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Another Flying Lancaster?

That journal of all things fact or fiction, the Lincolnshire Echo, is saying:

Quote:

08:00 - 11 July 2008

The world's third airworthy Lancaster bomber could be up and flying within 15 months.

Brothers Fred and Harold Panton, of Spilsby, own an Avro Lancaster bomber NX611 and are planning to get it flying again after 37 years on the ground.

Called 'Just Jane', the Second World War bomber is kept at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre in East Kirkby.

It will become the third airworthy Lancaster in the world and the second in Lincolnshire.

Out of 7,377 Lancasters built in the 1940s, PA474 - which makes up part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby and another in Canada are the only remaining airworthy Lancasters.

Fred Panton (77) said that after acquiring Just Jane in 1983 and painstakingly restoring her so that she can taxi around the East Kirkby airfield, getting her into the air again is their next challenge.

Mr Panton said that after further consultations with engineers, they would make a decision next month whether to go ahead with the plan.

"It will then take us 12 to 14 months to go through getting all the systems checked," he said.

Just Jane still has all four working Merlin engines but does not have a flight safety certificate.

For more on getting the Lancaster bomber airworthy, plus reaction from a veteran bomber navigator, see Friday's Lincolnshire Echo.

Could this be true?

Well, let's hope so!

While we're on the subject, what happened to the Lanc that had a hangar roof collapse on it some years ago? Is there any news of that one resurfacing?

That was Charles Church

That would be the Ex Charles Church Lancaster KB976. Kermit weeks in Florida has most of KB976 and KB994 to one day restore it for dislpay. It is currently outside in containers.

Is that the one in Florida? I know Kermit Weeks has a 1:1 scale Airfix kit to assemble when he gets a couple of hours to spare.

Well done to the Panton brothers if this gets the green light. Very interesting...

:D

Damn - beaten to it...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lancasterman (Post 4237878)

That would be the Ex Charles Church Lancaster KB976. Kermit weeks in Florida has most of KB976 and KB994 to one day restore it for dislpay. It is currently outside in containers.

See Here They are in Australia.

Not all of it went to florida, the best parts went to florida with the remains going to australia with some parts going to Doncaster

Quote:

with lots of money and a lot of hard work she might be.

Lots of money, and the right sort of work, has already gone into the aircraft. The Pantons and their crews are no fools. I've always thought (hoped) that this was their ultimate goal -- with some very quiet 'assistance' from the BBMF. Good on 'em. :ok:

Just Jane will fly!

Their PR to date was that they would only consider flying her if the BBMF Lanc was grounded for fear of losing 'an' airworthy one.

I wish them the very best of British if they have changed their opinion. The cynic in me wonders if an up and coming film may be contributing to the airworthy restoration.

This of course raises the potential of seeing 3 airborne should the Canadian one cross the atlantic and that would be fantastic.

I am sure I saw Avro Lincoln remains at the Kermit Weeks airfield a few years ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiger_mate (Post 4239611)

I am sure I saw Avro Lincoln remains at the Kermit Weeks airfield a few years ago.

The only remaining four Avro Lincoln B2's are:

RF398 at RAF Cosford
B-004 (Painted as B-010) in Argentina
B-016 at Villa Reynolds Military Air Base in Argentina
RF342 at Australian National Aviation Museum, Melbourne.

RF342 was G-APRJ, which has been owned by:

RAF
D NAPIER & SONS LTD LUTON 12-58;
COLLADGE OF AERONAUTICS, CRANFIELD 11-62/9-5-67;
SOUTHEND AIRPORT FLEW IN FOR MUSEUM 9-5-67;
S-H-A-M 72-83;
DOUG ARNOLD W-O-G-B BLACKBUSHE, HAMPSHIRE 10-5-83/10-9-86;
ACES HIGH NORTH WEALD 10-9-86/6-12-88;
CHARLES CHURCH MANCHESTER 10-9-88/8-90;
DOUG ARNOLD W-O-G-B BIGGIN HILL 8-90/15-2-91;
ACES HIGH NORTH WEALD 15-2-91/-;
STORED DISMANTALED OUT SIDE UP FOR SALE 95.
IMPERIAL AVIATION GROUP, NORTH COATES LINCOLNSHIRE 15-1-98
IMPERIAL AVIATION GROUP, SANDOFT, LINCOLNSHIRE 10-99/-
Was reported in a private yard in Doncaster, and is now in Melbourne.

In the summer of 1967/8 (can’t recall which) I had the pleasure of being shown around a Lancaster at Blackpool Airport. I seem to recall it was all black.

Any idea which one this could have been?

ZFT, Just Jane was at Blackpool around that time.

Quote:

And scrutinised by the CAA right from the start I hope!

Why - is that a necessity?

I see. And just how much involvement did the CAA have with these aircraft?

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...bbmfsat800.jpg
(sunshine band)

Probably none, seeing as how the BBMF are on the strength of the RAF and are therefore military, where'as the Panton Bros. aircraft is very much civilian, and subject therefore to CAA rules etc.

Is NX611, the East Kirkby Lanc, the one that was gate guardian at Scampton, or was it the one that I saw on its return to the UK when I was at the Biggin Hill Airshow in 1965. I recall a Lanc flew in after a marathon repatriation journey. It was in all-over white, and from memory was an ex French Navy maritime patrol aircraft that had been in use in the Far East.

Regards

EGCA

Forget....you appear to be argueing against yourself old son.:ugh:

EGCA, same aeroplane as both Biggin in '65 and Scampton!

Quote:

....you appear to be argueing against yourself old son.

SFCC, Are you a politician by any chance? The assumptions from Mig15,and others, are that the Panton Lancaster is a civilian aircraft which would come under the CAA. Now, if the Panton Lanc were to be made 'flyable', rather than CAA legally 'airworthy', it doesn't take a huge imagination to conclude that the most sensible 'legal' operator would be the BBMF, with the Pantons.