1945 Avro Lancaster B.X (Type 683), c/n 3414, FM213, C-GVRA

1945 Avro Lancaster B.X (Type 683), c/n 3414, FM213, C-GVRA, marked as KB726/VR-A in wartime markings and colour scheme of No. 419 Squadron, RCAF, known as the “Mynarski Memorial Lancaster” as a memorial to Canadian VC recipient P/O Andrew Mynarski, Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Mount Hope, Ontario, Canada, based at John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport (YHM), Mount Hope, Ontario; powered by four 1,620-hp Packard Merlin 224 supercharged V-format 12-cylinder, two-stage, liquid-cooled piston engines with variable-pitch, paddle-type, three-blade Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propellers; retractable landing gear; crew of seven (pilot, flight engineer, navigator, bomb aimer, wireless operator, mid-upper gunner, rear gunner), heavy bomber; built by Victory Aircraft, Malton, Ontario; taken on strength on August 21, 1945; stored at RCAF Trenton, Trenton, Ontario from 1945 to 1950; converted to Lancaster MK. 10MR by de Havilland Canada, Downsview, Ontario on August 28, 1950; first test flight in January 1952; assigned as VC-AGJ, No. 405 (MR) Squadron, RCAF Greenwood, Greenwood, Nova Scotia, suffered a heavy landing on ferry flight of January 15, 1952, centre section destroyed, repaired with parts from Lancaster B.X, KB895, rebuilt in July 1953, first test flight on August 26, 1953 by pilot Bob Fowler; during its service it had an incident occur on October 10, 1954 under the command of F/O J.K. Vincer, aircraft was to drop plasma on a vessel at night, and although the plasma wasn’t recovered the parachute and the marine marker hit the deck of the ship, an extraordinary feat, the next day another drop was successful in that the plasma was recovered from the sea by lifeboat; CX213/VC-AGS, No. 107 (UR) Squadron, RCAF Torbay, St. John’s, Newfoundland from August 1959 to August 1961; retired from active duty on November 6, 1963; struck off strength on June 30, 1964, into storage at RCAF Dunnville, Dunnville, Ontario; sold to The Royal Canadian Legion, Goderich, Ontario on July 1, 1964 for $1,200.00; stored at Sky Harbour Airfield in 1966; after necessary funds raised, displayed as VR-A on three pylons without structural alterations on September 15, 1968; many years in the open air; sold to CWH; transferred to CWH in 1977; removed from plinthe and tranported by No. 450 (Helicopter) Squadron to John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport (YHM), Mount Hope, Ontario on November 5, 1979; restored to airworthiness by CWH and Lancaster Support Club from March 24, 1983 to September 11, 1988; registered as C-GVRA on September 1, 1988; first flight again on September 11, 1988; minor damage in a hangar fire on February 15, 1993, repaired; damaged in a ground accident with a Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter at CWH on July 21, 2002, suffered propeller damage, repaired and returned to the air by August 2002; grounded due to corrosion found in the propeller blades but after an appeal for funding flew again in May 2009; many appearances across Canada and USA as the only airworthy Lancaster on the continent. 

The 48th Annual Abbotsford International Airshow, Abbotsford International Airport (YXX), Abbotsford, B.C. on Saturday, August 14, 2010 at about 8:36 am. 

[1984 Nikon FE2 SLR 35-mm roll film camera, s/n 1816483, with Nikkor AI 50-mm f/1.8 lens, s/n 2336591, and 52-mm polarizing filter; Fujifilm Fujicolor Pro 160S 36-exposure colour negative film]

© Copyright photographs by Stephan Alexander Scharnberg, August 2010