Warbird Information Exchange

Stopped by the Toronto Aerospace museum today, located in the old DeHavilland plant in Downsview Park. Heres a bunch of photos of the progress made on Lancaster Mk.X FM 104 that used to be displayed on a concrete plinth down on Torontos waterfront for 35 years. A few shots are thrown in of the replica Avro Arrow as well. Enjoy!



A Packard built Merlin in its cowling


Oh look two more!


And a fourth!


And a fifth! (mostly restored too)


Mid-upper turret


Rear turret







Nose turret well on its way to completion


Starboard forward fuselage of FM 118, used as a gunnery target in saskatchewan.




The cockpit, or whats left of it.


Avro Lancaster, and Avro Arrow side by side.



Rolls Royce derwent engine, this example was one of the 4 that powered the Avro Jetliner



Nose landing gear bay detail


Orenda engine, used in CF-100s and Canadair Sabres.





Shelves of Lanc bits.

Awesome work done and being done there. They should really be proud of that Arrow.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Excuse me for my Lancaster ignorance, but are the four large castings in the photo just above the nose turret the main landing gear supports?

Excellent photos, and the Arrow is stunning.

Scott

Great pics! They've really mad a lot of progress since I saw her a just a year-and-a-half ago.

One of your pics jogged my memory. Does anyone know if the skin panel with the "Rhur Runner" nose art is original, or is it a reproduction?

SN

Excellent photo's thanks for sharing! They are making good and steady progress with this difficult restoration. The workmanship going into the canopy and floor/spare repairs is second to none!

Scott those large castings are indeed the main landing gear support beams.

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Cheers,
Peter

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Steve N--

You mean "Ruhr Express"...that was the name given to the first Canadian-built Lanc, KB700. She crashed in 1944 so I doubt that panel is original. (Course there could've been a "Ruhr Express II", I suppose!) That panel in the pic at TAM is a complete surprise to me. Haven't been to Downsview in a while...will have to pay a call and find out about the panel!

S.

Great pics, thanks for posting!

Is there anyone out there that would want to keep us updated on FM104 a la "Hey Gary what's the status on Diamond Lil"?

cheers,

David

Great Pics!

TAM has a great collection and does some amazing work...but I dont believe that their facilities allow them to "SHOW OFF" their assets. The facilities seem rather crowded ....I can accept the argument that they are in wartime facilities and a new facility would just not be the same etc... but I would hope that they could one day have a "Show room" and then a warehouse/workshop section- that could be open.

But like everything else, it's all about the money.

Keep up the good work TAM!

"Great pics, thanks for posting!

Is there anyone out there that would want to keep us updated on FM104 a la "Hey Gary what's the status on Diamond Lil"?

cheers,

David"

Well... since Public Relations is also part of the gig, I guess I can keep those interested up to date. It shouldn't be too difficult, as the overall impression is that the restoration proceeds at a glacial pace. We only work an average of about 11 hours a week on her, and there are times when weeks pass without doing work on the actual plane, but on the displays, tools, jigs, layout, museum events, etc. For example, the reason the rear turret is sitting on the floor in the photos is that we were building a new stand for it, which took both work days that week for two of us. However last week we made a bunch of progress on replacing the sections of the front spar web that were trashed when they mounted the plane on the pedestal. The big, gaping hole in the front of the center section will soon be history - then the back will get the same treatment.
Currently I only get on here about once a week, so have patience when requesting an update. If I get really ambitious, I may start an FM104 Restoration thread one day.

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Joe
FM104 Restoration Group

"Great Pics!

TAM has a great collection and does some amazing work...but I dont believe that their facilities allow them to "SHOW OFF" their assets. The facilities seem rather crowded ....I can accept the argument that they are in wartime facilities and a new facility would just not be the same etc... but I would hope that they could one day have a "Show room" and then a warehouse/workshop section- that could be open.

But like everything else, it's all about the money.

Keep up the good work TAM!"


Funny you should mention that.
Just last week the membership decided the museum would change it's name as part of an expansion strategy. For the past ten years, Downsview Park has allowed the museum to use the facilities while getting itself established, but now the 'probation' period has ended and the museum will have to start forking out real cash for rent, utilities, etc. The time has come to "go big or go home".
I'm not allowed to make public the new name until the formal release on Feb. 20th, but some changes are coming that will lead to our having more space to work with - and consequently more good stuff to display. It won't be immediate - maybe not even in the next year, but in order to remain viable the museum will have to expand both in size and scope.

Stay tuned...

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Joe
FM104 Restoration Group

Thanks for the info. I meant to ask about the panel when I was there, but was overwhelmed by the Lanc restoration and forgot.

I certainly hope the musem can expand..the Arrow replica is really shoehorned in there, and I can't see how the Lanc would fit inside completely assembled (much less on its gear.) It's still a neat facility..reminds me a bit of the old Yankee hangar.

SN

Joe,

I would love regular updates on FM104 and the other projects that you folks are tackling. The spar web repair is a perfect example of the kind of "in progress" work that some of us find so interesting. I may just have to come up to help on the Lanc for a weekend. (I'd enjoy a chance to work on any four-engined bomber!)

Scott

its a very cool airplane to see flying.

I would doubt very much that the panel is from Ruhr Express.
In the book " Above and Beyond page 335-336 it states that she over ran the runway and while back tracking,hit a ditch digger caught on fire and burned up completely.
Afterwards many politicians, high ranking officers etc requested parts from her. As stated there was nothing left and what was left went to the smelter rather quickly. The squadron simply took parts from the many other wrecks and sent those items as "Ruhr Express"
Nobody was the wiser.
The statement in the books comes right from Bill Dunphy the squadrons Chief Engineer.

Most likely the panel is someones artistic replica panel

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...it was a plane adrift beneath the moon moving serenely thru beams like an angel of the night .....fair as a song ........aloof from mortal dreams

Is this eventually going to be a flyer or a static?
Thanks

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Taylor Stevenson