Avro Lancaster

[CINDERS]

The Vulcan could it be the one that went to the Falklands as that was a pretty intense mission given the distance flown.

[Peter Laidler]

The Falklands Vulcan called Black Buck (?) together with many more Vulcans were scrapped at RAF Abingdon so the local press here reported a couple of years ago. They cut up literally hundreds and hundreds of aircraft here including lines and lines of VC10's. At the Wooton Road junction of Honeybottom lane, the end of one of the runways, old aircraft were piled high virtually up to the day the RAF left here. Most, if not all of the local scrap merchants started their businesses cutting up old aircraft. I remember from the days of the Shackletons and Hastings and Argosy's A lot of the old aeroplanes were used as test beds for the what was called the Battle Damage Repair Flight.

[browningautorifle]

One Shackleton can still be seen in old Nicosia airport, which is now RAF owned and operated. It lies out in the far airfield and is used for firefighting drills. I've been in it...back in 1980. It's still there. Good shape too.

[Brit plumber]

There's still 2 at Paphos.

[browningautorifle]

I just looked at that, didn't know there was an RAF base there. There's two sitting out in the far field with a smaller one, maybe a Blenheim? The one used for firefighting is much smaller. Didn't even know there was an airport over there.

[CODFan]

Memories of my early years ...



Lancaster B X FM104 was donated to the city of Toronto in 1964 and placed on a pedestal on Lakeshore Drive. After sitting outside for 36 years, the aircraft was removed from the pedestal and placed on loan to the Canadian Air & Space Museum, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The aircraft is now under long-term restoration to static display condition. With spare parts from the remainder of FM118, it is planned to be complete as a museum quality piece in 2015.

http://avrolancasterfm104.com/history

Another great project taking place in the Museum workshops by CASM staff and volunteers, is the restoration of the City of Toronto's rare Avro Lancaster Mk. X bomber "FM104", one of 430 built by the 10,000 employees of Victory Aircraft Limited at Malton during the Second World War.

Lancaster FM104 is one of Canada's largest and most complex historic aircraft restoration projects. In 1964, it was dedicated as a Toronto memorial to the 10,000 Canadians who died on wartime RCAF bomber operations. Torontonians will recall it sat atop a pole alongside Lakeshore Blvd, outside of Ontario Place, for many years.

[Peter Laidler]

What a shame to see a grand old lady like this outside. It's like seeing a tank outside. They can only deteriorate, slowly but surely that's what happens. Good for those that are restoring it.

[CINDERS]

I agree with you Peter sad to see when you think of the difference that aircraft made to the allied cause it was a stroke of genius that they re jigged the Manchesters air frame and got rid of the central fin but kept the wingspan to 100' so it could fit in the Hangars whacked 4 Merlins on it with a central spar that left the bomb bay unobstructed and there ya go a Lancaster.

I know there is a lot more to it but basically if you had an engine failure in a Manchester you were going to crash and a Halifax was flat out at 17,000ft though the Hercules engine ones were better, they were called Paddle Steamers by their pilots due to the paddle props they had having air cooled radials made them less prone to losing an engine through flak I.E coolant loss not a factor no radiators.

The Lancaster was the only plane able to carry the 22,000lb Grand Slam the largest non nuclear weapon dropped in WWII

[Peter Laidler]

When I was a little boy, lioving at Chiseldon near Swindon in the early 50's (we moved away in 1956), RAF Wroughton was very close by and these old bombers were taken there on low loaders and flown in for scrapping. That's how Coopers the HUGE scrap metal company at Swindon started. We used to ride our bikes along the back fence and see them being chopped up. I swopped a fire escape axe taken from one of them with my friend. It had a rubber covered handle with an axe at one side and a big tapered spike at the other side and A-arrow-M on the steel part.

Coopers of Swindon were the world source of used Merlin engines and used parts from broken engines in the early 70's

One day in the early 50's a low loader ran out of brakes going up hill loaded with a huge bomber fuselage and lost control. It careered down the hill and virtually wrote the village of Wroughton off!

Is the one at Auckland still in good condition. I seem to remember that being flown into Whenuapai (or Wigram?) while I was there.

[Peter Laidler]

Lovely old Dakota just flown oner my house, marked in RAF wartime camouflage. Always fancied parachuting from one at 800 ft. but never knew how to go about arranging how to