International Bomber Command Centre Ticket Portal

IBCC Lecture and Supper Series: The Battle of Britain: Dowding vs Bader vs Luftwaffe. - Thursday 9th October 2025 6.30pm

From the middle of the 1930’s it was becoming increasingly obvious that both Germany and Japan were building their military strength and capability. Gross underinvestment and fighting between different arms of the UK’s armed forces meant that we were hugely underprepared for what would become a completely new type of conflict. New technology was rapidly evolving but slowly getting into service. How should this technology be used? How should the new but very scarce aircraft be used? Did we have enough pilots being trained? A deeply political and messy battle was fought between factions within the RAF and UK Government while the German Luftwaffe did its best to destroy the RAF.

As well as being a member at MAVC, Simon Kemp works full time in IT, writing software for a variety of clients in various industries. Past software systems written for Qinetiq and Airbus among others, he’s also designed and built computer hardware including free standing kiosk units for leisure industry clients and microcontroller board computer systems for security and display purposes. A lifelong fascination with speed and flight and, in particular, aviation in World War II, has kept his evening and weekends fully occupied!

The evening starts with a delicious hot supper in The Hub Café at 18.30.

‘To Force the Enemy Off the Sea’ -  RAF Coastal Command’s North Coates Strike Wing 1943-45

 Thursday 6th November 2025, 18.30

This lecture examines the important and hard-fought but little-known anti-shipping campaign successfully conducted by Coastal Command’s North Coates Strike Wing from early 1943 onwards.

After three years of war, heavily armed German shipping convoys were still sailing down the North Sea into Rotterdam, carrying supplies of high-grade Swedish iron ore destined for the armaments factories of the Ruhr. With great courage the “Cinderella Boys” of RAF Coastal Command had attempted to curtail this enemy supply line, but with limited success and while incurring heavy losses.

At the Quebec Conference of September 1944, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt estimated it would take a further 18 months to defeat Japan once the war in Europe was over.  Churchill proposed that Bomber Command would then provide a very long-range bomber force to fight alongside the Americans against Japan in the Pacific.  Known as ‘Tiger Force’ it would be made up of squadrons based mainly from Lincolnshire.

Phil Bonner from Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire will talk the about the build up for ‘Tiger Force’, the challenges of deploying out to the Pacific and its subsequent disbandment following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The evening starts with a delicious hot supper in The Hub Café at 6.30pm.

WWII: Relative Events - the Air War

The story of Rudolf’s father - James Raphael Williams, provides the backbone for this presentation, revealing how many West Indians came to join the RAF and how, as a radar fitter, technological advancements changed the face of the air war. 

The War proved a foundation for James's successful career in microwave communications; however, Rudolf also shares remarkable witness accounts of relatives who found themselves at the wrong end of fighter bombers on opposing sides. A very personal reflection pieced together from historical documents.

Testimony and Truth

Memory and memorialisation. Exploring the evidence behind the account.

57 Squadron Wireless Operator Keith J ‘Steve’ Stevens’ name appears on a tour and a half’s worth of operations with Bomber Command. Steve took part in his first operation whilst at OTU in September 1942. Arriving at Scampton he resumes his tour in December which culminates in June of 1943. He would stay with 57 moving to East Kirkby and becoming the Squadron’s Signals Leader. Now commissioned Steve continued to fly on an ‘ad-hoc’ basis with various crews, finding himself shot down in July of 1944. Steve successfully evaded capture and was liberated by American forces advancing through Clermont in September.

Steve recorded his memories in a 2003 self-published account titled Flak, Fighters and Fliers. Armed with this book and various archives his nephew, Alistair, has trodden the well worn but often problematic path of memory versus the evidence.

Here in discussion with Dr Dan Ellin of the IBCC Digital Archive, Alistair explores how we are able to be critically analytical about testimony and explore the evidence whilst remaining respectful of the courage and professionalism of our veterans.

The speakers:

Alistair Campbell-Grieve is a keen amateur historian of conflict. Working within the intelligence space for the Police, Alistair’s day job is focused on evidence and developing information. It is this skill that Alistair has brought to his current book project focusing on his Great Uncle’s career.

Alistair served with 2 Royal Tank Regiment in Helmand Province, Afghanistan and enjoys cycling, collecting records and rare books.

Dr Dan Ellin is the archivist for the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive housed at the University of Lincoln. A Social and Cultural historian, Dan’s research examines the lives and emotions of the men and women who served with Bomber Command during the Second World War, and how the bombing war is remembered.

The Invisible Campaign - Bomber Command Gardening Operations 1940-1945 with author, Jane Gulliford-Lowes

Aerial mining by RAF Bomber Command was a vital part of the Allied war effort, claiming far more tonnage of Axis shipping destroyed than direct attack by either Coastal or Bomber Command itself. Minelaying operations commenced in April 1940 and expanded dramatically as the war progressed, yet today this vital campaign and its wide-ranging achievements against Axis merchant vessels, Kriegsmarine ships and U-boats are virtually unknown.

Historian Jane Gulliford Lowes looks at the aims of the campaign and how it was implemented, together with the measure of its success and how it compared against the mining operations implemented by the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. The role of Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris in overseeing minelaying operations is assessed and the experiences of the men who delivered the campaign, particularly the hazards they faced, are explored.

In this lecture, based upon the book of the same title, Jane Gulliford Lowes sheds new light on a little-discussed but important and ultimately highly successful aspect of Bomber Command's operations. 

The evening starts with a delicious hot supper in The Hub Café at 18.30.