Will grave of Dambuster hero’s dog be moved because of migrant camp plans?
Fears over pet’s racial slur name
THE grave of Dambusters hero Guy Gibson’s pet dog could be removed from 617 Squadron’s old base amid plans to house 2,000 asylum seekers there.
The black labrador, whose name was a racial slur, was buried at RAF Scampton after being run over and killed by a car on the night of the famous ‘bouncing bombs’ raid on German dams in May 1943.
The RAF’s heritage team has applied to the council to move the grave to an active base, saying its current site is ‘at risk’.
There are fears it could become a magnet for trouble, targeted by vandals and thieves, or the dog’s name reinstated by those wishing to antagonise if it is left where it is when the migrants arrive.
The dog’s original gravestone was removed, put in storage and replaced with one without its name – which was used by Wing Commander Gibson, the squadron’s commanding officer, as a code word to confirm which dams had been breached – three years ago after the RAF carried out a review of its historical assets.
Opponents of the Home Office’s plan to house migrants at the historic airfield in Lincolnshire reacted with fury to the proposal to move the grave.
They are already outraged at the migrants plan as it would scupper a £300million deal to develop the former RAF airbase.
That plan, predicted to create 1,000 jobs, includes an aviation heritage trail, two hotels and a business park. Roger Patterson, West Lindsey District Council vice chairman and Scampton councillor,
‘Kick in the teeth for community’
said the proposal to move the grave was ‘yet another kick in the teeth for the community’ and he would oppose it.
Ernest Twells, 77, from Barkestone, Nottinghamshire whose father Flight Lieutenant Ernie served with 617 Squadron in the war after the Dambusters raid, said: ‘My dad would be appalled.’
Peter Hewitt, chairman of Scampton Holdings Ltd, the company aiming to develop the site, said: ‘It’s the tip of the iceberg.
‘If further artefacts and heritage memorabilia continue to be removed from the site, the legacy left by the 617 Squadron in Lincolnshire will be lost forever to the detriment of the memory of the brave men, women and in this case animals, who served there.’
James Holland was one of 40 historians who signed an open letter to Suella Braverman urging her to reconsider the migrants proposal earlier this year. He said: ‘The real issue is not the dog’s grave, but the utter disgrace of kicking into touch a fabulous plan that would make Scampton a centre of aerospace technology and safeguard its heritage.’
West Lindsey District Council yesterday lost an opening round of a High Court fight against the Home Secretary.
It was seeking an interim injunction preventing the Home Office moving ‘materials, equipment or people’ on to land at RAF Scampton – also a former base of the Red Arrows – but the application was dismissed.
Paul Brown KC, who led Ms Braverman’s legal team, told the judge that ministers had a duty to house asylum-seekers who would otherwise be destitute, the numbers needing accommodation was at ‘record levels’, and the proposed use of the site was permitted under town and country planning rules.
RAF Heritage made the application on Tuesday to remove the dog’s grave from near a Grade II-listed hangar and move it along with the headstone to RAF Marham in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, where 617 Squadron is now based.
‘The future is too uncertain’
Listed building consent is needed to move the grave because it is within the curtilage of the hangar.
The application said: ‘As there is no guarantee of a sustainable heritage focused future for Scampton with careful management and interpretation of the story of the raid and Wing Commander Gibson’s dog, we believe the grave site carries reputational risk given the racial slur now associated with the dog’s name.’
It added that ‘ideally’ the grave would remain at Scampton but the future is now too uncertain to recommend this course of action.
Footage of a group of urban explorers called ‘Abandoned’ who got into the Officers Mess at Scampton has raised ‘concern over the future of the heritage fabric of the site’, the application said.
It is understood around 800 historical artefacts from Scampton have been moved to new homes.
An RAF spokesman said: ‘The RAF deeply values its heritage and the part played by the former RAF Scampton and continues to actively explore all options to ensure the heritage of 617 Squadron and the station is preserved appropriately and respectfully for future generations thus, why a precautionary Listed Building Consent application has been submitted.’