As a finale to the taxi run, ‘Just Jane’ slowly crawled to a halt in front of the crowd, mere feet away. Dramatic, imposing, stunning. Words do not, and cannot, do justice to the night run experience. It’s something you really have to witness, to feel, in person to appreciate the myriad of emotions summoned as you contemplate the sacrifices of the many who laid down their lives during their service at East Kirkby; both those who failed to return, and those who came home with the burden of all that they had experienced.
You can’t come close to understanding the emotions the airmen must have experienced in the 1940s, but East Kirkby’s night run goes some way at least towards helping our generation to appreciate the quiet internal wars that were fought between fear and courage in the hearts and minds of the men who, in the face of insurmountable odds and their determined resolve, left all of their hopes, dreams, lives and loves in the land they called home to embark on the great crusade against tyranny and oppression, knowing not where or when they would find their fate in the eternal dark of night.
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