Councillors have rejected proposals to exhume and relocate a dog buried at the former base of the Dambusters put forward amid concerns about the suitability of the grave’s location once the site is repurposed as accommodation for asylum seekers.
During an extraordinary planning meeting on Wednesday evening, West Lindsey district councillors unanimously voted down an application by RAF Heritage to relocate the dog to an airbase in Norfolk.
The dog, whose name was a racial slur, belonged to Wg Cmdr Guy Gibson, leader of RAF 617 Squadron which carried out the famous Dambusters raid of 1943.
The black labrador, who had become the squadron’s mascot, died in a road accident on the eve of the raid and he was buried on the grounds of the Grade II-listed Hangar 2 at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire.
In May, the RAF Heritage submitted an application to West Lindsey district council to move the dog’s grave and memorial to RAF Marham in Norfolk.
Wg Cmdr Erica Ferguson, of RAF Heritage, said: “As there is now no guarantee of a sustainable heritage-focused future for Scampton with careful management and interpretation of the story of the raid and Wg Cmdr Gibson’s dog, we believe the grave site is at risk and carries significant reputational risk given the racial slur now associated with the dog’s name.”