Heard this story on the Today programme. Was a little confused over this memorial as it seems that this is a *new* memorial and will be the first one to Bomber Command. Today interveiwed a spokesman about the memorial and he said that they are trying to negotiate a suitable location, funding and an architect....yet in
Sat (18 Oct) Mail there was an article about how the first memorial to Bomber Command would up in Regent's Park by next year.
Sixty years late, a wrong is righted as bomber heroes will be given a fitting memorial
Night after night they climbed into their cramped and freezing aircraft to strike at Germany's cities and factories.
And each time they flew, the odds of them surviving the night-fighters and flak grew longer and longer.
Yet the sacrifice and seemingly inexhaustible bravery of the young men of Bomber Command has gone almost unrecognised for 60 years
Even Churchill snubbed them, though they faced some of the worst losses of any branch of the British military.
However, it emerged that the heroes of Bomber Command are at last to be recognised with their own memorial.
Campaigners have won the struggle to raise funds for a £2million memorial in Regent's Park to honour the 55,000 who lost their lives during the war.
It will go some way to ending a longstanding injustice which the project's supporters blame on 'political correctness.' After the war there was widespread unease over what the airmen were asked to do - the tactic of carpet-bombing German cities - and horror at the effects of this on civilians.
Former Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb, a passionate supporter of the campaign, told the Mail enough money had now been raised for building work to go ahead.
'The memorial will be up in Regent's Park next year,' he said. 'We have agreed a site, but we still need to raise a bit more money.
'I feel very emotional about this. These guys are heroes. Everyone in Britain and the rest of Europe owes them a debt. It has been 63 years and yet successive governments have failed to honour them.
'This is not about glorifying war, it is about honouring sacrifice.'
The singer, who is president of the Heritage Foundation which honours noteworthy British achievers, said the memorial would take the form of seven bronze statues of crew members in uniform, facing outwards in a circle.
The bomber offensive played a major role in defeating Hitler's Germany and was initially one of the few ways in which Britain could strike back at the Nazis.
However, by the end of the war the tactics of 'area bombing' cities - estimated to have caused up to 600,000 civilian casualties - had become increasingly controversial, particularly after some were reduced to rubble.
The strategy was largely dictated by the technology of the day, because long-range high-level bombers lacked the accuracy to hit individual factories.
Churchill backed the strategy but snubbed Bomber Command in his 1945 victory broadcast, thanking all sections of the RAF except the bomber force. While the debate over the allied tactics has raged, survivors felt that their valour and sacrifice were unfairly forgotten.
So is this the same memorial that the Telegraph and Today were on about or a different one? Will Bomber Command now have 2 memorials?