News

Bruce and Alison Hebbard recently travelled to the UK and Norway to join commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the bombing of the German battleship Tirpitz. Their father, Loftus (Lofty) Hebbard was one of the New Zealanders that flew on Operation Catechism, the mission on 12 November which finally resulted in the sinking of Tirpitz.

A new monument for all the missing airmen lost over the North Sea has been unveiled in Egmond aan Zee, the centre of the so called “Gap”, in the Netherlands. The memorial is created from five hundred identity tags formed into an image of an airman.

Nelson Bomber Command veteran John Beeching got a special surprise when a World War II Rolls Royce Merlin was fired up at his retirement village to mark his 101st birthday in October. Beeching had flown flew radar equipped NF versions of the merlin-powered Mosquito with 169 squadron.

Iwuy'stoire, the historical association in the French village of Iwuy in Northern France recently paid to the crews of two aircraft lost in raids in June 1944, including the Betley crew of 75 (NZ) Sq. The service was attended by families of four of the two crew, including three New Zealanders.

As the RAF’s Red Arrows marks its 60th display season, the Royal Mail has is honouring their contribution to Britain's aviation history. Based for many years at RAF Scampton, with its own rich Bomber Command heritage, the display team demonstrates the same pursuit of excellence as the forebears who served in WWII.

Earlier this year the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincolnshire welcomed its 500,000th visitor. The IBCC opened in 2018 and holds the largest free to access digital heritage collection on Bomber Command in the world. It contains thousands of first-hand historical accounts, photographs and documents from all sides of the war.