Warbird Information Exchange

Great pics of the East Coast Lancasters!

Just thought I would add what I know about the Lancasters in Canada starting out East.
Lancaster KB882 is being lovingly looked after by a small group spearheaded by Troy Kirby(http://www.lancaster-kb882.freeservers.com/)
Most of her interior or parts thereof that are damaged easily by weather etc have been removed and are stored inside awaiting restoration. It is hoped that one day she will not only be undercover in her own hangar,but she might also be able to taxi and possibly fly. This is one to watch for the future!

Lancaster KB839 This Lancaster is looked after by the museum and was completely repainted several years ago into her current scheme. Sadly she is also engineless and the interior is completely gutted. I am not a fan of the front turret installation as it is totally incorrect for the extended nose version AR Lanc but at least she is being looked after.

Lancaster KB944. This is a bit of a confusing aircraft as it is currently painted up in markings of a Bomber Command veteran complete with partial nose art. She is also still carrying most of her postwar internal and external antennas and parts. Maybe one day she will be reworked.

Lancaster FM104, This lanc is undergoing a magnificent restoration with a talented crew working on her. She was badly damaged with time vandals and parts recovery, not to mention the way she was mounted. To mount her on the post, her centre section floor was torched out between the spars. This caused alot of questions regarding repairs. Fortunately they were able to acquire a badly damaged cockpit section(FM118 from Nanton Alberta) to use as parts to replace the damaged and missing floor section. A return to ground running condition may be possible.
I think it is fantastic when museums can help each other out.

Lancaster FM212.
This was once the prototype PR version Lancaster and it was hoped by many that she would be restored to her post war polished metal or silver paint scheme once she came down from the post in Jackson Park. Sadly this was not the case and her long term restoration will now be to wartime condition,with possibly engine runs being undertaken. Sadly she was damaged in the same way as FM104 and return to flight is out of the question.

Lancaster FM213. What else can be said about this fine bird other than if you have a chance to fly in a Lancaster then by all means arrange a flight with CWH, you will NEVER forget it!

Lancaster FM136. Yet another Lancaster that was mounted on a post as a memorial with the subsequent damage to the floor section and spar. She is looked after by a small volunteer force that has done a very good job of restoring the interior. She now has a full set of bombdoors fitted and all of her gun turrets and her elevators have been completey restored and await refitting. Her present colros scheme is a type of epoxy primer that stands up well to the outdoors.

Lancaster FM159. Apologies if I am a bit biased but after working on this old lady since 1992, I am extremely proud and pleased with everyone that has helped with her difficult and time consuming restoration. When I first started working on her for a couple of weeks a year, there was just two people working on the lancaster,myself and my father! The volunteer group has grown now into a core team of about 6 to 8 people with two qualified AME's working on her. She was in a very sorry state as seen in pics here(http://www.lancasterfm159.freeservers.com) She had been vandalised over the years and parts that were easily removed or damaged were done so. All of her plexiglass was shatteredas well. In 1991, she was rolled into a purposebuilt hangar. Slowly but surely she was restored with all her instrument panels rebuilt and fitted as well as new glass and fabric on her control surfaces. She is presently capable of ground running both stbd merlin engines and makes for quite a sight indeed.

James, I can't seem to get pictures to work for me on this forum. If i sent you some of the canadian lancs by email could you post them?