In the latest edition of ‘Britain at War’ mention is made of the upcoming restoration of Lancaster KB976 at Newquay. You will also find this story on the BBC website. However, the article omits to mention the fact that about half the aircraft (KB976) is in Florida with Kermit Weeks and the other half is in the UK, including the original long nose. When the aircraft was flown to Strathallan (Auchterarder) in 1975 it was fitted with a short nose from another Lanc. So will the proposed (non airworthy) restoration include parts currently owned by Kermit Weels or will other Lancaster sections be used?
By: mark_pilkington - 8th February 2020 at 21:05
The “Lancaster” at Newquay is largely a mockup created by Jeremy Hall, with only its nose being original, and that is a post war RCAF maritime patrol nose.
While it may be “an original post war Lancaster nose from KB976” that isn’t sufficient to bestowe the KB976 identity to this “airframe” or morph it from “mockup/replica” to “original airframe” status.
Most of KB976 survives in Kermit Weeks hands, with some “missing/damaged” sections exchanged with sections from a derelict RCAF fuselage KB994, while it is currently dismantled and stored, it is a complete kitset quite capable of re-assembly and at the least static restoration and display, and holding more than enough of most of KB976 to claim and retain that identity.
Kermit has the original cockpit, centre section and complete wing of KB976 together with the substituted centre and tail fuselage sections KB994 -more than enough to confirm that airframe as KB976.
The residue of KB994 and the “missing/damaged” sections of KB976 consist of the fuselage tail at Aeroventure and the Centre Fuselage and cockpit down under – acquired and shipped from the UK as part of the Lincoln RF342 recovery, but kept seperate from that project and its current situation.
Here is an excellent website recording the sad life of KB976, but it survives as a complete but dismantled Lancaster kitset stored in Kermit Weeks collection, and hence it is the real and only KB976
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February 3, 2020 at 8:55 am