RAF Ingham: WW2 Polish bomber crews remembered

Hundreds of people have visited the site of a "forgotten" World War Two airfield to remember Polish bomber squadrons that flew from there.

RAF Ingham, north of Lincoln, was a grass airfield during WW2.

It was home to several Polish bomber squadrons and now volunteers from the RAF Ingham Heritage Group are aiming to restore more of its structures.

Dawn Osko, of the group, said: "It is easy to drive past and not think about how busy an airfield it was."

Ms Osko, whose Polish father flew as a navigator in WW2 bombers, said: "It is a very unassuming place these days."

The Polish heritage day event offered talks, tours and entertainment at the airfield.

Four Polish bomber squadrons were attached to the RAF during the war.

Geoff Burton, the group's chairman, said that two Polish WW2 veterans, both in their 90s, had visited the base during the events along with more than 300 other people.

"Before the heritage project the whole airfield had disappeared, even local people didn't know about it", he added.

The airfield became operational in 1942 with the arrival of 300 Polish Squadron but was reclaimed as agricultural land in 1946.

It is close to RAF Scampton, home of the 617 Squadron that flew the Dambusters mission.

The site at Ingham already has a memorial garden dedicated to all the aircrew who flew from the airfield and a striking silhouette of five men as a tribute to the crews that flew from there.

The group's aim is to create a heritage centre at the site and to restore the former airmen's mess.

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