A Visit To RAF Scampton Heritage Centre - Part One 

RAF Scampton Closes Down In 2022 R.I.P SCAMPTON

I did this, it might have been in the autumn of 2013. We pulled up in the car park, I went to the guard room and said I was looking for the grave of a dog and they fixed up a tour for the next morning. The area within Nigger's fence was just covered with poppies and flags. We sawwhere some of the film was shot and picked apples from the trees which were just saplings in 1954. I didn't realise that The Reds were based there so going in and seeing the Hawks in servicing was a surprise. There were a few pilots hanging around too, I couldn't for the life of me see why my partner was more interested in them than the airframes on display. I've no idea how all this will be effected by the base closing this year. Didn't I read that they've lifted the gravestone for safe keeping. You can't put it back, it would be vandalised without security on site.

I've just seen the red arrows fly past London

At 5:50. hasn't he got that wrong. thought they have used the Hawk since 1980. I was there a few weeks ago, but only to the heritage centre, but were lucky to have our own personal display.

How do you get into the Heritage Centre

Code SQZ Elevation 62 m Owner Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) Occupants Red Arrows, Mobile Meteorological Unit

Dear Sir, you may be surprised to hear that there is NO dog buried outside the 617 Sqdn hanger at scampton, at the time i visited the place as an air cadet for our anual summer camp back in 1971 the supposed grave and same marker stone was back up against the hanger wall on a small grass verge underneath Gibson's former office in the hanger , for reasons best known to the powers that be at RAF Scampton in later years the marker stone was then moved to the position on the grass verge by the taxi way where you see it now, it was also surrounded by a black metal fence and locked gate,!!? for why i dont know, when the marker stone was removed from its supposed original position the earth underneath it was dug out also in an effort to re site dog remains also i would think, but there were no DOG REMAIN'S of any discription to be found underneath it,!! an officer accompanying we air cadets at out camp in 1971 at scampton was based there with a different squadron at the same time of the dam's raid by 617., HE told us all what REALLY happened to the dogs body, gibsons dog was buried on the station bomb dump an area out on the airfield away from buildings etc, the bomb store in effect these were always sited well away from airfield buildings ,Scampton is a large base with plenty of open land on the edges of its perimiter's , the story of "bury my dog at midnight " in the 50's film "The Dambuster's" that Gibson supposidly asked his chief aircraft mechanic "Chiefy Powell" to do was INVENTED for the film only, artistic licence this is known as in the "movies" no such order was ever given by gibson to his mechanic to bury his dog in a "specific" area ie outside his office on the grass verge, its ALSO interesting to note that in Gibson's own account of the dam's raid "enemy coast ahead" the book he himself wrote later on in the war there is also NO mention of gibson again asking for the dog to be buried at a specific time,and more importantly in this case a specific place,! as the officer expained to ourselves back in 1971 young men were being killed on a nightly basis bombing the enemy Gibson had a ot more on his mind than to worry about burying his dog this task will no doubt have been delegated to one of the ordinary ground airman staff,working for the squadron by Powell Gibsons chief mechanic he himself being a senior n.c.o. WOULD have in turn delegated the task to an "erk' "{ordinary airman} clearly someone was asked to bury the dog, but not outside Gibson's office and NOT at midnight on the evening of the dam's raid either, we got this all as FIRST hand information from a man who was serving there at the time ,the officer with us on our annual camp the Dog's body or remains are there all right ,but out on the airfield on the old bomb dump site that supposed grave site outside the squadron hanger was done for "effect" many, many years after the war, only no dog's body was EVER buried there,!! something no civillian tour guide at scampton today is aware of either. kind regards all.