Another Insult to Bomber Command
Thread Starter
Another Insult to Bomber Command
Just seen the pictures of the new 'Memorial Spire' for Bomber Command's 55,000 unveiled at Lincoln yesterday 
What is it with this modern-art fetish for rusty steel - it looks like it needs a good dose of Hamerrite! Also, the cost of the memorial on the site is an eye-watering £10.5 MIILLION, which is nearly twice the cost of the far more tasteful Bomber Command memorial outside the RAF Club in Piccadilly.
Can we please stop with the "Emporer's new clothes" style of modern art to commemorate past generations' sacrifices? I know that my Grandfather and his chums would not appreciate such gooping fru-fru like this rusty metal wharehouse chimney that's been imstalled atop Canwick Hill in Lincoln.
Absolute garbage......and an insult to 'the many' of Bomber Command 
The B Word
What is it with this modern-art fetish for rusty steel - it looks like it needs a good dose of Hamerrite! Also, the cost of the memorial on the site is an eye-watering £10.5 MIILLION, which is nearly twice the cost of the far more tasteful Bomber Command memorial outside the RAF Club in Piccadilly.
Can we please stop with the "Emporer's new clothes" style of modern art to commemorate past generations' sacrifices? I know that my Grandfather and his chums would not appreciate such gooping fru-fru like this rusty metal wharehouse chimney that's been imstalled atop Canwick Hill in Lincoln.
Absolute garbage...
...and an insult to 'the many' of Bomber Command The B Word
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It is 102ft (31.09m) tall - the wingspan of the Avro Lancaster - and the width at the base is 16ft (5m), the overall width of a Lancaster wing.
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I dunno, you can see it being as it's pointy and perched atop Canwick hill from a lot of places in Lincoln. I was on the castle walls the other day and it stands out very well. Tourists were asking what the pointy thing was they could see, so then they get to find out about the memorial, which then might trigger a desire to visit other aviation history related sites in Lincs. Were it a statue like the one in London you would actually have to go and see it to see it if you get my drift.
I'm not particularly a lover of stuff moderne either but I think in this case they have the right thing in the right place.
I'm not particularly a lover of stuff moderne either but I think in this case they have the right thing in the right place.
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At least people are now making an effort to honour Bomber Command.
The 55573 casualties deserve that (far more than some arse on here bitching about the design of the memorial)
The 55573 casualties deserve that (far more than some arse on here bitching about the design of the memorial)
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It's also not £10 mil for the Spire, but for everything
International Bomber Command Centre
International Bomber Command Centre
At the heart of the International Bomber Command Centre are the Memorial Spire and Walls of Names. Designed by Stephen Palmer of Place Architecture, the Spire is formed of two wing fragments, tapering as they rise towards the sky, separated by perforated supporting plates which make reference to lightweight wing structures. Sitting on the edge of Lincoln's South escarpment the spire form echoes the Cathedral on the North escarpment, as well as the church spires that are a familiar form in the Lincolnshire landscape. The Spire is placed and orientated to turn visitors arriving from the Memorial Avenue and Chadwick Centre towards the Cathedral, creating a sense of being inside a virtual wing as the Cathedral is revealed across the valley.
Made using Corten weathering steel, the memorial is 102ft (31.09m) high, the wingspan of the iconic Avro Lancaster bomber, and the width at the base is 16ft (5m), the width of a Lancaster wing.
Made using Corten weathering steel, the memorial is 102ft (31.09m) high, the wingspan of the iconic Avro Lancaster bomber, and the width at the base is 16ft (5m), the width of a Lancaster wing.
Thread Starter
But they could have saved money with any number of these 
I just don't think it is a fitting tribute to sit on the hill. A backlit 2D silhoette of a bomber and its crews or a more traditional statue would be better. This to me is just modern art garbage.
The final insult...
B Word
I just don't think it is a fitting tribute to sit on the hill. A backlit 2D silhoette of a bomber and its crews or a more traditional statue would be better. This to me is just modern art garbage.
The final insult...
B Word
Thread Starter
Nutty
The building that if you look through a pair of socks over your head is supposed to look like a Lancaster Bomber - oh, purlease! That really is Emporer's New Clothes and belongs with the other sh!te made up by Emin, Hockney and Hirst...
IMHO of course!
The building that if you look through a pair of socks over your head is supposed to look like a Lancaster Bomber - oh, purlease! That really is Emporer's New Clothes and belongs with the other sh!te made up by Emin, Hockney and Hirst...
IMHO of course!
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Actually, it fits well into the local surroundings. It is visible from a distance without being ostentatious. I too was sceptical about it initially, but now it has a permanence about it which seems to suit. Sorry B Word - must disagree with you on this point.
This to me is just modern art garbage.
I quite like it (and I also like the Bomber Command memorial in Green Park)
I expect somebody hated Stonehenge when they put it up (load of modern art rubbish, all those stones spoiling the view
)
Interesting looking at the photos that the Czechs are still using the same type of pilots "wings" (badge worn on the left breast pocket of the chap in the centre)) Good to see that representatives of the allied air forces were invited.
I expect somebody hated Stonehenge when they put it up (load of modern art rubbish, all those stones spoiling the view
)Interesting looking at the photos that the Czechs are still using the same type of pilots "wings" (badge worn on the left breast pocket of the chap in the centre)) Good to see that representatives of the allied air forces were invited.
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I think it's utter crap.
Why not make something with a more identifiable link than just its dimensions, to what it's meant to be commemorating? So that when people look at it they might say 'oh, a memorial to bomber command aircrews' instead of 'what's that?'.
Why not make it in the shape of a Lancaster wing, rather than just the same size.
It reminds me of the IWM in Salford. An utter self indulgent wankfest of design indulgence for the architect. The so called 'air shard', could be a homage to anything, or nothing.
A pox on the countries luvvie architects and designers!
Why not make something with a more identifiable link than just its dimensions, to what it's meant to be commemorating? So that when people look at it they might say 'oh, a memorial to bomber command aircrews' instead of 'what's that?'.
Why not make it in the shape of a Lancaster wing, rather than just the same size.
It reminds me of the IWM in Salford. An utter self indulgent wankfest of design indulgence for the architect. The so called 'air shard', could be a homage to anything, or nothing.
A pox on the countries luvvie architects and designers!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
I drove into Lincoln and saw it not.
I drove down Bishopsgate and saw it not.
Finally, looking hard from Pelham Bridge I saw it.
As I drew closer I saw it not.
Sorry, tall as it is, you would seem to need to stand on the Castle walls to see it.
For memorials of a period the memorial should be of that period. An excellent example had to be the sea of poppies at the Tower.
I drove down Bishopsgate and saw it not.
Finally, looking hard from Pelham Bridge I saw it.
As I drew closer I saw it not.
Sorry, tall as it is, you would seem to need to stand on the Castle walls to see it.
For memorials of a period the memorial should be of that period. An excellent example had to be the sea of poppies at the Tower.
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It reminds me of the IWM in Salford. An utter self indulgent wankfest of design indulgence for the architect. The so called 'air shard', could be a homage to anything, or nothing.
Last edited by StuartP; 4th Oct 2015 at 09:28.
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It's absolute rubbish and I think it is NOT a fitting tribute. Next we'll find out that the steel came from Germany!
The building 'with echoes of the Lancaster' is also total ****e.
CPL Clott
The building 'with echoes of the Lancaster' is also total ****e.
CPL Clott
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Praise From Veterans
Reading through the posts it is interesting that apart from B Word's grandfather and his chums no other veterans have expressed their disgust at the design of the memorial.
All of the Bomber Command veterans I have spoken to have expressed their appreciation for the effort put in to have the memorial erected and none of them have criticised the design. They should be the true judges. I'm just glad we have the freedom to comment thanks for what they did for us.
The Walls of Names are quite moving and for some of the surviving veterans it has enabled them to pay tribute to comrades who did not survive.
I think that the vision and drive of Tony Worth, the former Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire, to have a memorial to all of those Bomber Command aircrew listed on the 3 Rolls of Honour in Lincoln Cathedral is most commendable. The project will now be extended to include all of those who lost their lives in Bomber Command.
No, German steel was not used in the construction.
One of the comments made about that fine memorial in London is that it does not tell the story of the Bomber Command aircrew and how they were betrayed at the end of the war. The planned interpretation centre will rectify this.
All of the Bomber Command veterans I have spoken to have expressed their appreciation for the effort put in to have the memorial erected and none of them have criticised the design. They should be the true judges. I'm just glad we have the freedom to comment thanks for what they did for us.
The Walls of Names are quite moving and for some of the surviving veterans it has enabled them to pay tribute to comrades who did not survive.
I think that the vision and drive of Tony Worth, the former Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire, to have a memorial to all of those Bomber Command aircrew listed on the 3 Rolls of Honour in Lincoln Cathedral is most commendable. The project will now be extended to include all of those who lost their lives in Bomber Command.
No, German steel was not used in the construction.
One of the comments made about that fine memorial in London is that it does not tell the story of the Bomber Command aircrew and how they were betrayed at the end of the war. The planned interpretation centre will rectify this.
TBW:-
The insult to Bomber Command was not ennobling their CinC, unlike every other UK commander of similar rank, and of his Command being conspicuous by its absence in Churchill's victory broadcast. That pee'd off the old lags far more than the lack of a campaign medal, though the carping on about Dresden came a close second. I suspect that their attitude to the stone in Lincoln Cathedral, the Green Park Memorial, and this "IBCC", is that they all perform in their various ways an act of Remembrance.
That is all they want, the same as the BoB boys, to simply be remembered, especially for those among them who made the ultimate sacrifice. Aesthetic acceptability is in the eye of the beholder, but it is the heart that matters, not the eye.
Another Insult to Bomber Command
That is all they want, the same as the BoB boys, to simply be remembered, especially for those among them who made the ultimate sacrifice. Aesthetic acceptability is in the eye of the beholder, but it is the heart that matters, not the eye.