Thought I'd posted this collage last weekend, I obviously hadn't.
@carole_sandford and I went to the Lincolnshire Aviation Centre last weekend, it houses the world's only privately owned Lancaster Bomber, Just Jane. The site was purchased by two farmer brothers, both born in the late 1930s who lost an older brother on a night bombing raid over Berlin that had flown out from RAF East Kirby. They purchased Just Jane by auction some years later after it had stood Gate Guard at RAF Scampton for 10 years and it was then worked upon by volunteers until they could start one of the 4 Rolls Royce Merlin engines. All 4 merlins now run and Just jane is currently licenced to 'taxy' (correct spelling) down the runway, lifting only it's tail wheel, and you can pay £395 to be in it on one of those runs (I'm sorely tempted) I'm sure it could fly, but it's not licenced to do so (yet).
The hangar that Just Jane is situated in also has the world's only privately owned Mosquito, which is being renovated to be able to also taxy (photograph middle left) and a large number of wreckage exhibits dug out of the Lincolnshire fields by LARG (Lincolnshire Aircraft Recovery Group); the photo top left is the remains of a USAAF Mustang P51 that crashed on 7 June 1944. The wreckage was recovered a few years ago about 5 miles from where we live. When digging it out, human remains were found and they were identified to be the pilot, Second Lieutenant C.R. Moritz. The USAAF equivalent of the Commonwealth War Graves Commsion flew over to the UK and his body was repatriated to the US where he was given a full military funeral.
The site also has a number of buildings open and renovated, control tower, barrack room briefing room, chapel and it's a stark memorial to the 164 Lancaster Bombers which were lost on raids out of East Kikby (the map in the bottom right photo of the collage shows were each of the 164 planes was lost)
