Lincoln City FC bring back air raid sirens and Dam Busters March at home games

Lincoln City will allow air raid sirens and the Dam Busters March to return on match days after they stopped using it because of the links to the war in Ukraine.

The Imps announced in March they would stop the use of the sirens and the song at the LNER Stadium for the remainder of the 2021/22 season and review the matter in the summer. The decision came five weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, with City stating they wanted to “strike an appropriate balance” between its heritage and being “socially aware and generally good citizens”.

But the League One side has given the go-ahead for both to return for the 2022/23 season. Lincoln host Exeter City today (Saturday, July 30) in the first official match of the new season. An air raid siren operated by supporters has been heard over the years at home games when the Imps are attacking at corners. The Dam Busters March has also been played, usually as part of the pre-match build-up.

Lincolnshire became known as Bomber County for the role it played during the Second World War. RAF Scampton, near Lincoln, was the original home of 617 Squadron, known as the Dam Busters. They carried out a night of raids on German dams in 1943 in an effort to disable Adolf Hitler’s industrial heartland. Their actions were immortalised in the 1955 war film The Dam Busters, with its theme emerging as a popular song and one used by the Imps.

The latest minutes of Lincoln City’s supporters’ board meeting state: “Following discussion, it was agreed to remove the temporary pause on the use of the Dam Busters theme and to communicate with the siren operators that it is their choice as to if they bring back the siren for home games.”

The minutes also said: “The club will continue to show our support for the