Is The BBMF Lancaster Going To Be Grounded This Year?

TA: So if it comes out in May 18 it will have missed the Centenary.

but only by a month, PA474 never seems to surface before May anyway :highly_amused:

Listening to a senior member of ARCo a couple of weeks back, his view was the aircraft would be out of action for two years. (He was talking in the pub to an audience!) Major task is to re-spar the tailplane.

The material for this is already on site and has been for some time…………………as I believe!!

TA: So if it comes out in May 18 it will have missed the Centenary.

It never ceases to amaze me how the armchair experts here think they know better than the engineers actually doing the work.

I guess no one, even the engineers will really know until they have a good look round .Worse thing that can happen is they put a timetable on it’s return ,just puts everyone under pressure.Let her be finished when she’s finished.

maybe 18 months then, into Duxford October 2016, out in may 2018 ready for the 100 years celebrations.
I cannot see a statement will be made on return to flight until its been surveyed and pulled apart.

It never ceases to amaze me how the armchair experts here think they know better than the engineers actually doing the work.

Out of action for 2 years, I suspect not, its highly unlikely that with the 100th Anniversary of the RAF being celebrated in 2018 that one of their star items (if not THE star item) will be absent from those celebrations.

I believe its current sat in the hangar minus fuel tanks and they are not expected back yet.

Thats what the Coningsby regulars are saying..

I always thought this was going to be a deep maintenance and the reason the hangar was built was because of the time factor involved ie more than a winter over t Duxford.
A viewing gallery as well?

I suppose that is the point of a major or ‘deep’ service? Look for problems before they get too bad. Rather an extra month or two grounded than loose her. That was a bit close last Summer, the week before the fire she had crossed the North Sea…..
mmitch.

Very interesting post, Beaufighter, thanks. Maybe the major service will be longer than first thought.

I was posted to BBMF on the 4th October 1977 where the Lancaster was about to start it’s annual minor servicing. I had hardly got my feet under the desk when one of the riggers told me about rivets popping in the tail end. Further investigation revealed that the aircraft, along with many other aircraft I have worked on, built during that period (Spitfire, Beaufighter) was assembled with a mix of magnesium and hiduminium rivets. The Germans had recognised early on that magnesium rivets subject to heat cycling were prone to corrossion. Aircraft operating in UK seem not to be affected but those operating in the hotter climates were. Remember PA474 operated with No.82 Sqdn. in Africa during the 1950’s.
The UK aircraft industry was slow to learn, problems occurred with the Wessex in the ’70’s operating in the middle east.
Back to 474. I asked a friend from the Repair and Salvage Flight at Abingdon to have a look at the rivet issue. The end result was a repair team was drafted in from Abingdon and they worked on the aircraft all through 1978 and into 1979. 474 flew again on the 2 May 1979.

Listening to a senior member of ARCo a couple of weeks back, his view was the aircraft would be out of action for two years. (He was talking in the pub to an audience!) Major task is to re-spar the tailplane.

I’m fairly certain it was actually 1978 when the aircraft last missed a season, rather than 79, so even better record!

Just double checked, you’re absolutely spot on :eagerness:

The last ‘major’ was carried out by Air Atlantique at Coventry during the winter of 2006-2007 & took about 6 months, PA474 will be going to Duxford at the end of this year’s display season, hopefully it will not take as long to complete as the majors on the BBMF Spitfires. Talking of which, anyone got a progress report on PS915?

Regards, Rich.

I hope not, especially after I was really careful completing the online CAA Form – “Request for Airspace Coordination & Notification (1920F) Civil or Military Events which include Military Aircraft Flypasts” 😮

The Lancaster is listed as the BBMF flypast on Cockpit-Fest Sunday, 19th June at NAM. :eagerness:

It might be flying past on the back of a Queen Mary…

Exactly, Mike, I was going to say the same thing. This is the normal major service which takes place between seasons about ever 8 years. The only difference this time is that it’s being done at Duxford for the first time. They used to be done in house by the RAF at St Athan and Kemble when they still had people with the skills. The last was at Coventry, which I think was the first not done by the RAF themselves. I’m fairly certain it was actually 1978 when the aircraft last missed a season, rather than 79, so even better record!

2016 is a normal year for the bomber followed by the major service at ARCo and back to work in 2017 as I understood things? ‘Grounded’ is a bit strong- the major services have never put her out of action through the show season, not even the re-spar work. Last year’s fire damage was I think the first year she missed since the major re-riveting etc of the wings kept her on the ground through 1979. Not a bad record!

The Lancaster is listed as the BBMF flypast on Cockpit-Fest Sunday, 19th June at NAM. :eagerness:

That was always the plan – Airframe Assemblies are building more cowlings according to their Facebook page, so it looks like theres plenty going on in the background.