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The bomber crews who were tested at Lord’s and selected to fight for England - Times Online

For centuries it has been the home of cricket and one of the world’s most famous sporting venues. But for a few short years during the Second World War, Lord’s was known as No 1 Air Crew Reception Centre and was the place where many thousands of people enlisted for duty in Bomber Command.

Now a £2 million memorial to those who did not return from the skies above Germany could soon stand in the shadow of the cricket ground. A site on the edge of Regent’s Park, close to Lord’s, is being considered for the Bomber Command memorial, which will commemorate the 55,000 air crew who lost their lives during the war.

It was at Lord’s, home to Marylebone Cricket Club, where the majority of recruits underwent medicals and were kitted out before being sent to training bases. It is fitting, perhaps, that it is in the park that those who did not return could soon be commemorated. A campaign to raise the £2 million in funds for a memorial was started this year by the Heritage Foundation charity, supported by the Bomber Command Association. About £160,000 has been raised so far.

Today, as veterans gather at the RAF museum in northwest London for the Bomber Command Association’s annual general meeting, the last fully operational Lancaster bomber will lead the Queen’s birthday flypast in the Mall. The 20 biggest donors to the campaign will receive a photograph of the aircraft signed by Bomber Command veterans.

Bomber Command played a vital role in the Allied victory during the Second World War, from attacking Luftwaffe bases to the Dambusters raid in March 1943. By September 1940, Winston Churchill was moved to remark: “The fighters are our salvation but the bombers alone provide the means of our victory.”

Geoff Goodwin, 82, who became a Flight Sergeant with Bomber Command after arriving at Lord’s as an 18-year-old in 1943, said that he and his colleagues “should have had more recognition” before now, including a campaign medal.

Mr Goodwin remembered being shocked at his first sight of Blitz-ravaged London. The elegant neighbourhood around Lord’s also surprised the teenager. “We occupied the posh mansion flats,” he said. “I was a boy from Derby, so it was a bit of a change of scene.”

Mr Goodwin took part in missions culminating with the bombing in April 1945 of an SS barracks at Berchtesgaden, close to Hitler’s mountain retreat. He and his crew survived — but thousands of comrades did not.

John Russell, 82, who was accepted for air crew training at Lord’s in 1943, said: “We were all keen to fly, but we didn’t realise what we were heading towards.”

The president of the Heritage Foundation, the Bee Gee Robin Gibb, will stage a concert at Royal Windsor racecourse next month for the appeal.

War effort

55,000 members of Bomber Command died during the war

10,000 were made prisoners of war

22 average age of flight crews

23 Bomber Command airmen won Victoria Crosses during the war

Source: RAF, Bomber Command Association