Avro Lancaster PA474 is a four-engined, Second World War era,

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...

heavy bomber operated by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft are regularly seen at events comme ...

as a tribute to all members of

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. PA474 is one of only two Lancasters in flying condition in the world,

the other In phenomenology, the terms the Other and the Constitutive Other identify the other human being, in their differences from the Self, as being a cumulative, constituting factor in the self-image of a person; as acknowledgement of being real; h ...

being owned and flown by the

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is an aviation museum located at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Mount Hope, Ontario, Canada. The museum has 47 military jets and propeller-driven aircraft on display. Displayed is a co ...

History

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Members' day 2018 MOD

PA474 was built as a B Mk 1 (B1) by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd at its Broughton factory near Chester in 1945 and was to be part of the British

Tiger Force Tiger Force was the name of a long-range reconnaissance patrol unit of the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 327th Infantry, 1st Brigade (Separate), 101st Airborne Division, which fought in the Vietnam War from November 1965 to November 1967. The unit ...

for strategic bombing in the Far East. Following the end of the war with Japan the aircraft was not needed and PA474 entered storage. With

gun turrets A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanism ...

removed it was assigned to Photographic Reconnaissance duties with 82 Squadron in East and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. On return from squadron service PA474 was loaned to Flight Refuelling Limited to be used as a pilotless drone. Flight Refuelling used an

Avro Lincoln The Avro Type 694 Lincoln is a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were initially known as the Lancaster IV and V; these were renamed Lincoln I and ...

instead and PA474 was then transferred to the College of Aeronautics,

Cranfield Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, situated between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001. increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 Census. The parish is in Central Bedfordshire uni ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

to be used for trials on the

Handley Page Handley Page Limited was a British aerospace manufacturer. Founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in 1909, it was the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went into voluntary liquidation a ...

laminar flow wing. The test wings were mounted vertically above the rear fuselage. In 1964 PA474 came under the control of the

Air Historical Branch The Air Historical Branch (AHB) is the historical archive and records service of the Royal Air Force. First established in 1919, the AHB was responsible for creating the ''Official History of British Air Operations in the First World War''. The ...

for possible display in the proposed

RAF Museum The Royal Air Force Museum is a museum dedicated to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. The museum is a non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Defence and is a registered charity. The museum is split into two separate sites: * R ...

. During this time the aircraft appeared in two films: ''

Operation Crossbow ''Crossbow'' was the code name in World War II for Anglo-American operations against the German V-weapons, long range reprisal weapons (V-weapons) programme. The main V-weapons were the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket – these were launched aga ...

'' and '' The Guns of Navarone''. PA474 was stored first at Wroughton and then at Henlow then, after a request in 1965 from 44 Squadron, the Lancaster moved to

RAF Waddington Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England. The station is the RAF's Intelligence Surveillance Target A ...

for restoration back to wartime standard including refitting the front and rear turrets. PA474 was transferred to the

in 1973. In 1975 a mid-upper turret was found in Argentina and fitted. During the winter of 1995 the Lancaster was fitted with a new main spar to extend the flying life. On 7 May 2015, the aircraft suffered a fire in its starboard outer engine. A safe landing was made at RAF Coningsby. It flew again on 12 October 2015 after extensive work to fix the damage caused by the fire to number four engine. It was later announced that with the ongoing maintenance, PA474 should still be airworthy until 2065. Minor and Major maintenance and overhauls are completed by Duxford based Aircraft Restoration Company (ARCo), most recently in 2021 where PA474 was with the historic aircraft specialists for 10 Months.

References

External links

Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight page

Lincolnshire's Lancaster Association page
{{Avro Lancaster family History of the Royal Air Force

PA474 Avro Lancaster PA474 is a four-engined, Second World War era, Avro Lancaster heavy bomber operated by the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight as a tribute to all members of Bomber Command during the Second World War. PA474 is on ...

Individual aircraft

History

See also

References

External links