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Re: Canadian Lancaster "Pattern" ...

Wed Jul 24, 2024 9:34 pm

Chris Brame wrote:So what was done with it when it arrived at Victory Aircraft? As a pattern was it dismantled completely?

R5727 was disassembled at Malton, then later on reassembled and modified as a passenger aircraft, becoming CF-CMS in mid-1943.
This became the concept for the later Lancaster XPP passenger aircraft used by TCA, although the XPP's didn't have the B-25-like glazed nose as fitted to CF-CMS.
It started transatlantic service non-stop between Dorval and Prestwick in July 1943 (setting a record in the process), and was later lost on a training flight near Dorval in June 1945.

:partyman:
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Re: Canadian Lancaster "Pattern" ...

Sat Jul 27, 2024 7:47 am

Further delving has revealed my earlier suggestion that the Airspeed Oxford seen in the August 1942 Dorval photographs may have been an aircraft from either the Central Flying School at Trenton or the Instrument Flying School at Deseronto has proved unfounded. The C.F.S. monthly audits for the period do not list any Oxfords and the I.F.S. was not formed until April 1943.

However, a search of the following Airspeed Oxford resource has revealed six possible suspects. From “The Oxford, Consul and Envoy File”, (John Hamlin/Air-Britain)....

Oxfords, X6675, X7038, X7116, AS933, BG332 and BM747 are all listed as assigned to the RCAF and then loaned, or sold to RAF Ferry Command at Dorval, Quebec during August 1942. Permanently transferred to No. 45 Group, RAF, on 9 October 1943, as part of a financial adjustment. The 6 Oxfords transferred to the RAF in exchange for six ex-RAF Hudsons used for wireless and navigational training.

Please note: RAF Ferry Command was integrated into Transport Command as No.45 Group on 23 March 1943.

Some years ago I copied some of the RAF Ferry Command and No.45 Group records at Kew searching for details of the three Spartan Executives acquired in early 1943. The few monthly aircraft audits I have do not include any Oxford aircraft listed. Therefore I have no idea of the final fates of these aircraft.

The following does appear in the Ferry Command reports I copied. ..

Montreal 31 Aug 1942 Lancaster aircraft landed at Dorval and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief invited approximately 60 special guests
to see the aircraft and its performance, vis a vis, the Liberator and Fortress.
Montreal 28 Oct 1942 Lancaster Aircraft R-5727 arrived at Dorval form the United Kingdom for a second tour of United States Army Air Force Stations in the U.S.A.

M-62A

Re: Canadian Lancaster "Pattern" ...

Sun Jul 28, 2024 3:47 pm

Thanks rcaf_100!

Re: Canadian Lancaster "Pattern" ...

Mon Jul 29, 2024 4:02 pm

A couple more.
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