It was the plane many consider helped win the Second World War.
There were once over 7,000 Lancaster bombers, now only 17 are left, and only two can actually fly.
Now, one of the few of these few remaining iconic planes in Canada is going to swap some parts with Britain’s only airworthy example, PA-474 (KC-A), operated by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF). The swap is necessary to keep the British plane in flying condition.
The donor plane is FM-212, the Lancaster owned by the city of Windsor, Ontario, in partnership with the Canadian Heritage Aircraft Association. It had been mounted on a pedestal in a city park for decades, but was taken down and is currently undergoing restoration. Although it may be restored to taxiing condition, it cannot be made airworthy.
Windsor city council approved the exchange of stabilizers between the planes this week.
The horizontal stabilizers on the British Lanc are close to their flying hour limit, and they need replacements. Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said, “Our plane will never fly again so from our perspective, it’s something we can do to help our neighbours across the ocean”.
The only other airworthy Lancaster is in Canada, operated by the Warplane Heritage Museum near Hamilton Ontario.
Of the more than 7,000 Lancasters built, over 400 were Canadian-made Mk-X models built by Victory Aircraft of Malton (Toronto).
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