Church-goers hoping to install a stained glass window to commemorate links to the RAF's Red Arrows and Dambusters squadron have been warned the project is too 'triumphalist'.

Scampton Church is situated near RAF Scampton to the north of Lincoln - the famous home of the Red Arrows, Vulcan bombers and 617 Squadron, who carried out the Dambusters Raid in Lancaster bombers during World War Two.

To commemorate this, plans were drawn up for a window with references to the three famous aircraft, its heritage as an RAF chapel and the numerous lives lost in conflicts across the world.

The project is supported by the last surviving Dambuster - Squadron Leader Johnny Johnson.

Scampton Church (pictured) is situated near RAF Scampton to the north of Lincoln - the famous home of the Red Arrows

But the group wanting to put the window in place has been told by the diocese there are fears it could be seen as 'triumphalist'.

Joe Bartrop, who is a member of the church and is backing the project, said it was their way of remembering people on who have given their lives on both sides of conflicts worldwide.

'This project started 12 months ago at Remembrance 2018,' he said. 'Scampton Church is the church of RAF Scampton. People have come down to the church for years.

'There's an RAF chapel inside and it would be really nice to have an RAF stained glass window and memorial to those who have served. We've got a particularly talented artist to do a design for it which is absolutely excellent.

'If you have a stained glass window it would have to be for the three iconic aircraft that flew from RAF Scampton.'

Scampton Church is situated near RAF Scampton to the north of Lincoln - the famous home of the Red Arrows (pictured top right), Vulcan bombers (centre right) and 617 Squadron (Lancaster bombers pictured bottom left), who carried out the Dambusters Raid in Lancaster bombers during World War Two. The Queen's crown on the RAF badge (per ardua ad astra) will be replaced with the King's crown in the final product. The window will be installed on the south side of the Nave, adjacent to the RAF ensign

The church also has war graves for eight German soldiers who were shot down while running operations near the base during the Second World War.

Mr Bartrop says the response to the project has been good so far as they look to raise £23,927 for the window.

'We need £16,000 for the window and need £3,000 for a children's art project which will help teach them about it,' he said.

'We've had a donation from Bomber Command in London who said they'd like to sponsor the RAF badge and the Lancaster on the window.

'We've had some people from an RAF base in Cyprus get in touch. We are hopeful other people from the RAF will get in touch too.'

However, the church has to get permission from the Diocese of Lincoln to make and install the window.

'We've had a lot of advice from Historic England and we got advice from the Diocesan Advisory Committee,' the retired police officer said.

The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, The Red Arrows, fly past the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, earlier this year

Saluting the Statue of Liberty, the city of New York and the United States of America - the Red Arrows stage a flypast over the Hudson River in August

The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, The Red Arrows fly over Niagara Falls, Canada, during their tour of North America

'We had a comment that came back from the committee that there might be a triumphalist aspect on the window. I suppose that's their job - their job is to look at something from a different perspective.

'Maybe some people might see that as a cry of victory but it's not meant to be that. The whole reason for the window is to convey a message of peace.'

Despite the feedback, which Mr Bartrop says has been taken on board, the group remains hopeful they can reach their funding target and get the window made.

'We are hoping to have it installed by the 75th anniversary of VE day in 2020,' he said. 'I would imagine it could take two or three months to be made and then it would have to be installed.

'We'd also have to put a protective screen over it to stop it being smashed by vandals.'

A Lancaster on a raid over Europe in WW2. The prototype Lancaster bomber first took to the skies from Ringway, Manchester, on January 9, 1941, and the first production Lancaster flew on October 31 that year

Pictured: The last flying Vulcan bomber XH558

The Vulcan bomber XH558 was designed as a strategic bomber that could deliver a nuclear payload and carried the Blue Danube, Britain's first ever operational nuclear bomb (pictured: Vulcan with the Red Arrows). XH558 was built in 1960 and entered service with the RAF in the role of carrying Britain's nuclear deterrent to the heart of the Soviet Union

The project is made more special to locals as the Ministry of Defence has announced that they intend to decommission RAF Scampton in three years' time - meaning a new home for their beloved Red Arrows.

A spokesperson for the Lincoln diocese said it 'wholly' supports the idea of the window but said the design should bee thoughtful about the wider context of the church.

'The Diocesan Advisory Committee is a statutory body and it reviews all requests to make changes to church buildings,' she said. 'It works with each church to ensure that its application is right and appropriate.

'The proposed new window at Scampton Church is designed to pay tribute to the long association that the church has had with RAF Scampton and the DAC wholly supports that.

'Feedback given to Scampton Church on the design of the new stained glass window encouraged them to think about the wider context of the church as it is the resting place of soldiers from both sides of the conflict and the wider Commonwealth.

'It also suggested that some religious symbolism was included and the design now includes a dove of peace carrying an olive branch.'

The Battle of Britain: Hitler's failed attempt to crush the RAF In the summer of 1940, as the Nazi war machine marched its way across Europe and set its sights on Britain, the RAF braced for the worst. Young men, in their late teens or early twenties, were trained to fly Spitfires and Hurricanes for the coming Battle for Britain, with others flying Blenheims, Beaufighters and Defiants, becoming the 'aces' who would secure the country's freedom from Hitler's grasp. But Britain's defiance came at a cost. From an estimated crew of 3,000 pilots, roughly half survived the four-month battle, with 544 Fighter Command pilots and crew among the dead, more than 700 from Bomber Command and almost 300 from Coastal Command falling to secure Britain's skies. The losses were heavy, but the Germans, who thought they could eradicate the RAF in a matter of weeks, lost more. 2,500 Luftwaffe aircrew were killed in the battle, forcing German Air Command to reconsider how easily Britain would fall to an invading Nazi occupation force. The pilots who gave everything in the aerial fight for British freedom were named 'The Few', after a speech from Sir Winston Churchill, who said: 'The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion. 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.'

'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few' (pictured: An aerial photograph of Spitfires) After the fall of France to the Axis in May 1940, German High Command considered how best to push the fight across the English Channel to take Britain out of the fight. Up until mid-July the German campaign consisted of relatively small-scale day and night air raids, targeting towns, aerodromes, ports and the aircraft industry. But the Luftwaffe was at full readiness, ready to ramp up attacks on ships and ports and eliminate the RAF in the air and on the ground. After the Allies were defeated in western mainland Europe, the German Air Force set up bases near the Channel to more readily take on Britain, hurriedly establishing the infrastructure needed to co-ordinate an aerial conflict with the UK. As the Battle of Britain begun, the Royal Air Force consistently downed more Axis aircraft than they lost, but British fighters were often overwhelmed by the greater number of enemy aircraft. Pictured: One of the most iconic images of the summer of 1940 and the fight above Dunkirk, with Squadron 610's F/Lt Ellis pictured at the head of his section in DW-O, Sgt Arnfield in DW-K and F/O Warner in DW-Q Fighting in France and Norway had left British squadrons weakened as the time now came to defend the homeland from Nazi occupation, but as the year went on, the RAF's fighting force increased in strength, with more pilots, aircraft and operational squadrons being made available. The Luftwaffe started a mounting campaign of daylight bombing raids, targeting strategic targets such as shipping convoys, ports, and airfields - and probing inland to force RAF squadrons to engage in an attempt to exhaust them. German air units also stepped up night raids across the West, Midlands and East Coast, targeting the aircraft industry with the objective of weakening Britain's Home Defence system, especially that of Fighter Command, in order to prepare for a full-scale aerial assault in August. Heavy losses were sustained on both sides. The main Luftwaffe assault against the RAF, named 'Adler Tag' (Eagle Day), was postponed from August 10 to three days later due to poor weather. Hawker Hurricane planes from No 111 Squadron RAF based at Northolt in flight formation, circa 1940 Pictured: Squadron 610's fighter pilots, a unit which witnessed some of the most intensive aerial combat in the Second World War (taken at RAF Acklington, in Northumberland, between 17-19 September 1940) The Germans' plan was to make RAF Fighter Command abandon south east England within four days and defeat British aerial forces completely in four weeks. The Luftwaffe battled ruthlessly in an attempt to exhaust Fighter Command through ceaseless attacks on ground installations, which were moved further inland, with airfields in southern England facing intensive daylight raids while night attacks targeted ports, shipping targets and the aircraft industry. But despite sustaining heavy damage across the south, Fighter Command continued to push back against the Germans in a series of air battles, which inflicted critical losses upon the enemy, who thought the RAF would have been exhausted by this point. Both sides feared becoming exhausted through the constant engagements. Pictured: German plans to invade Britain, if naval and air superiority was achieved Focus of the German attacks then shifted to London, where the RAF would lose 248 and the Luftwaffe would lose 322 between August 26 and September 6. By September London had become the primary target of Luftwaffe aggression, with large-scale round-the-clock attacks carried out by large bomber formations with fighter escorts. German Air Command had still not exhausted the RAF as it had hoped to, and British forces continued to face off against their German counterparts, with Fighter Command pushing back Hitler's forces, forcing German invasion plans to be postponed. By October, it had become apparent to the Germans that the RAF was still very much intact, and the Luftwaffe struck against Britain with single-engined modified fighter-bombers, which were hard to catch upon entry and still dangerous on their way out. By the middle of the month German strategy had pivoted from exhausting the RAF to a ruthless bombing campaign targeting the Government, civilian population and the war economy - with London still the primary target. But as of November, London became less of a target, with the Battle of Britain morphing into a new conflict - the Blitz. Advertisement