Pensioners restore rare WWII bomber

www.bbc.co.uk...

Two pensioners from Lincolnshire have restored a rare WWII Lancaster bomber.

The Panton brothers are now attempting to get the plane flying again.

Danny Savage reports.

Just a nice little story if anyone is interested.

reply to post by bates


It is will be dangerous for the planet if such a bomber is taken by some individual.

Originally posted by shivaX
reply to post by bates

 

It is will be dangerous for the planet if such a bomber is taken by some individual.

Hi chivax

I take it you are kidding...

Op cheers, i love lancasters
I used to sit in one at a museum in newark

reply to post by bates

That aircraft is definitely an old classic, and one of my favorites from that time. Thanks for posting! I found that to be a very uplifting story.

See ya,
Milt

reply to post by bates


Very cool. Nice to see a piece of history restored to it glory. Thats a labor of love right there!

As an A/C buff the Lancaster is one of my all time favorites. Always impressive to watch vids and read of its exploits.

reply to post by bates


Are they a bit like that old guy (in his 90's) that still flies a Spitfire every now and again? He keeps being told it is dangerous and keeps answering with "Im in my 90's. Who cares?" - what a legend of a bloke!

Anyhow, thanks for sharing this. I am slightly obsessed with WW2 bombers (relatives in Bomber Command).

You guys over there are in for a treat if they get it airborne once again. We have one here in the aircraft museum in Hamilton, Ontario. They bring it out every now and then, and boy is it beutiful!

,,,And loud.If one produces that sound from the four engines, it is beyond me how they could pull off a surprise attack in WWII with hundreds of them filling the skies.

www.warplane.com...

Good to see a historic plane like that restored. Lancaster was an excellent aircraft and they did some wild things with it. Like the dam busting.

I love it ! When they call it "pristine" they're not kidding , that thing is beautiful .

I'm not as informed as I ought to be on English aircraft , but I do know that Lancaster's did a tremendous amount of work in that war . I'm so glad when people can help preserve such a large piece of history .

I've visited that Lanc several times and I'd recommend it to anyone. Its housed on an old Bomber Command station and apart from the Lancaster, the whole site is a museum to RAF, Luftwaffe and USAAF crews who gave their lives. One exhibit that was startling for me to see was the remains retrieved from a Dornier 217 that was shot down and the crew lost and the target of that raid, shown on the original mission map, was the arms factory near my own house that we now call Aven Tools.

There is nothing... and I do mean nothing that sounds like a Lancaster.

That, my friends, really is the sound of freedom.

Kudos to these guys for getting her almost airworthy again. This is true British spirit shining through, and I love the fact that they've made it a labour of love.

What with this, the BBMF and the privately restored Spitfires, I'm looking forward to some unique air shows in the near future.

Now if only Branson would step in and help out with XH558...

reply to post by neformore


You know, I've often wondered if Peter Jackson knows he could have THREE real airworthy Lancasters for his Dambusters movie for a very little outlay (relatively speaking)

Canada has a similar undertaking in progress. The Canadian Air and Space Museum has, for many years, been restoring Lancaster FM104 which sat on a plinth next to the lake in Toronto. The plane is not going to fly, but be restored to its wartime condition. It's all being worked on by gents in their spare time just for the fun of fixing an old bird.

avrolancasterfm104.com...

The museum in Hamilton also has a fully flying Lancaster, but the shame is that so much had to be ripped out and modernized to deal with aviation regulations that there's not much left of the old bird. Hopefully this one fares better.

reply to post by neformore


There are other problems with XH558, besides just funding. It would require a fix that it's not guaranteed that it would keep it flying. So they might spend all the money to have it done, and then find out it's still not airworthy afterwards. So they don't want to take the risk.

As for the Lancaster, I love hearing these stories. It's great to hear about old warbirds still flying. Back in 1995, I got to fly around Oahu in a B-25. That was amazing. When you're sitting on the ground, the engines scare the hell out of you. They pop and sputter, and make noises they aren't supposed to make. Once in the air, they hum right along. We were supposed to just go direct HNL-Barbers Point NAS, which is a right, and a right, but they took us the long way around. I loved every second of it.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I went to see XH558 in the hangar a few weeks ago to take some photos and was talking to the lady who runs things there, she told me that a major issue is that one of the leading edge wing skins needs replacing and its impossible to get imperial gauge skins anymore without acquiring them from the USA at huge expense. If they tried to use metric gauge they would have to undertake an entirely new certification process because no Vulcan ever had that done before.

reply to post by waynos


Which would explode the cost to well beyond what they could afford to begin with. That's the big drawback to these old warbirds. They get so expensive to do any little repair that they just wear out.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Correct. Also, all the static display Vulcans have just been left stood in the open so cannibalisation is out of the question too. The Newark Air Museum Vulcan actually flew into the museum and taxied to its display plinth and it stands to this day on the spot where the engines shut down for the last time. The condition it is in now is quite sad to see.

reply to post by waynos


That's like the Concorde that they're trying to save. It's been sitting out and rotting. It always makes me sad to see that happening to any old plane, but especially to the amazing ones like Concorde and the Vulcans.

Many years ago, my CAP squadron came upon a ravine on Wheeler Army Airfield that was littered with old plane parts. It had everything from an F-80 nose, to door actuators off C-47s. We were going to go down and document it all, but some dentist (officer) ordered the senior member that was going to take us down there and help document it to stay away, as it was "his" find.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by neformore

 

As for the Lancaster, I love hearing these stories. It's great to hear about old warbirds still flying.

I have a special affinity with the BBMF's Lancaster ~ on the day my little one was born at home I had been at work when I got the call to say my partner was going into labour. Literally, after I'd rushed home and was getting out of the car the Lancaster thundered over - no more than 100ft above the house (we lived on a hill, and she was coming in for a display) ~ almost like a timed flypast. My baby was born to the sound of freedom