Canadian War Plane Heritage Lancaster and BBMF Lancaster
 

Good Evening All:

The you tube link has stunning footage of the Canadian War Plane Heritage Lancaster along with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster. Hurricane and Spitfire flying over the English coast. These are the last 2 Lancaster’s in the world of over 7,000 built.

Ten Rolls Royce Merlin engines a sound all to themselves!

What is not that well known is the Lancaster carried the heaviest bomb load of any WW2 bomber the 22,000 pound Grand Slam bomb or the 12,000 pound Tall Boy which were successfully used against the Kriegsmarine U-Boat pens which had very thick reinforced concrete structures!

Go full screen and speakers up!

Hopefully this will be enjoyable then the float plane under the bridge etc etc:bored:


BBMF and Canadian Lancasters in Formation Eastbourne 2014 #2LancUK - YouTube

Oh, what a lovely sound.


Seeing them over the water, what would it be worth for a quick trip over to the Ruhr and a fly down the valley and over the dam wall at 100 or so feet !

I reckon they would get 100,000+ people there to see that.

Good Evening All:

Please find links to the B.B.M.F. web site to follow the exploits of "Thumper" and "Vera" as they salute the valiant veterans of Bomber Command.

2 Lancs Fly Again

The first You Tube is a stunning air to air sequence video of Thumper and Vera. The last one shows practice flying at RAF Coningsby with Vera, Thumper with the Spitfire and Hurricane

Two Lancasters Air-To-Air - YouTube

2 Lancasters, Spitfire and Hurricane. RAF Coningsby 13th August 2014 - YouTube

There are quite a few good links over on the 'AVIATION HISTORY AND NOSTALGIA' blog.

I heard an amazing fact on a TV show several years back, not sure if it is true:

during WW2 the allies used a wide range of bombers over Europe, including Lancs, B17s Liberators, Marauders, Stirlings, Mitchells, Halifaxes, various Lockheeds and Mosquitos. A huge tonnage was dropped, and 75% of it was dropped by Lancasters!

That's so awesome! Imagine what it was like when the skies were full of them.

I knew Stew Brickenden quite well in the last few years of his life. He was the main Lanc pilot at CWH for a long time. I wish he was alive to see this.

joy ride


I think the Lancaster number is 64% of the total dropped by the RAF - not the combined efforts of the Allied Forces.

The Halifax was about 23%.

More info here

WW2 RAF Bomber Command Stats

Lancaster - 608,612
Halifax - 224,207

Total dropped - 955,044

I think the total dropped by the Allied Forces was about 2,700,000

That would give the Lancaster about 22.5% of the total dropped!!

All in all a real achievement!!


Doesn't take anything away from the fact the Lancaster was "A Great One".


If someone has better numbers than I do - please post!!

My late Father flew both the Lancaster and the Halifax - but did his tour on Halifax. His comment on the flying characteristics were" The Halifax was like driving a double decker bus, while the Lancaster was like driving a dump truck." His words - not mine - he turned 22 the summer of 1944 - his last flight in service to His Majesty's War Effort was on August 17, 1944 - Snaith to Brest for 4:30. That was ops# 38.

He would have been very proud to see the 2 Lancasters flying together again.

Mx

Good Evening All:

The following link will show another iconic Bomber Command Fly By by Vera Thumper and Vulcan XH558.

A sad note I have heard and would appreciate a confirmation is that Vulcan XH558 is running out of cycle time on its engines!

Anyhow a fantastic sight seeing these aircraft in their element.

Vulcan and 2 Lancasters in Formation #Avro3Sisters | PlanesTV

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/upload...pJohnDibbs.JPG

Might be worth asking in the Military forum, might get a quicker answer.

Good Morning All:

Apparently Vera suffered a oil leak in the number 4 engine last week and the BBMF have loaned them a spare engine to continue flying.

To help support this iconic aircraft please consider making a donation to help with the repair of number 4 engine.

Lancaster Bomber 2014 UK Tour

More Information can be found at Twitter @LancsBomberAle

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...74885ed222022e

here is a link that most who like the Lancaster will enjoy.

Lancaster KB976 - The Full Story: Introduction

cheers,

Good Morning All:

The video below was taken on September 14th showing VeRA and Thumper over flying the Petwood Hotel where a group of Air Force Veterans were attending a reunion

VeRA will be returning to Canada shortly and a big thank you should be extended to all who organized this wonderful tour!

:ok::ok::ok::ok::ok::ok::ok::ok::ok:

There was an interesting documentary on Bomber Command on Discovery last night.

One pearl of wisdom was that, if jettisoning bombs, the rule-of-thumb was that you needed 1,000' of altitude per 1,000-lb of bomb-size.

Not a problem with a load of 500-pounders, but the crew of the damaged Lanc in question were limping along at 3,000'....... with a 8,000-lb bomb. :eek:

Answers on a postcard please.

Good Evening All:

Please find the video link below of VeRA, Thumper and Just Jane at East Kirby on September 14th.

Although Just Jane can only taxi under her own power VeRA and Thumper did some excellent passes over head. Maybe someday Just Jane can join Thumper.

I have a personal interest in this as I want to remember my maternal Uncle Russ who was shot down and killed over Monchengladbach on June 17 1943.

Russ was seconded to the RAF from the RCAF where he served with RAF 156 Squadron as a Navigator which was a Lancaster Pathfinder Squadron (Squadron Motto We Light The Way).

Russ and his crew are buried in the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Rhenburgh Germany and Russ was a old man of 32 and the rest of his crew early 20's..............

THREE LANCASTERS AT EAST KIRKBY 14th SEPTEMBER 2014 - YouTube

Good Evening All:

The video link below was taken by Flt Lt Tim Dunlop of the RAF BBMF of beautiful air to air photography of Thumper, Vera and Vulcan XH588 over Lincoln enroute to RAF Marham.

Look for the three shadows on the ground and speakers up to enjoy the growl of four Merlin engines.

Apparently traffic on the A-15 was backed up for 5 miles because of the fly by.

Enjoy the link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSJstiIfEsM

Good Morning All:

As VeRA is now safe at home after a fantastic series of flight displays in the United Kingdom here is the last video link for the tour.

This was taken on September 23 at RAF Coningsby on departure day. VeRA Thumper and four little friends ( 2 Spitfires 2 Hurricanes speakers up) join up after departure for two fly bys of RAF Coningsby.

VeRA and company also flew over Cranwell, Waddington, Lincoln Cathedral and Scampton which were missed on VeRA's arrival on August 08th

Canadian Lancaster C-GVRA "Vera" leaves Coningsby 23/09/2014 - YouTube

Good Evening All:

I just finished this very good article from the Vintage Wings of Canada web site entitled Thunder and Triumph.

In the article there are great air to air pictures of VeRA being escorted into the Gatineau airport for a overnight stay prior to heading back home to Hamilton.

Enjoy the read.


Thunder and Triumph > Vintage Wings of Canada

Reunion of Giants:

This is a Trailer for a upcoming video for the successful tour of the Canadian War Plane Heritage Lancaster and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster.

Reunion of Giants

Very cool!

I will definitely be getting this video!:D:ok: