WWII Lancaster bomber takes flight for RAF celebration

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18378243

9 June 2012 Last updated at 09:55 GMT

An RAF squadron is due to mark its 95th anniversary this weekend with a special celebration of the planes and people who helped defend Britain.

One Hundred Squadron will be flying its fast jets over North Yorkshire, alongside an iconic Lancaster Bomber.

The World War II bomber is the last airworthy one left in the RAF.

 

[Grey Havoc]

On a related note: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/raf-bomber-command/9361572/Bomber-Command-Memorial-service-live.html

EDIT: RAF Bomber Command Memorial: After 67 years, the sacrifice of 55,000 airmen is honoured (Daily Telegraph)

The honour of leading the congregation in a the traditional words of remembrance fell to Douglas Radcliffe MBE, a former wireless operator in Wellington bombers who, as Secretary of the Bomber Command Association, has been one of the backbones of the memorial campaign from the first day to the last.

Before the sounding of the Last Post, five Tornado GR4s, the RAF’s modern-day bombers, flew overhead in formation, before the arrival of the one piece of machinery than can upstage even the Queen.

Britain’s last remaining airworthy Lancaster bomber, the roar of its Merlin engines vibrating the ribcages of all those on the ground below, flew overhead and scattered Green Park with poppies in a fitting salute to the fallen.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Last airworthy Lancasters to fly in tandem (BBC News)

 

[pathology_doc]

Last airworthy Lancasters to fly in tandem (BBC News)

Those who see it should enjoy it, because you'll probably never see the likes of it again.


Once, just once, they should fly together with the last airworthy Vulcan. Their grandchild, as it were.

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://beta.bbc.com/news/uk-england-28705088

 

[LowObservable]

Hardly the grandchild - aside from the Lincoln, which started as the Lancaster IV/V, and the interim B-29 Washington, the Vulcan was the Lancaster replacement.

 

[pathology_doc]

Hardly the grandchild - aside from the Lincoln, which started as the Lancaster IV/V, and the interim B-29 Washington, the Vulcan was the Lancaster replacement.

Lancaster - Lincoln - Vulcan. Hence grandchild.


The Washington wasn't an Avro design, so you can hardly count that in the lineage.


As for the Lincoln starting life as a Lancaster variant, well, yes - but ultimately "as issued" they were called something else, and I guess you'd get into the same argument there as to whether the F.21 and subsequent Spitfires should or should not have been called something else.


The way some are calling the Lancasters by their nicknames ("Thumper" and "Vera") tends to assign them personalities. It's all very poignant, really - like two old pen-friends getting together but knowing it could well be the only time they'll ever meet. Watching footage of them 'frolicking' together is fun, but rather heartbreaking in a way. I can't do it with a completely dry eye. :'( It's sad that the arrival meet-up was cancelled, but at least they're doing plenty of flying together now.

 

[CJGibson]

Manchester begat Lancaster begat Lincoln begat Shackleton.

or to apply thoroughbred terminology....

Shackleton out of Lincoln out of Lancaster out of Manchester.

To suggest the Vulcan is the Lancaster's grandchild is about as dumbed down as a description of aircraft design development can get

and not what I expect to see in this forum.

I'll get back to shouting at the telly.

Chris

 

[pathology_doc]

I'd see the Shackleton as sort of a cousin or half sibling.

 

[Jemiba]

To prevent a brawl in the pub: Perhaps we could agree, that with regards to its role, the Vulcan
actually could be seen in a line with the Lancaster ?
With regards to relationship, of course, the Vulcan, although carrying the same family name,
perhaps was something like the long lost cousin from overseas...

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/aviation/11033148/Two-Lancaster-bomber-planes-fly-together-for-first-time-in-50-years.html

 

[CJGibson]

OK, but I fail to see the sense in the anthropomorphism of aircraft.

Chris

 

[robunos]

OK, but I fail to see the sense in the anthropomorphism of aircraft.

Chris

http://raf.mod.uk/bbmf/theaircraft/lancasterthumpermkiii.cfm

cheers,
Robin.

 

[Bill Walker]

Spend some time with them, and you realize that each aircraft has minor differences from its supposedly identical brothers (or sisters). That is the beginning of personality.

 

[CJGibson]

Unfortunately Bill, I view these as features of different machines, not personalities.

I can appreciate how those that flew these aircraft can have an affection for and faith in the machines that delivered them from danger time and time again, but these aircraft are symbols of the bravery, tenacity and ingenuity of the people that designed, built, maintained, flew and died with them. As memorials to past sacrifices, they work and I approve of that. Sentient beings have personalities, not machines.

Oh well, I'll get back to using my favourite dream-catcher to ping healing crystals at a telly showing Meerkat Manor.

Chris

 

[pathology_doc]

OK, but I fail to see the sense in the anthropomorphism of aircraft.

Chris

Exactly, they are machines, machines designed to perform often quite specific tasks. The Manchester/Lancaster having been designed to carry a large number of small bombs into Germany; the Vulcan being designed to carry one very large bomb to Moscow.

And which, ironically enough, ended up making its name in wartime carrying a large number of small bombs to the Falklands...

 

[shedofdread]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSJstiIfEsM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[pathology_doc]

Thank you.


And now, one more request before VR-A goes back home: a static display with both Lancs, the Vulcan and an Avro 504. From the first Avro bomber to the greatest, thence to the last.

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/11081356/Worlds-last-airworthy-Lancaster-Bombers-fly-over-the-Lake-District.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

75-year-old Lancaster bomber patched up in £1.2m deal

Aircraft restorers turn to archives for tips on keeping Second World War plane airworthy

www.telegraph.co.uk

The RAF got a lot of aeroplane for its money back in 1945, a new defence contract has revealed.

The Ministry of Defence has agreed a £1.4m deal for a specialist engineer to build a new tailplane for the 75-year-old Lancaster bomber, which flies as part of the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF).

The contract, which includes other maintenance work, compares with the £45,000 cost of a brand new Lancaster when they were being turned out in the thousands during the Second World War.

Adjusted for inflation, the price paid for each Lancaster by what was then the Air Ministry works out at £2m in today’s money.

The Aircraft Restoration Company (TARC), which specialises in keeping old military aircraft in the air, won the contract to construct and fit the new tailplanes to the BBMF’s Lancaster PA474.

Parts for the Lancaster stopped being built long ago, so TARC has had to research archives for specifications, design and build new jigs and tools to manufacture the components, and also get alternative materials through aerospace certification as the alloy used originally is no longer produced.

Mr Romain said the contract comes with a huge amount of paperwork, as the company is having to apply modern aviation standards to an aircraft whose life spans eight decades.