Lincolnshire & Canadian connections

During World War II Lincolnshire was home to airmen and women from across the world and 17 Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons were based here, nine of which were formed in the county and many are still in existence in Canada today. Also many Canadians flew from Lincolnshire as part of Bomber Command and by the end of the war, 25% of Bomber Command was Canadian.

There is a long time Canadian association with RAF Digby and in 1942 it officially became RCAF Digby. This is recognised today in the Maple Leaf on the station badge as well as the Mark IX Spitfire gate guardian displayed in RCAF colours. To the left of the gate guardian is a memorial stone of Canadian granite dedicated to 411 RCAF squadron.

Throughout Lincolnshire there are many Canadian war graves, most prominently the Canadian plot in the graveyard of the pretty village of Scopwick, here there are over 30 graves, one of which is that of John Magee. High Flight, a poem loved by aviators, was written by Anglo-American 19 year old John Gillespie Magee, a wartime Spitfire pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He flew with the 412 squadron first at Digby and then at Wellingore and was killed in 1941 when his plane collided in mid-air over Lincolnshire. The poem High Flight, written on the back of an envelope, was sent home to his parents weeks before the crash.  “Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth”, the poem’s first line was quoted by President Ronald Reagan after the Challenger disaster.