January 10, 2020 11.43 am This story is over 50 months old

Flypast to celebrate rare Lincoln display featuring Dambuster Guy Gibson’s medals

The exhibition opens later this month
Guy Gibson in front of a Lancaster.

Lincoln will get a special chance to see Dambuster Guy Gibson’s Victoria Cross medal and other rare artefacts when a new exhibition begins at The Collection Museum later this month.

It will go on display in a new event entitled “A Century of Valour” between January, 25 and March 15, 2020 (open daily 10am-4pm), thanks to unique permission from the RAF Museum Hendon. It is part of Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire’s final “Bastion in the Air” exhibition.

Photo from the 2018 Bastion in the Air exhibition in Scampton: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

As part of the exhibition’s launch, a flypast over the city by an RAF Typhoon fighter is planned for midday on the day before – Friday, January 24.

The route of the aircraft will be from the Spire at the International Bomber Command Centre directly over Broadgate to The Collection and then banking over Lincoln Cathedral.

Admission is priced at £5 for adults (including one free return to the exhibition), £3.50 for over 65s, military with ID and students, and free to Under-16s – click here to book tickets.

One of the most famous Victoria Crosses in British Military history – that of Wing Commander Guy Gibson – will be among the artefacts on display. This is the first time the medal has returned to Lincolnshire since Gibson’s death in 1944, and it has only been publicly displayed three times since then.

The exhibition, which is supported by Heritage Lottery Fund, will explore Lincolnshire’s aviation gallantry over the past 100 years, telling the story of bravery in the air and on the ground through three major periods in the county’s military history – World War I, World War II and The Cold War.

It will tell stories including of Bomb Disposal Officers defusing devices on their own, the impact of animals such as explosives detection dogs and homing pigeons, and modern day stories of bravery in Afghanistan.

Previously unseen memorabilia will also be on show from the famous fighter ace Douglas Bader, including his log book and artefacts from his time in captivity in Colditz Castle.

There will also be rarely told stories from the Cold War through the eyes of Vulcan bomber crews. A tactical nuclear weapon that the aircraft carried and examples of crews’ flying kit will be on display.