PA474 coming in to land
A couple of years ago I was commissioned to create a book for a friend’s “big” birthday, using images I had taken of the Lancaster. I was also asked to add some text to accompany the images. After a lot of research I completed the book and the recipient was extremely happy with it. Below is a summary of the text that accompanied the images.
FM213, PA474 and NX611 at East Kirkby in 2014
The Avro Lancaster’s maiden flight was on 9th January 1941 after which, and until the end of the second world war, 7,377 Lancasters were built across two continents of which 4128 survived the hostilities. Of those only 17 remained, and only two are airworthy. Those are the Canadian FM213, which is based at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton and **PA474 **based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire as part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF).
PA474 flanked by two Spitfires
PA474, a B Mk 1, was built in 1945 in the Vickers Armstrong Broughton factory, and rolled out of production on May 31st 1945, too late to see action in the European theatre, following VE Day on the 8th May that year. She was subsequently assigned to Tiger Force – the strategic bombing of Japan. But again, PA474 was too late to play a part. Consequently, she was refitted, having her gun turrets removed and the cockpit roofed, and assigned to 82 Squadron operating out of Takoradi in West Africa for Photographic Reconnaissance duties. After further attachments (including appearing in a couple of movies - “Operation Crossbow” and “The Guns of Navarone”) before arriving at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire UK.
FM213 and PA474 at RAF Waddington 2014
In 2014 FM213 made the trip from Canada, and for a few weeks the only two airworthy Lancaster’s graced the UK skies together. On 7th May 2015 PA474 suffered a fire on the starboard outer engine but landed safely, flying again, after repairs, on 12th Oct 2015. Currently designated AR-L 'Leader' (460 Sqn) on her left hand side and VN-T (50 Sqn) on the right, PA474 now spends her days as part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight celebrating military and public events, flypasts and air shows.
PA474 in flight
The Lancaster had a seven man crew, the average age of this crew was just 22, and the average number of missions before being lost was twenty one.
PA474 with bomb doors open
Specifications
Crew: 7 – Pilot, Flight Engineer, Navigator, Bomb Aimer/Nose Gunner, Wireless Operator Mid-Upper Gunner And Rear Gunner. (PA474 has dual controls used in training)
Length: 69 feet 4 inches
Wingspan: 105 feet
Height: 20 feet 6 inches
Empty Weight: 36,900 pounds
Maximum Speed: 282 MPH (at 13,000 feet)
Range: 2530 miles
Powered by: 4 Packard V-1650 Merlin’s
List of all remaining Avro Lancaster Bombers (those in bold are ones I have seen and photographed)
| Designation | Location | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| R5868 | London, UK Royal Air Force Museum | Static display |
| W4783 | Canberra, Australia Australian War Memorial | Static display |
| FM104 | Sidney, British Columbia, Canada British Columbia Aviation Museum | Under restoration for display |
| FM136 | Calgary, Alberta, Canada The Hangar Flight Museum | Static display |
| FM159 | Nanton, Alberta, Canada Bomber Command Museum of Canada | Static display |
| FM212 | Windsor, Ontario, Canada Canadian Historical Aircraft Association | Under restoration for display |
| FM213 | Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum | Airworthy |
| KB839 | Greenwood, Nova Scotia, Canada Greenwood Military Aviation Museum | Static display |
| KB882 | Trenton, Ontario, Canada National Air Force Museum of Canada | Under restoration for display |
| KB889 | UK Imperial War Museum Duxford | Static display |
| KB944 | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Canada Aviation and Space Museum | Static display |
| KB976 | Polk City, Florida, USA Fantasy of Flight | Dismantled and in storage |
| NX611 | East Kirkby, UK Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre | Under restoration to airworthiness |
| NX622 | Bull Creek, Western Australia Aviation Heritage Museum | Static display |
| NX664 | Paris, France Musee de l'air et de l'espace | Under restoration for display |
| NX665 | Auckland, New Zealand Museum of Transport and Technology | Static display |
| PA474 | UK RAF Coningsby | Airworthy |
Information correct at time of publishing
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I can mostly be found shooting models, aviation, motorsports and, when I can, wildlife. But I enjoy most aspects of photography. You can find more of my work on the links below.
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Wow, that's a pretty good record for a strategic bomber, right?
In Tuscon, AZ, I believe you can still talk to Richard Bushong at the 390th Memorial Museum within the Pima Air and Space Museum on Thursdays. He was a B-17 pilot who made it home, although none of the aircraft he flew ended up surviving. He has some great stories. He's pushing almost 100 years old now but he's the type that will still volunteer to talk to people about it until he can't talk anymore.
@pfunk - Wow - surprised to find that so much interest still exists in such erstwhile bombers. I remember having studied these during my Aero Engineering days. Lancasters, Mustangs and B17 flying fortress were some of my favorites.
Awesome to hear about Mr. Bushong and his experience. Wish I could get a chance to photograph these. I usually photograph birds (as you can see from my posts) and not iron-birds but aircrafts are close to my hear too. 😀 Someday, I hope to travel and be able to take images of all my fav. aircrafts of WWII era.
I don't know if you're in the US but I know these guys like to do tours of the States, although they've been on hiatus for a bit. Unfortunately they lost their B-17 to a deadly crash. They actually offer "flight lessons" in the only P-51D originally built as a two-seat trainer left. It costs a lot but I mean... it's a fucking P-51! Hope they can get back to doing their awesome tours again.
https://www.collingsfoundation.org/flight-experiences/
After reading that Wikipedia article further it seems the FAA revoked their certification to carry passengers and that explains the hiatus. Hopefully that can get resolved. Or they could continue flying the aircraft around the country and just show them to people on the ground, which they already did. It's pretty cool to climb through them! I was actually afraid of something like the 2019 incident happening so I didn't go up on a flight.
@pfunk - Wow - they had B-17 too and they do flying lessons in a Mustang - wow wow wow. Wish I was in the US. Well some day, I will save enough money to be able to travel and see these beauties. You are so lucky to have been able to climb through them. Must have been awesome. I hope the FAA certification issue gets resolved soon.
Thanks for providing so much info. Really enjoyed this.
Yes it is. I had to check and recheck the figures across various sources as I thought it would be much higher (especially when over 400 of those were due to landing or above airfield accidents).
Wow, I would love to talk to him. I cannot get close to knowing how bomber crews must have felt flying sorties.
He wrote a memoir including his WW2 experience along with his later career up to flying F-4s in Vietnam (iirc). It's an easy, short read and only $2 on Kindle if you're interested: https://www.amazon.com/My-Wars-Richard-Bushong/dp/0615198325
Edit: I scrolled down to a particularly good and informative "review" that's more some notes that someone took down while listening to Richard speak. I guess one of his seven planes actually survived the war, but that's still not a great record. https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2D28O5NJRE4TN/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0615198325
Thank you my friend, have just added that to my Amazon basket and will look forward to reading it
Great pictures from the memories of this plane
@azamsohrabi many thanks, much appreciated
Awesome images. Brings back memories of studying this aircraft during my Aeronautical Engg masters days. Thanks.
That's very kind, thank you. A good aircraft to study, I hope the it went well