Author Elizabeth McElwee charts the experience of Flt Lt George William Milson DFC from joining the RAF Volunteer Reserve as a trainee pilot in 1939, through his time on operations from the UK, Western Desert and in the Far East,
He became one of the thousands of Far East Prisoners of War [FEPOWs] and spent three and a half years in captivity in various POW camps until the Japanese surrendered in 1945.
Battle of Britain Spitfire Ace – The life and loss of one of the few, Flt Lt William Henry Nelson DFC Thursday 12th December 2024 – 6.30 – 9.30 pm. Like many young Canadians in the 1930s, Willie Nelson wanted to fly. Unlike all but a few, he fulfilled his ambition beyond imagining, becoming a […]
Thursday 28th November 2024 – 6.30 – 10.00 pm Caterpillars, Guinea Pigs and Goldfish begins by briefly covering the history of some of the more well-known and perhaps some of the lesser known clubs that have been associated with flying and aviation. It goes on to cover in rather more detail, the Goldfish Club, its […]
3 Poppies Lila Brooch in presentation box.
Limited edition tie created to commerorate Operation Chowhound, which ran in conjunction with Operation Manna which was carried out by Bomber Command.
Featuring the iconic American B-17 aircraft which supported the humanitarian food drop to the Netherlands in 1945.
A lovely gift for two to share on a visit to the IBCC.
The gift includes:
-A hot meal of your choice, a cake and a hot or soft cold drink in our hub café for two people.
– Admission to our exhibition areas for two people
– Car parking for one vehicle
– A free guided tour of our memorial spire and walls
– A copy of our IBCC guide book
If you need your voucher in a hurry, then Gift Vouchers can be purchased direct from our website and will be emailed to you direct: https://internationalbcc.digitickets.co.uk/categor…
A lovely gift for anyone on a visit to the IBCC.
The gift includes:
-A hot meal of your choice, a cake and a hot or soft cold drink in our hub café.
– Admission to our exhibition areas
– Car parking for one vehicle
– A free guided tour of our memorial spire and walls
– A copy of our IBCC guide book
If you need your voucher in a hurry, then Gift Vouchers can be purchased direct from our website and will be emailed to you direct: https://internationalbcc.digitickets.co.uk/categor…
Join us for a lovely Afternoon Tea experience.
Your price includes;
Afternoon Tea for two people in our Hub Café
Entrance for two adult to our exhibition area
Free guided tours of the Spire, Memorial Walls and Peace Gardens
Car Parking for one vehicle on the day
Free copy of our IBCC Guide Book
If you need your voucher in a hurry, then Gift Vouchers can be purchased direct from our website and will be emailed to you direct: https://internationalbcc.digitickets.co.uk/categor…
Join us for a lovely Afternoon Tea experience.
Your price includes;
Afternoon Tea in our Hub Café
Entrance for one adult to our exhibition area
Free guided tours of the Spire, Memorial Walls and Peace Gardens
Car Parking for one vehicle on the day
Free copy of our IBCC Guide Book
If you need your voucher in a hurry, then Gift Vouchers can be purchased direct from our website and will be emailed to you direct: https://internationalbcc.digitickets.co.uk/categor…
Great wallet for use by child or adult. Featuring Zip pocket on the front and several pockets and card slots inside.
Available in three colours: Red, Blue or Purple and features the IBCC logo in silver.
Size: 12cm width
9cm height
This short-sleeved polo shirt is made of cotton, has a 3-button placket, and has the IBCC logo embroidered in white on the left breast.
An ideal way to show your support for the IBCC!
Hand carved from mahogany, these wooden models are perfect for a display on a desk, in your home or in a display cabinet.
Available in seven designs including the Avro Lancaster, Vickers Wellington, De Havilland Mosquito, and Avro Vulcan.
This listing is for a De Havilland Mosquito model.
Please note:
An unique beautiful hand carved replica models of the Avro Lancaster , Hawker Hurricane and the Spitfire.
Made from solid mahogany and supplied with a matching stand, this shining example is finished in high gloss lacquer to visually enhance the natural beauty of the wood.
This replica model would make a wonderful gift, trophy or presentation piece.
Dimensions- 49 x 58 x 29cm
Please note:
Hand carved from mahogany, these wooden models are perfect for a display on a desk, in your home or in a display cabinet.
Available in this Avro Vulcan design.
Please note:
Hand carved from mahogany, these wooden models are perfect for a display on a desk, in your home or in a display cabinet.
Available in seven designs including the Avro Lancaster, Vickers Wellington, De Havilland Mosquito, and Avro Vulcan.
This listing is for an Avro Lancaster model.
Please note:
This painting by talented artist Matthew Emeny, captures the architectural splendour of Windsor Castle and St George’s Chapel, now the resting place of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Wings Over Windsor features aircraft from the ‘Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’ (BBMF) over Windsor Castle, England. Lancaster PA474 (AR-L) leads the flypast and is one of two remaining airworthy Lancaster bombers from WW2. Accompanying the Lancaster are Spitfires P7350 (KL-B) Mk lla and BB910 (SH-f) Mk Vb.
Fifty objects that the Airmen of the RAF took to war
Publisher: Shire Publications, 2015
Format: Hardcover
Size : 14.86 x 1.52 x 14.71 cm
An illustrated introduction to how British industries, supported by thousands of newly recruited women, strove to meet the nation’s wartime need for munitions, armour, shipping, uniforms and aircraft.
During the Second World War (1939–45), Britain stretched every sinew of its industrial might to fend off a Nazi invasion. As the nation stood alone against Fortress Europe, it harnessed, coordinated and maximised its resources, firstly to defend itself and then to help liberate Axis-occupied countries. Wartime Industry uses informative text and beautiful illustrations to show how the men and women of Britain met this unprecedented demand for military and home-front materials. It explores the work of Lord Beaverbrook’s highly organised Ministry of Aircraft Production; the ‘Shadow Factories’ that enabled manufacturers such as Vauxhall and Rootes to make tanks and aircraft; the Royal Ordnance Factories that produced firearms and explosives; the ‘Bevin Boys’ conscripted to work in the coal mines; the Women’s Timber Corps; and war workers – who, together, helped the nation to make it.
Format: Paperback
A 55 page booklet plus index entitled Wartime Childhood by Mike Brown.
Growing up during the Second World War could be a frightening, strange, or even exciting experience. children who were evacuated often found themselves in very unfamiliar circumstances, whilst those who remained in areas at risk from German air strikes regularly sat in bomb shelters, and had to wear gas masks. Boys could revel in adding parts of downed German aircraft and shrapnel to their collections of conkers and string, but for many children the war brought greater responsibility as their fathers went off to fight. Mike Brown reveals all aspects of wartime childhood, using photographs, objects and ephemera, to stir memories for those who grew up during the war, and to provide younger people with a fascinating insight into life as a child at this time.
Mike Brown is an authority on the British Home Front in the Second World War. He has written several books and acts as a historical advisor for this period.
Published by Shire Library
The story of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force is a journey of exploration. This intriguing history tells the story of the wartime WAAF at work and play. They were no decorative adjunct to the RAF, but an integral working force that eventually saved the RAF 150,000 men, whose places they filled admirably. Debarred from flying, they nevertheless could be found in posts ranging from cooks to aircraft fitters. They were radar operators, plotters in busy operations rooms, nurses in air evacuation. In secrecy they worked as codebreakers at Bletchley Park, in the Y Listening Service, as code and cypher officers in Churchill’s War Cabinet, as air interpreters, and as SOE agents in occupied France. Many others were posted abroad to work. This book provides a fascinating bird’s-eye view of their many roles.
Format: Paperback
The crews of Bomber Command are often described as the bravest of the brave. They knew the risks. Night after night they flew into the dark and smoke-filled skies of the continent. The odds on them returning safely were frighteningly low. They had youth on their side: the average age was 22. Their motto was ‘Press On Regardless’.
No less than 23 Victoria Crosses were won by men from Bomber Command. This book tells the story of the actions behind those awards. Some, such as Guy Gibson, are already legendary heroes. Others, such as Hughie Edwards, are less well known. Edwards led a near suicidal daylight raid on the docks at Bremen in 1941. Only eight aircraft survived and all these were badly damaged by flak. The chimney pot height they had flown at was witnessed by the telegraph wires still wrapped around one plane’s rear wheel.
This book is a testament to all those who flew with Bomber Command
Paperback 192 pages and fully illustrated.
ISBN 9781846743221
Dimensions
23cm x 16cm x 1.5cm
This print commemorates the Avro Sisters formation flypast at the IBCC on 21st August 2014.
The 3 aircraft, the Vulcan to the Sky Vulcan B Mk2 – XH558, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster B Mk 1 – PA474 and the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum Avro Lancaster Mk X – FM213 flew into RAF Waddington and on the morning of the unique flight, which can now never be repeated, the crews briefed together.
After take-off, the two Lancasters joined in close formation with the Vulcan, the Canadian aircraft on the port wing and the BBMF Lancaster on the starboard wing of the Vulcan. They overflew the IBCC in formation at exactly 14:00 on the 21st August 2014 and remained in formation flying south east until overhead RAF Marham.
These prints are unique to the IBCC. The two Lancaster crews had previoulsy signed the print but we each one of our prints have also been signed by the Vulcan Crew.
Size: 36.8cm x 30.4cm / 14.5 inches x 12 inches
1942 was a crucial year for the fortunes of Bomber Command. The newly appointed Commander-in-Chief, Sir Arthur Harris, knew he had to show quickly that his ideas for broader, strategic bombing could make a real difference to the war, so with Churchill’s blessing he set about planning a vast initial air attack using at least one thousand bombers.
It was Cologne which became the target of the colossal raid on the night of 30th May 1942. The success of that first raid was convincing while the two major follow up ‘Thousand’ raids on Essen and Bremen in June were less so, but still emphatically justified Bomber Command’s new expansive and aggressive role.
More importantly, the raids forced an outraged Hitler to divert large and increasingly scarce military resources to the defence of his German cities.
Author, and aviation historian, Martyn Chorlton has written a gripping account of the RAF’s Pathfinder Squadrons, recalling the challenges faced in the smoke-filled skies over occupied Europe between 1942-1945.
The role of the Pathfinder force was to locate the target and lay down fire markers for the mass of bombers following behind them. It was a successful technique that had been used against Coventry and other cities by the Germans in 1940.
Now the RAF needed its air force of elite bomber crews, hand picked for their navigation ability, high morale, skills outside the normal range of flying tasks, and in particular for their cold determination when in action to, in RAF parlance, ‘Press on Regardless’.
They were the bravest of the brave. They had to be. To join a Pathfinder Squadron was a rare privilege and all the crews were volunteers. But with it went a huge leap in the likelihood of being shot down as their planes led the way through the dark smoke filled skies above occupied Europe.
The book describes all the major operations in which the Pathfinders were involved. These include the Battle of the Ruhr, the Berlin Offensive of 1943/4, and the celebrated raid on the German V2 rocket works at Peenemunde.
It is a tribute to those who flew with a Pathfinder Squadron. They flew some 50,000 individual sorties against enemy targets. The cost in human lives was very heavy; some 3,700 Pathfinder aircrew were killed in operations.
Paperback 192 pages
ISBN 9781846742019
Dimensions
23cm x 15.5cm x 1.5cm
