The absence of the Lancaster has nothing to do with last year's engine fire...
Lancaster
The BBMF Lancaster, PA474, has yet to take to the air this year, as some readers will be aware. The principal reason for this is the delayed decision by the BBMF [Engineering] Project Team (PT) – which project manages the Flight’s aircraft maintenance and support contracts – to have the bomber’s fuel tanks serviced and refurbished. The BBMF had wanted this activity to commence in October, but unfortunately the decision to proceed, which had to come from the PT, was not taken until December.
The petrol tanks – 3 in each wing, 6 in total – were then removed from the ‘Lanc’ and sent away to be inspected, repaired and recovered with new fire-resistant material.
With the fuel tanks removed from the Lancaster’s wings some additional inspections could be carried out. The entire fuel and vent system pipework was discovered to be suffering from age-hardening of the hoses. The decision was taken to replace them, and 26 new hoses were ordered and have now been fitted. In addition, new fire-resistant sleeving was added to the aircraft’s fuel pipes, to provide additional protection that was not present in the original design. The inspection of the wings inner recesses also revealed that some internal wing angle brackets were cracked and required replacing. Ten new brackets were manufactured and fitted. A tank panel angle bracket for the No 1 tanks was also found to be cracked and was replaced.
The fuel tanks were returned to the Flight during the second week of April, but could not immediately be refitted until the other work was completed. Four of the tanks had been re-fitted to the Lancaster by 3rd May and the last two were back in place a few days later. After the Lancaster has been ‘panelled up’ the fuel system will be calibrated and engines runs completed.
The expectation is that the Lancaster will, hopefully, be ready for air test at the end of May and, all being well, will be able to continue with its display commitments from early June once the Lancaster pilots’ Public Display Approval (PDA) has been granted. There will inevitably be some people who will be disappointed that the Lancaster is not available for events in May, but the ‘pay-off’ for completing this extra work on the Lancaster at this stage is that it will not be required as part of the planned ‘major’ servicing for the aircraft, due to commence at Duxford at the end of this display season.