RAF Cosford: Haunted hangars or just another flight of fancy?

It was not the first time the bomber that refuses to die has been linked with things that go bump in the night.

Its ghost, say believers, include The Phantom Whistler and Pete the Poltergeist.

Other visitors have claimed to see a similarly dressed apparition walking around the hangar or the outline of a ghost, his features swathed in a flying helmet, in the cramped confines of the navigation dome.

In 1984, a shocked cameraman, filming for ITV holiday show Wish You Were Here, alleged to have encountered the spectre of a serviceman.

Seven years later, the Shropshire Star published a photograph taken by reader William Fletcher appearing to show a ghost in the rear gunner’s turret.

Look closely at our picture of Avro Lincoln RF398.

This is the world’s most haunted plane, a restored machine that has been at the centre of a string of paranormal investigations, made national headlines and spawned X-Files type TV documentaries.

This is Avro Lincoln RF398, a craft where instruments mysteriously spring into life, doors open and close.

Tales of the living dead seemed to have been truly debunked decades ago, when mischievous museum engineers admitted hatching a poltergeist plot to scupper plans to move the bomber from Cosford to Manchester Air and Space Museum. They concocted stories of spirits.

Yet the spirit sightings have continued long after the workers’ confession.

And they were given considerable gravitas when a BBC camera crew claimed to have seen the face of a spectre reflected in the cockpit glass behind reporter Maureen Carter.

Maureen amassed 30 witness accounts of “ghostly sightings” for the programme.

Phantom or fake news, visitors to the museum’s current exhibition marking the 80th anniversary of the Dambusters raid would do well to tread carefully when approaching Avro Lincoln RF398.

Respected Staffordshire war historians Richard Pursehouse and Ben Cunliffe have recently carried out their own investigation into the raft of claims and counter-claims. The duo’s conclusion? “The jury’s still out,” said Richard, from Cannock.

The undisputed fact is RF398, first flown in September, 1945, never saw combat. It was based at RAF Abingdon and moved to Cosford in the summer of 1968.

From there, the waters get more mudded, the story decidedly murkier.

Engineers got wind of the fact RF398 – a craft they’d lovingly cared for – was to be moved and decided to create the “ghost plane” legend.

One of them, Richard Garside, said: “The star of the museum should always remain there.

“We wanted RF398 to stay at Cosford.

“We actually invented a ghost on the Lincoln. The more people that came to see it, the more chance the aircraft would stay.”

In 1979, the first faux other-world encounter was leaked to the national press – and the tabloids lapped it up.

As one engineer worked in the cockpit, his colleague spotted a spectre approach the bomber then simply disappear into thin air, reporters were told.

To add a little more spice to the yarn, the two men claimed that the following day aircraft parts were found mysteriously scattered on the floor below RF398.

The team were merely warming up.

More stories soon surfaced.

l An electrician claimed he slipped while working on RF398 and braced himself for a heavy impact with the hard floor below.

Yet, as if caught by an invisible force, he was gently lowered to the ground.

l In 1980, Richard Garside revealed a staff member had spotted a figure moving inside the bomber while switching the hangar lights off. A thorough search found nothing.

From the team’s tall tales, others grew from a variety of sources.

The hoax had grown legs. A May, 1980, feature that carried the dramatic banner headline “Images that Haunt the Air” suggested the spectre was not a member of RF398’s crew.

The ghost was that of a Polish Spitfire pilot, condemned to roam the hangar after the remains of his downed “crate” were discovered in Shropshire and brought to Cosford.

As proof, the newspaper article carried a photograph of three volunteers working on the wreck.

Yet when the film was developed, a fourth figure “unknown to anyone working at Cosford” could be seen.

At the same time, claims of the hangar door suddenly sliding open during a night-time group visit hit the news-stands.

In March, 1989, the Sunday Mirror informed its readers the spirit of a pilot had been seen opening another door.

The accompanying photograph was inconclusive. Once again, a landmark moment had been captured by an individual with a very poor camera and extremely shaky hands.

A paranormal frenzy enveloped RF398 – and those engineers who came up with the ruse could hardly hide the grins on their faces.

Richard Garside added: “About 1980 or 1981 we were informed the Lincoln was staying at Cosford. Our task with the phony ghost was completed. The haunting ceased because there was no need – we had saved the aircraft.”

They couldn’t stop the spook stories, however. The haunting had far from ceased.

Reports of strange happenings around RF398 continued. Ghost-hunter Peter Underwood and a team of paranormal investigators climbed into RF398 for an all-night vigil. They emerged next day with wild claims of seeing a figure in flying jacket and parachute harness walking towards the plane.

The phantom seemed to evaporate after a loud, unexplained noise was heard in the hangar.

Chesterfield Paranormal Research Group – “psychical researcher” Ivan Spenceley among the band - visited Cosford in 1987.

Ivan’s tape recordings that night considerably cranked up the mystery. They appeared to capture the sounds of an operational aircraft: clicks, taps, muffled voices, sighs, Morse code bleeps and the drone of other planes.

After listening to the tapes, former Lincoln bomber pilot Phil Pritchett said: “The noises certainly sounded like the normal noises that we get on an aeroplane, but somewhat modified.”

By February, 1991, even high-brow BBC Radio 4 had joined the ghostly clamour.

Producer Gwyn Richards was among a broadcast team who joined Ivan Spenceley on another nocturnal ghost-watch.

More clicks and bumps were captured on tape and those taking part alleged tiny lights danced in the fuselage.

Mr Richards said: “This tiny pinprick of light was moving slightly from one side to the other, but one letter (sent by a listener after the broadcast) gave me a possible explanation.

“When the crew was on night flying, they used to reverse the little concave reflector in their torches and cover the bulb with them, so that only a tiny pinprick of light was emitted from the torch, saving the pilot’s night vision.”

In the same year, Dave Young and Steve Ray, two Wolverhampton Polytechnic psychology lecturers, spent weeks researching RF398’s secrets, a study that included making recordings, taking video footage and monitoring temperature changes.

Their research proved inconclusive – and final. Cosford Air Museum declined any further requests for paranormal investigations.

That was not the end of the ghosts of RF398. Far from it.

In 1996, ITV paranormal show Strange But True?, hosted by Michael Aspel, aired an explanation for the rash of paranormal activity.

Apparently, “Master Pilot Hiller” flew RF398 on its final flight and “loved her so much” he promised he would “haunt his baby” when he died.

Hiller transferred to a de Havilland Dove aircraft and died shortly after when the plane crashed near Cosford, viewers were informed.

Parts of the wreckage were allegedly brought to RAF Cosford – Hiller’s ghost residing in the twisted metal.

A nice story, a gripping story, but bunkum, historians Pursehouse and Cunliffe have discovered.

There is no record of a Master Pilot Hiller and RF398’s final flight was piloted by Flight Lieutenant John Langley.

Over the years, mediums have claimed the Lincoln bomber is haunted by two spirits, one a 19-year-old wireless operator, the other a wartime pilot.

The ghosts even serenaded one medium with a selection of 1940s classics.

That is a step too far into the supernatural. Walk this earth if you must, cruel spirits. But please spare us the karaoke.