New Lincoln landmark as Bomber Command spire is assembled

The centrepiece to the International Bomber Command Memorial Centre has been planted on Canwick Hill in Lincoln, creating a striking new addition to the city’s skyline.

The Memorial Spire, the first significant and visible development in the building of the new centre, arrived on site in the early hours of Sunday, May 10.

The spire’s design is based on two Lancaster Bomber wing fragments, tapering as they rise towards the sky.

The height of the memorial is 102ft (31.09m), which is the wingspan of the Avro Lancaster; the width at the base is 16ft (5m), which is the overall width of a Lancaster wing.

Two low-loaders, the largest of which will be 25m long, and a 72 tonne crane, arrived at Canwick Hill just after 8am after making the journey from manufacturers in Yorkshire.

Engineers then took around six hours to erect the Spire. The next few weeks will be spent carrying out site welding and finessing, with the Spire due to be completed in late May.

The entire project will comprise of The Memorial Spire and walls, The Chadwick Centre, Bomber Command Digital Archive and Memorial Park.

The International Bomber Command Centre is set for an opening date of October 1.

It will provide a central hub for the Bomber Command story to be told both at a national and international level.

The spire was created by a specialist fabrication company using Corten steel. Did you know:

• The finished Spire is 31.09m tall and 5m wide at the base
• It weighs 55 tonnes
• 520 holes were created in the two linking plates holding the shards together
• 32 pieces of steel plate were used to create the shards
• The top 21m section weighs 26 tonnes and was brought in on one 25m lorry

Lord Taylor of Holbeach, Trustee of the Lincolnshire Bomber Command Memorial Trust, said: “We’ve seen this as a draft, a concept and now we have the actual spire going up, and we hope that this is going to be part of a tremendous complex here with the Chadwick Centre, giving a lot more information than we are currently able to have o display about the role of bomber command in the last war.

“Of course it can’t compare with Lincoln’s cathedral, but we hope in its own way the spire will also be a landmark for the people of Lincoln and a reminder to us all of the sacrifices made of the bomber crews.”