Canadian Lancaster to visit UK in August 2014!

now thats what i call a good farewell bash, i should imagine that there are now some very good friendships made between the BBMF boys and the Canadians , god speed Vera, and a safe touchdown at hamilton

 

Turn up the volume on these two videos!

 

Fabulous

 

I didn't appreciate that they had to replace an engine on Vera.....sounds like they are having to pick up a bill for $180k to repair and ship it back. However the museum have been totally overwhelmed by the reception they received and funds have been pouring into their coffers so it looks like everything turned out well. I must say I'm truly grateful for the once in a lifetime experience............

 

IIRC the spare Merlin is on hire from BBMF. Once back in Canada that will be shipped back to the UK by the Canadian Air Force. This is on top of the costs you mentioned regarding their own no.4.

 

wouldnt it be cheaper for the BBMF to repair the supercharger and keep the engine, after all i assume that there must not be that many merlin overhaulers, so both should have been overhauled to the same standard, except for possible run hours? and for Vera to keep the on hire engine? rather than go to the extra expense , or arrange that the RCAF fly out the on loan engine, and return with vera's original on their next flight back between here and canada

 

I'm sure they'll have looked at all options, particularly regarding costs....anyhow I donated £50 to their cause today to help.....worth every penny in my mind......

 

The Merlins on the BBMF Lanc are Rolls-Royce built, the Merlins on the Canadian Lanc are Packard built. There are subtle differences between the two (wiring loom, lube and coolant pipe runs, exhaust ejectors) and whilst the Canadians managed to get the RR one to fit, it makes sense for each aircraft to have all four the same in the long run.

 

thanks for that, i always thought that Packard built Merlins were a direct copy to their RR counterparts, just out of interest wouldnt the LX Mk16 spit be fitted with a packard, as by then, RR had gone over to the Griffon, and any merlin engined mk16's were the packard built models the Mk16 being an updated mk9

 

So did I until the Canadians explained the subtle differences. As for the Mk.IX/Mk.XVI scenario - the airframes are identical and it's only the engine fit that makes the difference. Take an RR powered Mk.IX, swap the engine for the Packard version and it becomes a Mk.XVI.

 

Looks like Vera is having a rest in Iceland due to strong winds. Probably tomorrow for the next leg.

 

I think there are also some differences in the surface coatings of the crankshaft bearings (and maybe elsewhere) which make the Packard Merlins more corrosion resistant, but presumably affect things such as service intervals, types of oil to use etc. So you can evidently fly a single RR engine with the remainder Packard (or vice versa) but it would complicate matters if you did it long-term, hence the desire to swap back to the original engines. It also presumably simplifies things for the BBMF to have all their engines of one type.

Incidentally, similar to a Spitfire Mk IX / XVI: a Lancaster B III is essentially just a Packard-engined B I, and they are otherwise more or less identical. The Canadian Lanc is a B X, which is a B III (Packard engine) but additionally modified with American rather than British electronics and instruments. It also has the later variant mid-upper turret.

Tom

 

Correct about the B1/B111 Lancs.
And just to confuse matters the upper turret carried by VeRA is not of the type that she was fitted with when first built or so I've been told.
Just Jane by the way is a BVII - another variation on the theme.

 

If you really want to complicate things, then VeRAs mid-section is from another Lancaster (an actual war veteran) after a prang in the 1950s. The full story is in the CWH Museum Tour brochure thing that they selling at airshows.

 

Most of the flying Spitfires must have at some time had engine swops, at one time, wasnt it only the american built Merlin61 that was availible for warbirds , so in theory most Mk 9's should have been re clasified as Mk16,s, infact one owned by nigel grey, did start life as a mk16, with clipped wings and was re engined ,
Getting back to Vera, it would be good to next time she comes over the pond if the Canadians could repaint her in her white RCAF scheme to reflect her later career.

 

Think you're mistaken there as a Merlin 61 wouldn't fit into a Mk.I/II/V and there's a fair few of that ilk flying. The 61 was for the Mk.IX/XVI.

 

i was refering to mk 9's as in the early years, there seemed to be more later mks flying, than the earlier mk1-5;s

 

The BBMF has had both a Mk.II and a Mk.V on their books for donkey's years and the Shuttleworth has had an airworthy Mk.V for a long while too. Patrick Lindsay flew his Mk.1 from '74 to '90 - since overhauled and now flown by someone else. The evergreen Mk.IX MH434 has been around for ever of course. I think it was the 80s that saw a big increase of the later marks returning to flying condition.