At the planning meeting in January, I put forward the idea of a visit to RAF Coningsby to see the Memorial Flight. This was on the back of our successful visit to Scampton last year. As there seemed to be plenty of you interested I’ve made some enquiries. The visitor centre is only open during the week, so unfortunately we won’t be able to go along at a weekend, which I know was the preferred option for some of you. There is an admission charge of £8.50, but this is reduced to £7 for over 60’s, which will probably be most of us I guess.
Hopefully we can arrange something for a warmer day than we had at Scampton, so ideally it would be good to go in June/July/August if we can.
I’m also thinking of setting up a small run from a convenient meeting point and going along some Lincolnshire country lanes to Coningsby And maybe a pub lunch after the tour.
If you’d like to go along, please add your name and the dates you’re away, so that I can hopefully arrange something to fit you all in.
Well worth a visit for those interested and you get a guided tour with an ex RAF bod thrown in. There’s also the Bluebell Inn nearby that was frequented by aircrew during WW2 and is full of historic pics etc. Good grub too, but you’d probably need to book if there was a crowd going to eat.
UPDATE - I’ve checked out the available dates for Coningsby and you guys.
The best date is Weds 10th July.
I’m putting together a little run to Coningsby, which I’m proposing to start from the A46/A1 roundabout in Newark. We’re still in the process of scoping this out, but we’ll probably need to be leaving there about 9am, so gathering for 8:30 - 8:45.
The tour will start around 10:15 and takes approx 2 hours.
For lunch, I’ve booked us into the Blue Bell Inn at Tattershall Thorpe, which has lots of memorabilia from the Dambusters raids.
The landlady has asked that we give her prior notice of numbers and requirements for lunch. She will be letting me have a menu in due course.
With this in mind, could all who’d like to go please confirm that you’ll be available and comfortable with these arrangements.
I’ll post full details of the exact rendezvous point and food options in the next few days.