Weathering steel, Cor-Ten and the IBCC

click photo to enlarge
It's interesting how company trade marks can come to be generic descriptions, for example, Hoover for vacuum cleaner, Tannoy for loud speaker and Biro for ball-point pen. A current example in the making of this phenomenon is Cor-Ten to describe weathering steel. For quite a while now sculptures and other exterior structures have been made of this kind of steel that weathers to produce a rusted and rustic looking exterior that then serves as a protection. In the UK the sculpture called "Angel of the North" was one of the first widely-known examples making use of weathering steel.

On our recent visit to the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) in Lincoln we admired not only the commemorative walls erected in this material, but also the "spire" that identifies the location from afar. The height of this hollow, spike-like structure is 31.09 metres (102 feet), the length of the wingspan of the Avro Lancaster bomber that was the mainstay of Bomber Command during WW2. Its width at the base is 16 feet, the width of the Lancaster's wing. This too is made of weathering steel and will be the focal point of the Centre for decades to come.

The whole site is currently under construction. During our guided tour I took today's photograph from inside the spire looking upwards.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Memorial Spire, International Bomber Command Centre, Lincoln
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 17mm (34mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f5
Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec
ISO:1000
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

International Bomber Command Centre, Lincoln

click photo to enlarge
We recently accompanied a couple of friends to the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) in Lincoln. This is a memorial to the men and women of Bomber Command who, during WW2, served in the RAF, often flying from airfields in Lincolnshire. The IBCC is currently under construction so we had to wear high-visibility vests and undertake a guided tour of the site and the completed sections of the memorial.

To date that includes a tall "spire" made of Cor-Ten steel and a series of commemorative walls surrounding the spire and made of the same material, These list the names of the 26,296 men of sixty nations who lost their lives serving in Bomber Command. It also includes a Lincolnshire Garden that has trees arranged to represent the relative location of the Bomber Command airfields of the county. The whole site is at the top of a hill that overlooks the city of Lincoln and which has a fine view of the medieval cathedral.

My photograph shows part of one of the steel memorial walls. People - perhaps relatives of those commemorated - had pushed British Legion poppies into some of the names. Over the next few years the project will be completed, but at present active fund raising is taking place. This includes a minimum of four guided tours of the site each month. We were pleased to experience one of these and to be able to make a donation.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Memorial Wall, International Bomber Command Centre, Lincoln
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 17mm (34mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f5.5
Shutter Speed: 1/500 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On