RattlesnakeBob Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Having watched the cracking documentary last night on Bomber Command a thought came into my head (dangerous as that can be!)... .....the program said the Lancaster featured was the only one left flying in the UK.... Now...as a lad.... I was often taken to the air show open days at Little Rissington and I vividly recall a Lancaster being there a number of years running.....the letters on the side of the fuselage was KM-B .and .....it didn't have a dorsal turret fitted so was not your usual Lanc..... ....I know the family had some photos of this Lanc and various other aircraft taken at those long gone air shows somewhere so I'll try and find them in the next few days........ My question is this ...she was flying perfectly in the early 70s...so. ..did she loose her airworthiness cert and is now in a museum somewhere?... crashed and wrecked maybe? sold abroad to a collector perhaps??? .....does anyone know what happened to her.???....any ideas????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 (edited) Lancaster KM*B is the Battle of Britain Flight aircraft. The Lanc joined the flight in 1973, the upper turret was added in 1975 I believe, and the KM*B codes were carried for some time before a respray. Since then, the markings have been changed more frequently. See the history on the BBMF website - http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/theaircraft/lancasterpa474.cfm Edited February 6, 2012 by Jessie The Jeep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Here's a picture of PA474 KM*B before the turret was fitted - http://www.warbirdregistry.org/lancregistry/images/lanc-pa474-a.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XWDV8 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 (edited) They did keep saying the only Lancaster in the uk flying..are there others outside the uk in the air ? in the 1970s I was just 7 but remember the low fly they did with the Lancaster at raf biggin hill , it was so low you could smell her. this was befor HS put a stop to real air shows:cry: Phil Edited February 6, 2012 by XWDV8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 There is a Lanc in Canada that is airworthy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XWDV8 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 A two Lancaster fly past... with all the spitfire & hurricanes that still fly... what a show.. if only someone could do this..is only money :cool2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 (edited) Many many thanks for your answers! .:cheesy: ...I don't know why but it really did my heart good to hear that she's not only survived but is the same Lancaster thats in the BoB flight and was in the documentary last night! Thanks again! I have very fond memories of those long gone days.. ..Little Rissington airshow was one of the highlights of the summer in those days...I also recall queuing up for ages (probably only half an hour or so but you know how it is as a kid!...) to go up into the cut off nose section of another Lancaster that was mounted on a trailer for eager ice cream daubed kids to clamber about in...... D'you know what is truly heartbreaking though???? ........over 7500 of them built and now there are but 15 left in the entire world and only 2 that are flying maybe 3 if the money and luck doesn't run out... ...I know the UK was in dire financial straights after the war but the shameful haste with which our heritage was scrapped is just that ...shameful.....not just aircraft but ships as well... Britain doesn't have one single example of her old capital fleet left ...not one.....even HMS Vanguard the last proper Battleship ever built anywhere in the world was lamped up without ceremony.....bloody shameful. :embarrassed: PS...I know HMS Belfast survived but.she is not a battleship ..nothing like it ... Edited February 7, 2012 by RattlesnakeBob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike65 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Speaking of flying Lancasters, what ever happened to the Strathallan collections flying one? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Speaking of flying Lancasters, what ever happened to the Strathallan collections flying one? Mike That's a sorry tale.... KB976 was sold to Charles Church and was badly damaged in a hangar collapse at Woodford. It ended up with Kermit Weeks who has it in store in a dismantled and damaged condition. Some parts of the fuselage survive over here and some parts have recently gone to Australia to help in a Lincoln rebuild. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Many many thanks for your answers! .:cheesy: ...I don't know why but it really did my heart good to hear that she's not only survived but is the same Lancaster thats in the BoB flight and was in the documentary last night!..... Just to add to the confusion, Lancaster 'Just Jane' from East Kirkby was also used in the filming of the Sunday night program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utt61 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 ......I know the UK was in dire financial straights after the war but the shameful haste with which our heritage was scrapped is just that ...shameful.....not just aircraft but ships as well... Britain doesn't have one single example of her old capital fleet left ...not one.....even HMS Vanguard the last proper Battleship ever built anywhere in the world was lamped up without ceremony.....bloody shameful. :embarrassed: PS...I know HMS Belfast survived but.she is not a battleship ..nothing like it ... I couldn't agree with you more! Even now it seems that we are being told we should somehow be ashamed of our heritage and pretend it didn't happen (for example Blair apologising for 'the slave trade' - so that's Ok then!). As for Vanguard, again I agree entirely. Not only the last big gun battleship, but probably the best seagoing vessel of its type ever built. My father served on her for a while, and can recall a joint exercise with one of the Iowas (I can't remember which offhand) and in heavy seas the Iowa was rolling about 15 degrees and Vanguard about 5 ! It broke his heart to watch her being towed away to the breakers. Mind you we are especially bad in this country at preserving historic ships, and you only have to look at the number lost in recent years to realise this. OK, we have some 'celebrity vessels' like the Cutty Sark, HMS Warrior, and a few others, but there have been some tragic losses. I think that the problem is that we have tended to rely upon private individuals to preserve our mechanical heritage (most steam locos and historic vehicles are privately preserved) and a ship is probably too big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike65 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 That's a sorry tale.... KB976 was sold to Charles Church and was badly damaged in a hangar collapse at Woodford. It ended up with Kermit Weeks who has it in store in a dismantled and damaged condition. Some parts of the fuselage survive over here and some parts have recently gone to Australia to help in a Lincoln rebuild. That is a shame. Thanks for the info. Mike PS: This is what you want to see. Brought to you courtesy of Photoshop Elements Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero-Five-Two Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 A two Lancaster fly past... with all the spitfire & hurricanes that still fly... what a show..if only someone could do this..is only money :cool2: Now there's an idea for the diamond Jubilee this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hall Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 There was a rumour a few years ago that the Canadian Lanc was going to fly over to the UK and would join the BBMF lanc for a season and both would land at East Kirby for a unique photo shoot. This may be just a fancifull rumour but it did originate from Coningsby so may have had some truth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Hi All, Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but while the destruction of historic warships was being mentioned, I thought i would bring this one up. Its the gunboat HMS Handy, built in 1882 and broken up in 2008. She served in WW1 named HMS Excellent. Just one of the many historic vessels lost in recent years. Its a real shame as in the 70's she was offered up free to any museum who would take her, with a full hull survey, all her machinery and boiler intact, and a gun from the correct period. No museum would take her and she sat in a scrap yard for 30 years waiting to be broken up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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