Latest news with #LancasterBombers
Scottish Sun
24-06-2025
- General
- Scottish Sun
UK airport shuts for good after 95 years to make way for thousands of homes – despite ‘contamination' fears
The airport was home to a number of businesses GROUNDED UK airport shuts for good after 95 years to make way for thousands of homes – despite 'contamination' fears Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A UK airport has closed for good after 95 years to make may for thousands of homes – despite fears the area is "contaminated". The privately-run airport shut on June 6 after a developer served notice on the operator of the site. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Nottingham City Airport also provides a landing zone for the air ambulance The Vistry Group, which owns Tollerton Airfield In Nottingham, plans to build 1,600 homes and a school at the site. Home to Nottingham City Airport and a number of other businesses, the site also provides a landing zone for the air ambulance. Vistry served notice on operator Truman Aviation to vacate the site, but said it would continue to provide a landing zone for the air ambulance during the initial phase of development. The site's closure follows a year-long battle from campaigners against Vistry. Campaigners believe that more than 1,200 aircraft containing radioactive materials were burnt and buried at the ex-RAF base leading to contamination. Concerns were raised after campaigners found evidence that the ex-RAF base in Nottinghamshire had been used after the Second World War to dismantle hundreds of Lancaster Bombers and other aircraft that contained glow-in-the-dark dials made out of radium -226. Site owner Brian Wells, who was sent notice to vacate the area in March, previously said developers were "determined to have everywhere shut down for when they came to planning". "We agreed we'd have two to five years here before they would take over," he told NottinghamshireLive. "They even suggested they could keep one runway open for us. "But the main board of developers say they've had enough of all these people protesting and decided to shut it down sooner rather than later." David Lammy confirms first batch of Brits have left Tel Aviv by RAF plane amid boiling tensions in the Middle East He added that "it's very sad" how things have developed much quicker than hoped for, and said the closure will mean "numerous redundancies". The airfield dates back to the 20th century, when it was home to several flying clubs, and then as a commercial airport until the late 1940s. During World War 2 it was acquired by the Air Ministry and became RAF Tollerton. What would happen if the site is contaminated? Campaigners for the airport have referred to other cases where ex-RAF airfields like Tollerton were used as "burn, bash, and bury" sites and then deemed potentially hazardous. If the grounds were disturbed, an extensive clean-up process would have to be done. An example of this is Dalgety Bay, Fife, Scotland, a stretch of coastline used for the same purposes as Tollerton AIrfield. Traces of radium-226 found in the ground required a two-year clean-up project at the site. Other examples include RAF Newton, RAF Carlisle and RAF Kinloss. A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: 'Our Environment Agency officers advised Rushcliffe Borough Council (the planning authority) in May 2024 that a condition of planning permission is that developers have a plan in place to identify and deal with the risks associated with potential contaminants. "In addition, we have advised that the site will need to be assessed for potential contaminants at routine stages as the development progresses.' Rushcliffe Borough Council has confirmed applications for the site include initial land contamination assessments. A spokesperson for Rushcliffe Borough Council said: "We are aware of the previous uses of the wider site, including the airfield and the potential for land contamination associated with these uses. "Both current applications for the site include initial land contamination assessments".
BBC News
30-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Lancaster Bomber built at Broughton marks 80th anniversary
A 99-year-old who worked on the first Lancaster bombers to be built at an aerospace factory is returning to watch a flypast by one of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will mark the 80th anniversary of the plane's creation in north Shield lived in Broughton, Flintshire, and worked at the town's aerospace factory at the start of the World War Two, fitting instruments to the joining the Welsh Guards, his skills were later put to use as one of Prime Minister Winston Churchill's security team. Ken began working at Broughton in 1940 aged 14 with his dad Fred, who was foreman at the site. He initially worked on Wellington bombers but soon the production line was filled with Lancaster bombers. Ken was uniquely qualified to fit the instruments in the said: "I was very small and you had to crawl down the plane's interior to fix certain instruments. "I could do it but if you were broad, you couldn't. "That was my introduction to the Lancasters." Despite war raging, Ken said life went on even though "death was around the corner".He worked alongside a woman called Marjorie at Broughton. "She worked on the outside skin of it and I'd pop the stuff inside," is how he described their roles on the production sharing a dance at a local pub the couple began dating, and were later married for 75 years until Marjorie's death in 2023. Ken has been invited to the Broughton factory, now owned by Airbus, for the Battle of Britain Memorial flight marking the 80th anniversary of the Lancaster will watch a flypast by the aircraft as well as a Spitfire and Hurricane to mark the Lancaster's return to where it was built in May Ken, it will bring back memories of watching the first one leave the said: "Most of the factory crept outside to watch the first one going up. "It took off and everybody was there waving. The foreman realised there was no work being done and he was playing hell with us. "We went back inside but the moment we heard the plane was landing we went out again." Ken left Broughton in 1943 to join the Welsh Guards. After surviving a bomb attack at his base in London, his expertise with aircraft radio equipment meant he was soon recruited to join Churchill's security team at Chequers - the prime minister's country retreat."They'd have very big conferences with generals and field marshals," he said. "My job, with others, was to arrange security. I was allowed to stop anyone going in if I didn't like them."He said Churchill was "very off-handed" with the military security officials and had a nickname for one general."He used to call him pug," he said. "He'd shout 'Pug!' and the general would go running down the alley to the office."Now, 80 years after the end of the war, the Airbus factory in Broughton is still producing will have a front row seat to witness the historic aircraft he helped build as it pays a rare return visit to its birthplace.
