As far as I was concerned, the Argosy was just a means of getting to the airfield to be calibrated, and then becoming a target to provide patterns of flying around the airfield while I was in the control tower. It may have had some extra navigational gear for this, but all I needed was my experience and pair of hands (with the odd screwdriver). The most important bit then was to use the Argosy to get home, although due to weather that didn’t always succeed!
On one flight a wheel was very reluctant to come down, but a few hefty thumps on the runway on the other wheel did the trick, although the crew had warned me to stay on the side with the good wheel, just in case!
That period was one of my most enjoyable times in the mob! I never knew beforehand where we were going, nor when I would get back!

From The Hamilton Spectator (Apr 4, 2009):

Hamilton’s famed Lancaster will fly again soon thanks to the outpouring of donations to help repair it.

The 1945 bomber — one of only two in the world in flying condition — was grounded because of corrosion on its propellers.

That news, widely published, made it a lot easier to raise $100,000 to replace them.

Roughly 1,200 individuals so far have sent in donations of anywhere from $5 to $5,000.

Their generosity has amazed staff at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, the Lancaster’s home beside John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport at Mount Hope.

The museum has raised $75,000 from public donations, mostly from Hamilton and area but also some from across Canada, said CEO David Rohrer.

Many contributors are first time donors who also wrote notes about what the Lancaster means to them.

Third – see my avatar!

An incredible flight and well worth the 600 Canadian dollars it cost for 45 minutes!

CWH Lancaster grounded

From the on-line Lincolnshire Echo newspaper today:
A Lancaster bomber based in Canada has been grounded – meaning Lincolnshire now has the only remaining airworthy equivalent.
Out of 7,377 Lancasters built in the 1940s, the Avro Lancaster at the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby and the one at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum are the only bombers able to fly today.
Now, the Canadian museum has discovered corrosion in the propellers, forcing engineers to ground the plane until the blades can be replaced.
This means that the PA474 Lancaster in Lincolnshire is now the only model in the world in good enough condition to fly.
In an appeal for funds the Canadian museum said: “Unfortunately without new propeller blades we will not be able to meet our flying commitments for the 2009 season.
“In order to honour our commitments, we must endeavour to make our Lancaster airworthy once again.”
Since the appeal went out, the Canadian museum has been loaned a set of propellers by the Greenwood Military Aviation Museum, in Nova Scotia.
But engineers there say the blades need to be inspected before they can be sure they are suitable and would only solve the problem short term.
“Even if we are able to make use of the blades donated by the Greenwood Museum, we feel it necessary to purchase permanent while they are available,” the statement added.
The cost to buy, ship and overhaul these blades would be around £50,000.

In museums I use a tripod whenever possible, only using flash if tripods are not permitted, but the results usually require a lot of photoshopping afterwards as you must have a long depth of field (see the camera manual information about “aperture”). I have an EOS 350D which works just fine for almost every situation, but I’m just an amateur! There are other people on this Forum who are experts, and I guess they will soon post some helpful comments for you.
Just remember that as long as you have enough memory in the camera, you can experiment with different apertures and times to find what suits the situation best. I discard about 90% of my pictures when they have been taken in tricky lighting situations, but I suppose I am a slow learner!
One very difficult museum in my opinion is the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson, Dayton, very dark with only spotlights at ceiling level (a high ceiling too) – but they do permit tripods!

I can confirm the reference on the web site concerning radar calibration with the 115 Sqn Argosies. My job as a radar technician was to fly with them as the one and only passenger and be dropped off at the control tower to check the radar equipment while the pilot flew those accurate patterns around the airfield. The best job I ever had in 17 years in the mob – and I usually got to share the crew’s Dundee cake too!