The story of Kipper the Tortoise

If you go down to the Waterside Shopping Centre today you’ll find artist Mel Langton manning her stall of handcrafted gifts.

Among Mel’s colourful prints is an intriguing version of an RAF scene featuring a tortoise. Mel first created the image for the trail of plane wings that were featured around Lincoln during RAF 100 – the centenary celebrations of the Royal Air Force in 2018.

She had heard how Kipper the Tortoise had become RAF Scampton’s unlikey representative.

A pilot, bored at his mother’s tea party, told a tongue-in-cheek yarn about a tortoise being the station’s mascot. 

“He told the tale of how the tortoise had sadly died during a bombing raid, after his little parachute failed to open, and that they couldn't replace him as at that time tortoises were in short supply,” explained Mel.

Sometime later his Squadron Commander received a call to say there was an urgent package to be collected from Lincoln railway station. When opened it contained a live tortoise with a note saying that its name was Kipper and that it had been sent to replace the mascot they sadly lost in operations.

“Kipper was adopted by the Squadron and to protect him from getting run over in the long grass verges outside the hangers, they drilled a hole in his shell and stuck in a little flag so he could be spotted.”

The limited edition, hand signed and numbered giclée prints and other gifts can be found on my Mel’s pop-up art stall at the shopping centre until Tuesday, December 10.