The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum (CWH) is pleased to announce that they will be flying their prized Avro Lancaster to England this August for a month long visit. The Lancaster will join the only other airworthy Lancaster in the world, owned and operated by the Royal Air Force’s renowned Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF), and participate in several events and activities while overseas.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum Lancaster will depart from Hamilton, Ontario on August 4th and plan to arrive in England on August 8th. The North Atlantic crossing will include en-route stops at Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada, Narsarsuaq, Greenland, and Keflavik, Iceland, prior to arriving at the BBMF, RAF Coningsby. Shortly after arriving, the Lancaster will undergo a scheduled maintenance inspection and then the CWH crews will complete a short training program with the BBMF in preparation to participate in several air displays and fly pasts with the BBMF Lancaster and fighters starting on August 14th.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s Lancaster will also conduct a limited number of UK Bomber Membership flights from Humberside Airport while in England. This all inclusive membership includes the opportunity to be a crew member for a 30 minute flight in the Lancaster over selected historic airfields and bases of Lincolnshire, which is often referred to as Bomber County because of the number of Bomber Command Squadrons based there during the Second World War. The membership flights are limited to only 75 (that’s 15 flights with 5 UK Bomber Membership crew on board each trip). This is a “Once in a Lanc Time” opportunity and will not be available again.
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum President and CEO, Sqn Ldr (Ret.) David G. Rohrer C.D. who is a current Lancaster pilot, indicated that this year, “a rare window of opportunity was identified to bring the last two flying Lancasters in the world together as a special salute to all the veterans of Bomber Command, many of whom are in their late 80’s or older now.” It is also an opportunity for the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum to fly together and showcase a flying display and tribute to all those who served in the time of need, in Canada, England, and the entire Commonwealth that likely will never be seen again.
Further details and information on the UK Bomber Memberships can be found at http://www.warplane.com. A schedule of the entire trip will be finalized in the near future and released.
By: AlanR - 15th March 2015 at 22:46
Any news as to whether the Mosquito will come this year ?
By: David_Kavangh - 24th February 2015 at 10:11
Wow! A whole year has past……
By: Bluebird Mike - 22nd January 2015 at 09:43
Really looking forward to it also. Any ideas on running time yet? I’d have thought this would warrant a 90 min DVD at least?
By: trumper - 21st January 2015 at 16:55
Really looking forward to this,i just hope the music and commentary are kept to an absolute minimum.
By: charliehunt - 21st January 2015 at 11:10
looking forward to confirmed dates nearer the time!! Can’t wait…!;)
By: CWH Museum - 21st January 2015 at 11:00
http://youtu.be/5Ol2rem6d3g
REUNION OF GIANTS – The Official Lancaster UK Tour Trailer. Coming Summer 2015 – Worldwide TV release followed by DVD/Blu-ray (all formats).
It has been 50 years since two Avro Lancaster bombers flew side by side. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s Avro Lancaster, VeRA, flew from Hamilton, Ontario to meet her British counterpart, Thumper—the only other surviving flight worthy Lancaster bomber in the world—the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s (BBMF) Lancaster in England.
Suddenly SeeMore…Productions Inc’s specialty is reality adventure television and the people who make it. REUNION OF GIANTS documents this historic mission as it unfolds, through the eyes of the flight crews, veterans, friends and family—all part of the bombers’ history, including this new chapter as VeRA crosses the Atlantic.
By: Bager1968 - 6th January 2015 at 07:50
Maybe someone’s cunning plan for an emergency reserve air force?
By: Jay Langley - 5th January 2015 at 15:39
But Flown there way back in 1964. RCAF had only just retired the Lancaster. not sure then there were ever plans to keep it airworthy.
No, I doubt there where any plans to keep it airworthy, however, it underwent a complete RCAF maintenance and restoration before it was flown to the museum….and it has been kept indoors and dry etc. ever since….who knows…..The Canadian Aviation and Space Museum also has a complete Liberator done in Coastal Command scheme, it was flown directly to the Museum from INDIA by a Canadian Crew……another plane put away in flying condition…it seems like a fair number of their planes were flown into the museum…..
By: David_Kavangh - 5th January 2015 at 15:22
But Flown there way back in 1964. RCAF had only just retired the Lancaster. not sure then there were ever plans to keep it airworthy.
By: Jay Langley - 5th January 2015 at 14:58
Still missing some of her nose art and markings but still a good surviving example of the Canadian MkX
I see this Lanc. quite frequently…she is really well done and has a mostly complete interior…..sadly this Lanc. was FLOWN to the Museum and put away for display, she might well have been “well used” but she still had juice left in her. They also have a well done cockpit / forward section of another Lanc. there beside “Winnie”….it is very well kitted out and has well done manikins in proper flight kit etc. The end of the Fuselage is covered with plexiglass and you can get right up to it and really get a good view. The Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa is well worth the effort to see if in Canada.
By: WarbirdTails - 5th January 2015 at 11:55
Saw a post recently saying they are expecting to release a trailer in January, so hopefully won’t be too long. I believe the full film has already been screened to the CWHM team as well. Can’t wait to see it.
By: mmitch - 5th January 2015 at 11:49
Has anyone seen a release date for the ‘official’ DVD yet? The last I read was ‘in the Spring.’ Nothing listed on the CWHM website. I would expect a rush to pre order it. 🙂
mmitch.
By: Peter - 4th January 2015 at 18:07
Still missing some of her nose art and markings but still a good surviving example of the Canadian MkX
By: STAN05 - 4th January 2015 at 17:08
Not ‘VERA’ but possibly of interest for those reading this thread.
A friend of mine visited the Ottawa aviation museum in 2013. A bit of a impromptu interview with one of the museums curators:
By: adrian_gray - 3rd January 2015 at 22:10
Thank you for posting that, David. Two nostalgic hours just spent. This last year was mostly quite c****y, but one wonderful treat helped make it bearable. Nothing short of dementia will make me forget the feeling as they ran in at Headcorn. I don’t know who had the chutzpah to get in touch with the BBMF and say “I say, chaps, would you mind awfully just dropping by our little “do” in Kent, and bring your chum too”, but they helped save my sanity, and had effects on my family far beyond anything you might think likely.
Thank you David, thank you BBMF, thank you CWH, thank you all!
Adrian
(gods, I think I’ve got a bit carried away!)
By: scotavia - 3rd January 2015 at 18:24
I was watching both approaches and saw nothing odd or noteworthy about either.
By: trumper - 3rd January 2015 at 18:00
Maybe the Canadian Lanc made a shorter approach because the BBMF one was planning a longer run in.I really don’t see the problem ,you see short and long finals at Duxford alot with vintage planes.
Well flown them.
By: David_Kavangh - 3rd January 2015 at 17:42
I had sent him this clip of the Mynarski Lanc on approach to Blackpool when compared to the more sedate approach taken by the memorial flight Lanc ;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFBcGU9gVPMHaving been lucky enough to have been inside both Lancs I also commented on the stripped out internal nature of VeRA when compared to the almost ‘as was’ layout of Thumper and that the Canadians seem happy to fly almost ad-hoc whereas we fly with precision planning before , during and after every flight .
Dave Reeves has said he will change the title of the video on YouTube, but still has not done so. His comments are potentially liable. It’s short finals by CWHM!
By: trumper - 29th December 2014 at 17:26
🙂 Thank you
By: David_Kavangh - 29th December 2014 at 13:30
For those who haven’t heard it, here is the brilliant BBC Radio Lincolnshire programme from Boxing Day about the visit of CWHM’s Lancaster to UK last summer. Running time two hours. Interviews with BBMF and CWHM.
Now available on-line.
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February 24, 2014 at 12:01 pm