IBCC Digital Archive

Find items in the IBCC Digital Archive about RAF Scampton here.

Halifax 'E' and aircrew 51 Squadron aircraft 'E' after 100 Ops Description Side view of the front of a Halifax. On the nose a silhouette of a chorus girl with 'Expensive Babe'. Under the cockpit, four rows of 25 bomb symbols and one swastika. In front seven aircrew in flying suits and Mae Wests walking away from aircraft. On the reverse '1/45 A/C 100 OPS' and filing codes. IBCC Digital Archive item #9522

Expensive Babe, a 'ton-up' Halifax on 51 Squadron.
@lydiajane13.bsky.social #History #WW2 @nmtdambusters.bsky.social @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social

Air-to-air view showing the silhouette of two heavy bombers towards the bottom centre, well below going towards the bottom. In the background smoke, bomb explosions and on the right, target indicators. IBCC Digital Archive item #2405

The reverse '18. R.A.F. Bombers over Pforzheim. Two of R.A.F. Bomber Command’s “heavies” silhouetted against dense clouds of smoke during the air assault on the night of 23/24.2.45 on the important industrial and transport centre of Pforzheim, South-east of Karlscuhe [sic]. This picture is an extract from a film made by the R.A.F. Film Production Unit during the attack. The white “cascade” is caused by glowing target indicators.

Pforzheim #OTD 23 Feb 1945. 380 aircraft dropped 1,825 tons of bombs in 22 minutes from 8,000 feet. 83% of the town was destroyed and over 17,000 people killed. 12 aircraft were lost with the loss of 42 airmen.
#History
@ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social
@nmtdambusters.bsky.social

Digital Archives | International Bomber Command Centre Explore our extensive digital archives here at the international bomber command centre. Get in touch to find out more today.

13 Feb 1945 saw the first of four Allied bombing raids on Dresden. The air raids by the RAF & USAAF involved 1,299 bombers dropping over 3,900 tons of ordnance and resulted in firestorms killing up to 25,000 people.

Search the @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social: internationalbcc.co.uk/history/digi...

There's bags of social and cultural history in the archive...

Harry Richardson.

Happy birthday Flt Lt Harry Richardson DFC, who turns an astonishing 108 today!
30 ops on Wellingtons with 149 Squadron and then 32 more on Liberators with 59 Squadron in the Far East. #History #WW2

Get your tickets folks Supper and a Lecture at the IBCC, and @lydiajane13.bsky.social's book is so important to the historiography of Bomber Command. #WW2 #History #histbookchat

WW2 veteran recalls life-saving fog dispersal system at Blackbushe Former bomber pilot Colin Bell says the FIDO system ensured his survival on three occasions.

Hurrah for FIDO www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Heritage vision for RAF Scampton unveiled ahead of sale West Lindsey District Council says redeveloping RAF Scampton is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

Well, the drawings are interesting... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is one of the Operational Record Books mentioned. All transcribed by one of our wizard volunteers, and word searchable!
@ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social

Album page with colour photo of Arthur in uniform standing in a wood and the caption: Hi-ya everybody!!! – – and now that I’ve introduced myself, can I tell you about my stay in Canada? – I can? – oh good – now let me see, I landed at Halifax on January 19th. 1942 after a painful trip across. We duly arrived at Moncton N.B. where we stayed for a few days and from then on I got busy with my camera – IBCC Digital Archive item #23411

Arthur Ernest Biscoe trained in Canada and flew operations as a pilot with 605 Squadron. One of his photo albums covers his training and instructing in North America beginning #OTD 19 Jan 1942. #History The @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social contains
his log books, letters, photographs, and two albums.

a little girl wearing sunglasses and a blue dress is dancing in a hallway . Alt: A little girl wearing sunglasses and a blue dress is dancing in a hallway.

A happy donor, on seeing their collection published in the archive. "Thank you so much for this. I have circulated it to family and friends, and all are impressed – not just by the content but also the work you have done."

Delighted to report that we now have over 5,000 unique places recorded in the Archive, from Africa--Orange River to Zimbabwe--Zvishavane. This means that the Archive has an enormous resolving power, i.e. the ability to focus the search on a specific location.

A head on view of a Halifax showing damage sustained in a collision. Captioned, 'Halifax III - No MZ456 in collision - 13/14.1.1945'. Reverse stamped 'AM Crown Copyright reserved, 28th Jan 1945 RAF Station Snaith' and annotated, 'V Douglas Knox 20 Town Moor Ave, Doncaster, DN2 6BN'. IBCC Digital Archive item #54816

An oblique view of the aircraft's nose. It has broken off from just infront of the cockpit canopy.

Halifax MZ465 MH-Y hit Halifax LL590 L8-L over France #OTD 13 Jan 1945, losing a nine foot section of the nose and killing the navigator Thomas S H Whitehouse and air bomber David Hauber. Three were killed on board LL590. MZ465 landed at RAF Ford in Sussex. #History @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social

Seven aircrew in a variety of flying clothes at the rear of a Lancaster. Submitted with caption 'Seven aircrew at rear of 106 Sqn Lancaster ND331 wearing a mixture of flying suits and equipment. Annotation at right of photograph reads: "L to Right back row Bill Haig W/OP, Vic Cole Pilot, Bill Woods F/E, Johnny Johnson B/A, M.D Parkinson R A G, T Ross M/UG, A T Bristow Nav. The annotation below the photograph reads: "Vic Cole and crew immediately after completing their tour - the target Magdeburg, last off - first back. Took off with only 13 volts in the batteries - as I gave them the OK no one was happier than me when they returned"'. IBCC Digital Archive item #58510

Additions to the Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre's collection in our archive are now available online. Three new albums contain photographs of 106 Squadron air and ground crew, target and reconnaissance photographs, and a handful of documents. ibccdigitalarchive.omeka.net/collections/...

The Arts bridge at the University of Lincoln. Snow on the path and the two side walls narrowing due to perspective against the black sky.

There was a bit of snow on the way to the Archive at 06:30 this morning.

@danellin.bsky.social's review of @lydiajane13.bsky.social 's wizard book @nmtdambusters.bsky.social

Relentless Skies: The Most Efficient Airman – Ian Campbell This year has not been kind in allowing me time to write reviews, let alone get some quality reading done. Aircrew Book Review is what led m...

Review of Relentless Skies: The Most Efficient Airman by Ian Campbell. I met Ian when he visited the @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social He helped with descriptions for our collection of Bennett's material. @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social #history #histbookchat @avculturesconf.bsky.social

Christmas postcard to June Brodie from Jim Taylor a POW in Stalag VIIIB. A drawn image of a cottage and a horse drawn carriage. Greetings A little picture to express my wishes for your happiness a little message from my pen, to haste the day we'll meet again; God grant you every Christmas cheer, and joy throughout the coming year. from Jim Stalag VIII B Germany Christmas 1941. IBCC Digital Archive item 57800

Happy Christmas folks!
Jim Taylor was a wireless operator /air gunner with 44 and 207 Squadrons on Hampdens and Manchesters and became a prisoner of war in March 1941. He sent this card home his first Christmas in the bag.

a poster for the movie spider-man no way home shows doctor strange and says let me check the archives Alt: Bendybum Cumbersnatch as a super hero type character with the words 'Let me check the archives'

This year the archive has had 92.6 thousand new users and 13.6 thousand returning users.

YouTube video by Dan Ellin Dan Ellin, Archivist, IBCC Digital Archive

We filmed this brief intro to the @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social a while ago... All open source folks!

A deciduous tree with bare branches, with a snowy village. text Merry Christmas from the archive team Robin, Dan and Alex. from IBCC Digital Archive item #774

The @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social at the University of Lincoln will close this evening and reopen Monday 5th January. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year folks!

Flightlines - Fall 2025 Flipsnack is a digital catalog maker that makes it easy to create, publish and share html5 flipbooks. Upload a PDF or design from scratch flyers, magazines, books and more.

One of our volunteers, has a piece in the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's magazine about his flight over the UK in their Lancaster in 2014. www.flipsnack.com/cwhmuseum/fl...

YouTube video by LincsPod RAF Bomber Command Stories: What the IBCC Digital Archive Reveals

A new video about some of a couple of stories in the @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social and a bit about the work we do. #History #WW2

Old AV equipment on a desk including a Sony CRT monitor.

We've cobbled some discarded hardware together to create a video digitisation setup for the @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social. This is the ‘new-frontier’ of the Archive, looking for testimonies on obsolete formats and making them available online.

‘A Memory Owed’ film release | Staff News | University of Lincoln Dan Ellin, from Lincoln International Business School, is credited as a historical advisor on this short film.

Me and A Memory Owed - Short Film 2025 made the University of Lincoln's staff newsletter. staffnews.lincoln.ac.uk/2025/12/02/a...

A port side view of a Halifax on dispersal under maintenance. On the reverse 'Marston Moor 1942/3 Property of Ivan Ure, [redacted]. Question: How many working on the aircraft "E" for Edward? No prize'. IBCC Digital Archive item #44654

We had an issue with our scanner last week. However, after a very speedy response from the folks who supply and maintain it, especially a chap called Andrew from Cheshire, we're back up and running. It was the scanner equivalent of 'mag drop' and I've just signed the form 700...

It features the Dorothy May collection: ibccdigitalarchive.omeka.net/collections/...

YouTube video by A Memory Owed (2025) A Memory Owed || Short Film (2025)

Starring James Bolam, 'A Memory Owed' tells two stories: a replacement W/OP joining an experienced bomber crew, and an emotional journey of remembrance. Some photos in the end credits are from the @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social, I’m credited as a historical advisor, and appear briefly as an extra.

Four students and one staff member (Robin) working on PCs in the archive volunteers' office.

Four students, another volunteer (Alan), and one staff member (Robin) working on PCs in the archive volunteers' office.

Student volunteers working in the archive today!