Historic Lancasters' tandem flight takes place in Lincolnshire

Historic Lancasters' tandem flight takes place in Lincolnshire

Well here I am again, having survived a second week at the Temple of Mammon (I'd love to write this blog as a full-time job but would struggle to make it pay, I'm afraid!), with the exciting vintage news of the moment - the arrival of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Avro Lancaster in Britain!  The only other airworthy example in the world after the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's City Of Lincoln, C-GVRA Vera (or FM213, the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster) has joined its sister in the UK for a month-long series of displays - the first time two Lancasters will have been in the air together for over 50 years.

As reported earlier in the year Vera was flown across the Atlantic Ocean in stages before landing at RAF Coningsby, the home of the BBMF and its Lanc.  Having undergone various post-flight checks and practice formations, it has now begun being displayed around the country in the company of the British example

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Following a departure display for the press at Coningsby (with the planned flyover of Lincoln Cathedral on the 13th sadly postponed because of bad weather) the Lancs spent this weekend at Airbourne, the Eastbourne International Airshow in Sussex, plus several other displays around the south-east.  Over the next month they will appear at various events around the country, including Duxford, Shoreham and Goodwood - plus two special invitation-only events at Humberside International Airport in Kirmington, Lincolnshire.  I'm also delighted to note that, as I'd hoped, the pair will go to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre where a third powered Lancaster - Just Jane - is based and perform a fly-past while Jane does a taxi run.  What an image that will be, I'm sure!

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A full list of the planned displays is available on the CWHM's website - I hope there's one near you?  Clacton's probably my nearest, although it's on a weekday so I'm unlikely to make it ;(.  Perhaps Duxford, we shall have to see.  Or I could just camp out in my parents' garden since the flippin' things flew over them yesterday(!), no doubt on the way back from one of the Kent shows.

At any rate, the press is rightly making a big thing out of this once-in-a-lifetime event and there is bound to be more coverage as the month goes on.  It really is quite an amazing sight to see these two four-engined monsters in the air together, made all the more poignant by the thought of how much they represent - the 125,000 pilots who flew in RAF Bomber Command during World War Two and the 55,000 who did not return, plus the 7,300 Avro Lancasters that were built between 1942 and 1945 of which only 17 survive today.  It is a fitting homage to all these men and machines that these two aircraft should fly together again, as the veterans' comments prove.  I hope in their appearances around the country they will inspire and enthral onlookers and remind each generation of the sacrifices their vanished comrades made, and that this will not be the last time two or more Lancasters are seen in the air together at one time.

Lancaster bombers to fly together on UK summer tour

Lancaster bombers to fly together on UK summer tour

More Bomber Command commemoration news now, and this one is exciting almost beyond words (well, I'll try anyway)!

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight has been thrilling airshow crowds and remembrance parades around the country for decades and the undisputed jewel in its crown is the Avro Lancaster bomber PA474.  Joining the Flight in 1973 it has become a much-loved feature; one of only two airworthy examples left in the world it is highly valued in its own right.

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Avro Lancaster Mk X FM213 "Mynarski Memorial"
of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

The other Lanc in flying condition - FM213 - performs a similar office for the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Ontario, having been rescued from the scrapheap by The Royal Canadian Legion in 1978 (and restored to airworthiness by 1988).  A familiar sight on the North American display circuits the Canadian-built FM213 was, like PA474, completed just too late to see service in World War II - spending 20 years with the RCAF's Maritime Air Command Search & Rescue division.

Canada's Lancaster bomber to cross Atlantic for U.K. tour

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Avro Lancaster B I PA747 "City of Lincoln" of the BBMF

Now in a series of special one-off events FM213 and PA474 are scheduled to meet in the skies of Britain this summer in what is rightly being billed as a "once-in-a-lifetime event".  For the first time in 60 years two Avro Lancasters will fly together over two weeks in August (including, I note, my birthday - hmmnn, now there's an idea...!).

The CWHM will fly its Lancaster, in stages, across the Atlantic to meet up with the BBMF at RAF Coningsby.  That in itself is more than worthy of comment, since a Lancaster has not undertaken an Atlantic crossing since 1975 and we should remember that we are talking about a near 70-year-old machine here!  Just that flight alone will be testament to the aircraft's durability and the hard work of the museum engineers who work strenuously to keep this wonderful aeroplane flyable (the same can be said, of course, for PA474 and the BBMF).

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Avro Lancaster B VII NX611 "Just Jane"
of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre

Once FM213 has made it across and is checked over a number of displays and events are planned for that second fortnight in August.  Flypasts with the BBMF will commence on the 14th August with a series of as-yet unspecified shows to follow.  A tour of the country seems to be suggested; hopefully we shall know more nearer the time.  A visit to the taxiing Lanc undergoing restoration in Lincolnshire, perhaps (three of them, albeit on the ground, would surely be a sight to see)?  Hopefully a show near you will see both bombers in the air together.  Furthermore if you live near the Humberside Airport and have £3,500 going spare you can even pay to have a flight in one of the Lancasters (£7,000 for a cockpit seat), which are due to take place on the 18th-20th and 26th-27th August.

All-in-all then this sounds like an absolutely amazing opportunity and a fantastic way to commemorate the numerous martial anniversaries that abound this year (WWI 100th, WWII 75th, Bomber Command etc.).  I very much hope to get a chance to see the two Lancs in formation together some time, somewhere, this August.  Watch and listen to the footage at the top of this post, then try to imagine two (or even three if NX611 is involved!) instead of one - what a beautiful sight (and sound!) that will be!

Pensioners restore rare WWII bomber

Pensioners restore rare WWII bomber

While preparations continue for the excavation and repatriation of a number of Spitfires, which may eventually lead to a doubling of airworthy examples, in a small corner of Lincolnshire work continues on increasing the flyable examples of another famous Second World War aircraft - the Avro Lancaster bomber.

Currently only two of the surviving 17 Lancaster airframes are airworthy.  One is of course PA474 City of Lincoln - better known as the mainstay of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight  - the other is owned and operated by a museum in Canada.  More are in the process of being restored at various locations around the world - in France, Canada and the U.S.A.  Looking most likely to make it back into the air first though is NX611 Just Jane, which has been the star attraction at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre since it was opened in 1988.  The story of how the museum came in to being and how the Lanc was obtained is explained briefly in the accompanying B.B.C. article and in greater detail here.

Source: earlscroftfarm.co.uk via Bruce on Pinterest

Lancaster bomber to fly as tribute to a lost brother

Suffice to say it has obviously been a labour of love for the two owner brothers - who must have been moved in ways we can only imagine to set the whole thing up - and the team who have spent the last 25 years getting Just Jane back to near-original condition.  So close are they to fulfilling their dream that they can already offer taxi runs to paying customers but now thanks to donations they have been able to purchase four "new" Merlin engines that should, all things being well, allow the aircraft to be deemed officially airworthy!

With Just Jane on the brink of returning to the skies and 30-odd Spitfires about to be dug out of the Burmese soil 2013 is shaping up to be an extraordinary year for these special aircraft.  Whether there will be two Lancs in the air in time for the 70th anniversary of the famous "Dam Busters" raid in May remains to be seen but that these aircraft will get the chance to fly again and continue to thrill and educate new generations is wonderful news indeed.

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight unveils new Spitfire

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight unveils new Spitfire

While work continues to locate and unearth the potential squadron of Spitfires buried in Burma, another example has rejoined the airworthy ranks thanks to the tireless (and less reported) efforts of a group of volunteers.

Spitfire TE311 is of a similar vintage to those supposedly languishing beneath the Burmese jungle, being also a late model Griffon-engined MkXVI.  Built in 1945, however, it was just too late to see action and spent the following nine years as a training/display aircraft before being largely forgotten about.

Now after several years of hard work on the part of some RAF engineers and enthusiasts and with funds raised by the Lincolnshire Lancaster Association (try saying that five times through quick!) TE311 returned to the skies yesterday for what by all accounts was a very successful flight - as you can see!
It bodes well for the however-many Spitfires waiting to be discovered half a world away that there are still so many enthusiasts and experts willing to lend their time in the restoration of one of these marvellous machines.  Even if the Burma Spits are found to be in poor condition chances are at least some of them will be salvageable and it is people like these who will hopefully perform the same magic that was worked on TE311.

Both they and the wider public will soon get many chances to see first-hand the fruits of their labours as this newly-restored aeroplane is now on its way to join a very special outfit - no less than the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, where it will become the display's sixth operational Spitfire.

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What with the Burma Spitfires and now this MkXIV returning to the skies where she belongs 2012 looks to have been a vintage year for the venerable Spit.  Whether singly or by the dozen the increase in the aircraft's population is always welcome and proof of this beautiful machine's enduring popularity and longevity, which has been thoroughly well-earned.