In the First World War Lincolnshire moved from making agricultural machinery to contributing to the war effort and between 1915 and 1919 Lincoln became one of the largest centres of aircraft production in the world. In Lincoln, hundreds of women – wives, mothers, sisters and daughters – went to work in the city’s local munitions factories. Known as munitionettes they contributed to the war effort making aircraft at the factories of Ruston’s and Robey’s, and building tanks at Foster’s, in addition to shells, pumps and engines for the front. Ruston’s in Lincoln made Sopwith Camel biplanes for the Royal Flying Corps. The work was hard and dangerous, the ‘dope’ that they used to varnish the fabric-covered airframes being poisonous.
“We were engaged on sewing the fabric covering and fitting it to the airframe. Five of us worked on a machine. The sewing and tacking part were alright, but we were only allowed to work two hours at a time in the doping shop because the fumes were harmful to the lungs. We had to go outside in the fresh air for a twenty minute break – and drink milk or cocoa to neutralise the effect of the fumes. Once a fortnight the doctor would give us an examination check”. Ann Lancaster, Munitionette
In January 1918 Rustons completed their 1000th Sopwith Camel. It was painted to resemble an Ancient Egyptian mythical bird and flew over Lincoln dropping leaflets advertising the sale of War Bonds.
In 1915 Foster & Co of Lincoln designed and tested the world’s first track-driven armoured vehicle. The world’s first tank was created through the engineering brilliance of William Tritton & Walter Wilson. To escape the noise of Foster’s factory, they worked in a suite at Lincoln’s White Hart, their ideas translated into drawings by William Rigby, Foster’s talented draughtsman.
The Beechey Boys – eight brothers who went to war, but only three returned. A window commemorating the Beechey brothers at Friesthorpe Church was installed in 2016.
There is only one other known family who lost five sons in the war. In April 1918, their mother Amy Beechey was presented to George V and honoured for her immense sacrifice. She was a reluctant heroine. “It was no sacrifice, Ma’am,” she told Queen Mary “I did not give them willingly.”
The history of the RAF during WWII is much more visible with disused wartime airfields across the county, together with some still active. The sights and sounds of the RAF are never far away: the Red Arrows practising a new manoeuvre, the strangely shaped AWACS on their practice runs around Waddington, the Euro fighter or the Lancaster, Hurricanes and Spitfires of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight returning to RAF Coningsby after a weekend display.
There were almost 50 airbases during the war, each was like a small town and you can just imagine what their impact must have been on the lives of such a remote rural population. The International Bomber Command Centre on the edge of Lincoln commemorates the nearly 58,000 men and women from 62 nations who lost their lives supporting Bomber Command. The 31m tall spire is in direct sight of Lincoln Cathedral which provided an important landmark for crews both leaving and returning from missions.
The Dam Busters raid was flown from Lincolnshire. Considered an “almost impossible” task – flying low at night over hundreds of miles of enemy territory to drop a new, untested bomb. There is no doubting the bravery of 617 Squadron or the ingenuity of aircraft designer Barnes Wallis and his revolutionary bouncing bomb.
There are many aviation heritage sites that tell these stories. But do visit a much smaller memorial to be found in the graveyard of the village of Scopwick. High Flight, a poem loved by aviators, was written by 19 year old John Gillespie Magee, a wartime Spitfire pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was killed in 1941 when his plane collided in mid-air over Lincolnshire. High Flight, written on the back of an envelope, was sent home to his parents weeks before the crash. “Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth”, the poem’s first line was quoted by President Ronald Reagan after the Challenger disaster.
