Lancaster Night Run in Alberta

[India Four Two]

Last Friday, I went down to Nanton Alberta to the Bomber Command Museum of Canada, to see a night engine-run of their Lancaster. A very impressive sight and doubly so after reading the story of how it came to be in Nanton (second picture) and the dedication of the volunteers who worked on it. I remember it as a very sorry sight when I first drove by it in the 70s (third picture).

Highway 2, the main highway from Calgary to the US border, is not more than five metres from the Lanc's left wingtip, so it must have been quite a shock to people driving through, who were unaware of what was going on!

Bazalgette Lancaster FM-159 (http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/lancfm159.html)
Bomber Command Museum of Canada - Museum (http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/main_museum.html)

A very good museum, and worth the one-hour drive, if you happen to be in Calgary. If any PPRuNers are in town, I would be happy to take you there.

[brokenlink]

IFT - Stunning photo of the night run, many thanks for posting.

[rog747]

is she being restored to be able again to fly ? (like just Jane in UK)

[India Four Two]

brokenlink.
I must confess the picture was taken by a friend of mine with some serious camera gear. I've added another equally impressive one below.

rog747,
There are no plans to make it airworthy. We have another Lancaster in Alberta, at the Calgary Aerospace Museum. That one will never fly either, but at least it's undercover now, after many years of sitting outside.

[m39462]

Drive just a little(!) further east and you'll find a flying Lancaster in Hamilton Aircraft Details | Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum (http://www.warplane.com/aircraft/collection/details.aspx?aircraftId=4)

[India Four Two]

Just a little further east! 32 hours, 2700 km, via Chicago.

However, when I get there, I can pay to have a ride in Vera. 😀

[rog747]

rog747,
There are no plans to make it airworthy. We have another Lancaster in Alberta, at the Calgary Aerospace Museum. That one will never fly either, but at least it's undercover now, after many years of sitting outside.[/QUOTE]

many thanks - i was lucky to have a flight in the CWH Lanc VeRA here in the UK 3 years ago when she came over - awesome awesome

[smallonions]

If you enlarge the first thumbnail in post four and look in the cockpit is it only me that thinks a ghostly figure is at the controls?:eek:

Stunning pictures of the engine run:D:D. Vera flies over my house most weekends...will never stop going outside to watch and listen. Have promised myself a trip one day:ok:

[India Four Two]

small onions,

In the early 90s, I was staying in a summer cottage on the north end of Okanagan Lake, near Vernon. Mid-morning, I heard the drone of piston engines and I went out to the dock, expecting to see a water-bomber.

Instead, I saw Vera cruising southwards, down the middle of the lake at 500'!

She was on her way from an airshow at Namao (it was still open in those days) to the Abbotsford airshow. She must have night-stopped at Kelowna, because I saw her heading north the next morning. A wonderful sight.