{"id":62254,"date":"2025-08-12T18:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/62254\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T18:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:56:09","slug":"sculpture-taller-than-angel-of-the-north-being-built-next-to-the-m62","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/62254\/","title":{"rendered":"Sculpture taller than Angel of the North being built next to the M62"},"content":{"rendered":"

It will pay tribute to the area’s military pastDan Haygarth<\/a> Liverpool Daily Post Editor and Regeneration Reporter<\/p>\n

19:00, 12 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

\"TheThe ‘Bolt of Lightning’ sculpture will be visible from the M62(Image: Planning Documents)<\/p>\n

A massive sculpture taller than the Angel of the North is under construction close to the M62. The Bolt of Lightning structure is being built as the centre point of the Mountpark roundabout at the Omega South business park on Skyline Drive in Burtonwood, Warrington<\/a>, next to junction eight of the M62<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The memorial will be 22.5m high, making it taller than the 20m Angel of the North, which is found next to the A1 in Gateshead. Honouring the former RAF Burtonwood airbase<\/a>, which was used by the United States in WWII<\/a>, the sculpture will depict a US Lockheed P-38F Lightning fighter aircraft on top of two curved beams, said to represent its trails.<\/p>\n

A planning document states: “The proposed structure has been designed by renowned sculptor Peter Naylor. Peter has an extensive record of producing public art<\/a> for war memorials throughout the UK.<\/p>\n

“The Bolt of Lightning sculpture depicts a Lockheed P-38F Lightning fighter aircraft rising to the sky after a dive, leaving trails behind it.<\/p>\n

“The trails formed by the engines are referred to as \u2018swooshes\u2019 and are supported by four independent columns on a large plinth, forming the base of the sculpture.”<\/p>\n

\"HeaderHeader House, at the US Air Force\/RAF base at Burtonwood(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

The structure will be illuminated with searchlights during the night. About this, a planning document states: “Tasked with celebrating and emphasising the unique character of the P-38F airplane through illumination, a lighting scheme has been devised that adds drama and dynamism to the sculpture at night by animating its physical shape and adding a lifelike quality to the sculpture.<\/p>\n

“The proposed lighting scheme incorporates narrow beam spotlights at the top of sculpture\u2019s the swooshes, on top of the tail of the plane. These generate a gradient, washing the surfaces of the two swooshes.<\/p>\n

“The base is kept in darkness to create the impression of the plane floating above it.”<\/p>\n

Planning approval was granted by Warrington Borough Council<\/a> in April 2024 and work is underway to complete it. No date has been confirmed for its completion but road closures are scheduled for a number of dates in September to allow for work to take place.<\/p>\n

RAF Burtonwood opened in 1940, during WWII, and was operated by the Royal Air Force<\/a> until 1942, when it was transferred to the United States Army Air Forces.<\/p>\n

It was used by the US’s Eighth, Ninth, Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces aircraft and its largest European airfield during the conflict. Close to 20,000 men were stationed at Burtonwood by the end of the war.<\/p>\n

It was given back to the RAF in 1946 but remained an important site for the Americans during the Cold War.<\/p>\n

The site closed in 1991 and much of has since been demolished, making way for Gulliver’s World and the Omega business parks, which straddle the M62. The RAF Burtonwood heritage centre is now found on site at the theme park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It will pay tribute to the area’s military pastDan Haygarth Liverpool Daily Post Editor and Regeneration Reporter 19:00,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[10581,6225,6485,6486,1120,96,33242,56,54,55,3988],"class_list":{"0":"post-62254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-armed-forces","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-m62","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom","18":"tag-warrington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}