4 ms·

there is a possible urban myth (no one seems sure if it is a myth or not) that the "gate guardian" at RAF Scampton in lincolnshire consisted not only of a lanca

there is a possible urban myth (no one seems sure if it is a myth or not) that the "gate guardian" at RAF Scampton in lincolnshire consisted not only of a lancaster bomber (i can confirm that - i went to school under one of the bomber's wings) but also a tallboy and a grandslam earthquake bomb (can also confirm - pretty sure there was one of each). the latter 10 tons gross weight if filled with explosive. which in this instance, it may have been. what i can't confirm, and nobody really seems to know is whether this myth is true. if it was, and if it had gone off it would easily have levelled this nuclear bomber base (me included) and much of the surroundings, with possibly interesting consequences at the height of the cold war. see https://thelincolnite.co.uk/2020/02/myth-busters-the-raf-scampton-gate-guardian-which-turned-out-to-be-a-live-bomb/ https://thelincolnite.co.uk/2020/02/myth-busters-the-raf-sca... for more.

1letterunixname 4y ago
I'm leaning towards "no" without evidence because it's a good tall tale. Aside: A playground park sand pit used to contain a decommissioned FJ (-2 or -3) Fury. No ordinance or armaments though: live, dead, or Schrödinger. In the quest to cover kids in bubblewrap, of course it was replaced with a boring, cookie-cutter playground.
- zabzonk 4y ago
  i tend to agree, but you can never discount the stupidity of the "bloody military mind" - a favourite curse word of my mum when my dad, a pilot, was off on exciting detachments and she was stuck in the middle of a lincolnshire wilderness with three kids.
jimnotgym 4y ago
I'm leaning towards no... because I have been lucky enough to go behind the scenes at Scampton. Scampton is where the dambusters flew from. Outside of Guy Gibson's (Dambusters CO) office is the grave of his dog named N*** that was killed the day before the dambusters raid. Next to it is an 'Upkeep' bouncing bomb mounted on an apparatus that allows you to spin it. Opposite are the 'Tallboy' and 'Grandslam' bombs which I strongly suspect are the ones from outside the gate. I also seriously doubt what the article suggests the damage of a donation would be. Lincoln cathedral is nearly 5 miles from the gate at Scampton!

1letterunixname 4y ago

I'm leaning towards "no" without evidence because it's a good tall tale. Aside: A playground park sand pit used to contain a decommissioned FJ (-2 or -3) Fury. No ordinance or armaments though: live, dead, or Schrödinger. In the quest to cover kids in bubblewrap, of course it was replaced with a boring, cookie-cutter playground.

zabzonk 4y ago
i tend to agree, but you can never discount the stupidity of the "bloody military mind" - a favourite curse word of my mum when my dad, a pilot, was off on exciting detachments and she was stuck in the middle of a lincolnshire wilderness with three kids.

jimnotgym 4y ago

I'm leaning towards no... because I have been lucky enough to go behind the scenes at Scampton. Scampton is where the dambusters flew from. Outside of Guy Gibson's (Dambusters CO) office is the grave of his dog named N*** that was killed the day before the dambusters raid. Next to it is an 'Upkeep' bouncing bomb mounted on an apparatus that allows you to spin it. Opposite are the 'Tallboy' and 'Grandslam' bombs which I strongly suspect are the ones from outside the gate. I also seriously doubt what the article suggests the damage of a donation would be. Lincoln cathedral is nearly 5 miles from the gate at Scampton!