Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre — Attraction in East Lindsey

Love historical aviation? Love the sound of the mighty Merlin? Have the time to remember those who paid the ultimate price for freedom? Then this museum is an absolute must! CHECK THEIR WEBSITE FOR TAXI DAYS IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE LANCASTER RUN! It's most important to do this because 'Just Jane', NX611 only runs a few days each week. The taxi ride is very expensive and must be pre-booked and there is no certainty which position you will be in for the ride. It could be the bomb aimer, cockpit, navigation seat, mid turret, fuselage or rear gunner. You will however get to look around every part of the aircraft and sit in every seat including the pilots. Photographs can be purchased and they are very professionally done for an extra cost. TAKE NOTE, THIS IS A WORKING AIRCRAFT AND STRICT HEALTH AND SAFETY PRECAUTIONS WILL BE ADHERED TO BY THE STAFF. It is also a very difficult climb through to the cockpit or rear gunners positions so not for severely disabled or those who have difficulty with steps and drops. As a spectator though, you will experience the sounds and smells of a working WW2 bomber in all her glory. If you stand in the right place, the wing tip will go over your head, that's how close you can get! She will then taxi around the grass field and wind those amazing engines up to 2000rpm. They can't go to full take off power but even at that rate, you will feel it through the ground! Open to everyone but small children may be scared by the noise and sheer size of the aircraft close up. Very good disabled facilities with free wheelchairs available but some of the surfaces are old concrete with some rough areas and some parts are grass only towards the main taxi veiwing area. There are paths to these but they are a longer route. Also note on route from the south via the A16 the town of Boston can be severely congested especially during school and rush hour times. Lots of seating inside and outside for your delicious food and drinks from the NAAFI. A really well stocked shop for gifts and models with prices that aren't obscene compared to some tourist attractions. A percentage of money goes to the restoration work. Lots of amazing displays into the restoration of the Lancaster and Mosquito which both do the taxi run. Now the part which some will find very very emotional. All around the site are memorials to the brave crewmen who sadly never came home. Some as young as 17. The Chapel on the site is particularly difficult to look at with a very very long list of names of those brave airmen. The staff are very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly but once again, be cautious and follow all safety guidelines laid down ...

I'm a frequent visitor and it's great to see ongoing work on the Lancaster as well as the Mosquito and B25.

There are reviews that claim it's "too expensive". Is it really, though? Where else are you going to see a working Lancaster Bomber so close you can almost touch it? Not to mention the De Havilland Mosquito that was used in the short film "The Shepherd" starring John Travolta. Where else can you stand and watch a talented group of people working to restore the Lancaster to flight condition? Not only that, ask them questions and they always have time to talk to you and provide any information they can.

There are information boards around displaying the running and maintenance costs for the previous year - this is a six figure sum, every year, and that's without the cost of the restoration to airworthiness.

The main hangar also contains many exhibits of aircraft parts recovered from nearby crash sites ranging from small barely identifiable parts up to engines, propellers, a wrecked spitfire fuselage and a Canberra cockpit you can explore.

There are numerous other exhibitions including a small cinema, escape museum, radio room, a simulated air raid shelter and many displays of aircraft parts, engines and information on the Nuremberg raids, the Dambusters and more.

There are also several examples of wartime vehicles to see.

The NAAFI offers a range of food from cooked meals to cakes, biscuits and ice cream, tea and coffee, and sits at the main entrance/exit with a gift shop at the end. The walls are covered with more information, photos, medals and paintings. A variety of large model aircraft hang from the ceiling.

There are taxi runs every week, usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can sit inside the plane during taxi runs which, having done it, is a unique experience. This isn't cheap, and has to be booked in advance via their website and spaces are filled up very quickly.

It's a good day out for little more than ten quid, and there are several big events each year which cost more for entry, but then there are food stalls, tank displays, many stalls, plus Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flypasts including the UKs only airworthy Lancaster - one of only two in the world. They also have searchlight demonstrations and a lengthy firework display at their final season event in November every year.

There's loads of parking adjacent to the NAAFI, plus a larger car park that opens for the big events. I've been to many of them and the entry queues are always processed quickly.

If you have even a slight interest in WW2 aircraft and history, then it's well...

My severely disabled son who was born 3 months premature *and has a list of both physical and neurological conditions and who is mentally 1 yet 7 in reality and wheelchair bound), my partner and I made the trip to visit this venue as we are all military jet mad- I am ex Navy too but now a SEN teacher. We arranged to meet my in laws there.

To cut a long story short, the woman on the desk called Angela was highly discriminatory towards us as a special needs family. I asked for 2 disability tickets and on2 free carer ticket. My son is on high rate dla and I am on pip due to a progressive spine condition and ME. I still work part time so paying full price was not an issue I only asked for what we were entitled to. I showed her our paperwork. 2 letters. She began openly in front of tons of people waiting to pay abd already in, questioning if our son was truly disabled because we could be saying that and people may just buy a wheelchair to get £1 off and a free carer ticket. I again reiterated the paperwork and she replied with that she'd seen the papers I'd been having around. I hadn't. She then proceeded to say how did she know we were carers to him as we don't get carers allowance. I explained not everyone does if you work over 16 hours a week. She then asked me why I qualified for pip so I went into my medical issues which is illegal. I asked to see a manager to which she said n9 manager was available. The manager was right behind her and of course apologised. We ended up paying full price on principle. It ruined our visit abd our day I won't be recommending this venue to any of my multiple sen families I work with or am friends with. I also will be making a written formal complaint and will be alerting various disability charities. Life is hard enough when you are a disabled parent to a severely disabled child without people treating you like 2nd class citizens for being disabled. We won't be returning and my in laws who were excited to learn about land girls as my MILs mum was one have said they are disgusted.

Also said receptionist was called early in the day to find out when the mosquito would be taxiing. We were told 4.30 so we came from down south in time only to find out they'd moved it forward to 4. Disappointing.

My son was stating excitedly at the plane pictured as were other people. A guide offered two groups of people to get up close to it but not us the 3rd and only remaining group.

If you're a family with any disabilities think twice before parting with your hard...