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A further 9,000 names are to be added to the Bomber Command archive, in a project that has been described as a ‘labour of love’ by its head. The Losses Database, launched 12 years ago, already contains information about the lives and deaths of more than 58,000 members of Bomber Command.
Overseen by Dave Gilbert, the database is the cornerstone of the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC), a memorial and interpretation centre near Lincoln. Each of the names is also included on the walls surrounding the Centre’s memorial spire.
This new phase of research sees the inclusion of losses from Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, North African, and Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) squadrons during World War II.
Gilbert said the inclusion of these names ‘makes complete sense’ as the team of volunteers who maintain the database were receiving regular enquiries from family members asking whether they could be added. Along with personal details, the archive contains biographical information, photographs, letters, and other resources – amounting to 5.5 million individual pieces of data.
‘It’s an amazing achievement of collaboration and a collective passion project for us all,’ Gilbert explained. ‘We’re all doing this because we want to, and because we all think it’s important that these lives and losses are remembered and reconciled.’
Once the archive has been updated and funds are raised, the additional names will be engraved on a new wall at the IBCC memorial. The site, which is dedicated to the men and women from 62 countries who came together in Bomber Command during World War II, has welcomed more than 550,000 visitors since it opened to the public in January 2018.
