Canadian Lancaster in the UK

[Adrian Smith 1]

Thanks Ken that's great I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction. August 21 seems like the best day to see them flying around my part of the world.

[Paul Marsh]

A lanc flew over Congleton just now. Did two circuits,, one right over our street! Was this the Canadian one?

[Essjay]

Watching the MCE Superbike qualifying from Oulton Park on Eurosport about half an hour ago. They showed a Lanc flying overhead, but I couldn't make out the reg. looked good though

[LPP]

Posted by Paul Marsh on 09/08/2014 12:58:11:

A lanc flew over Congleton just now. Did two circuits,, one right over our street! Was this the Canadian one?

The lanc was in the air at lunchtime, too far away to see markings but looking at the BBMF flying programme, reckon it was the BBMF lanc.

Flying Program

I did see elsewhere, but can't find it now, the Canadian Lanc 'Vera' will be undergoing maintenance for three days before doing practise flights for displaying with 'our' BBMF Lanc.

Edit to add:

Saw about the maintenance from Ken's link earlier here

 

Edited By LPP on 09/08/2014 16:34:40

[thomas oliver 1]

Some more pics. of 9 Sq. Lancasters flying to and over Delhi for the Victory over Japan flypast. These were taken by me with a box camera through the perspex so not too sharp. Viceregal Lodge can be seen up the mall.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Good stuff Thomas, I just love seeing those Lancs in the air!

[thomas oliver 1]

The dearth of existing WW2 aircraft is not surprising when you consider the haste with which they were scrapped just after the war. 10 of 159Sq. Liberators were wrecked almost immediately and we were flown to Poona and equipped with a squadron of little known aircraft - transport Liberators. These wers sparsely equipped with canvas seats. In contrast the aircraft I was allocated had been the personal aircraft of Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser. It is amazing to consider how in the heat of war these top brass were mollycoddled. The aircraft was fitted out in the height of luxury with navy blue corded velvet seats for the personal staff, and a separate cabin for his nibs. It had a writing desk, cooking facilities and a bunk. Whilst on duty crew at Poona, I ushered in a Dakota and down the steps came Sir Claud Auchinllech followed by Field Marshal Montgomery. Inside, the Dakota was furnished just like the Liberaor. Just before demob, I was sent to Jaipur where there were hundreds of brand new aircraft lined up. I was given a sledge hammer and allocated 30 new Mustangs to wreck. I had to run the engines up without oil till they seized, then wreck the engien and cockpit with the hammer. To this day it does not sink in that I actually committed this action I once flew over Cawnpore where there were thousands of aircraft below, all lined up to be scrapped.

[thomas oliver 1]

WSV at Poona airstrip.

[Terry Walters]

Thomas - that was very interesting and thank you for sharing your pics - amazing.

Terry

[Colin Leighfield]

This is great and rare stuff Thomas, thank you. I had an uncle who served in the Far East on a squadron flying Vega Venturas, did you see any of them in your service out there?

[Adrian Smith 1]

Brilliant tales Thomas. Have you ever thought of writing a book on your experiences. I for one would buy it just for the photos alone.

[thomas oliver 1]

When I firsst arrived in Bengal in 1944, my father sent me out a nice box camera- better than a Box Brownie, but you could not buy any film. Fortunately I was in a billet with some people from the photograhic section. They supplied me with some fast but time expired 5" film and an old printer. I modified this with a plate and 2 razor blades and cut out 1/2in from the middle and finished with 120 size lengths. I managed to find some backing paper in a local market and some fixer and developer. I was almost alone in possessing these facilities. I started to take shots of the aircraft and personnel, and finished up with hundreds. Later on leave in Kashmir, I was lucky again to buy a nice de luxe folding Kodak camera, and a daylight film loading box. I also managed to buy 6 Kodak 120 films, but I flogged these for about four times what I paid to some characters in Calcutta, as I was skint, having spent 5 days on a Indian troop train to get back. Even though I was an Erk - ground crew, I did have some astonishing experiences. I witnessed many killed in crashes right in front of my eyes. My own Liberator aircrew were all killed at Pegu airstrip near Rangoon., when the Fl /Lt. Craig - the pilot. tried to make a forced landing after engine cuts. The kite landed and skidded across the metal runway which was cut out of the jungle and hit the piles of huge logs heaped along the sides, and caught fire. Only two survived and they were carrying a spare groundcrew and an aircrew. 22 were klled in all. I could well have been with them but was on leave at the time. I flew as a Filght engineer once to a place called Ubon near Vietnam to drop supplies to prisoners of war who the Japs had abandoned. I did not know at the time that they were in fact about half of the prisoners who built the Burma Railway. Most people do not know that the other half - the healthier ones, perished in the China Sea when they were being transported to Japan as slave labour. They were torpedoed by an American submarine - in my opinion the worst tragedy of the whole war. I have been prompted to write a book of my experiences but it is beginnining to fade in my memory which has declined steadily for the last 6 months, and I always had doubts if it would be of real interest to anyone. I did place a large amount of photograhs on a site run by the son of one of the pilots who moved down under. It is called RAF LIBERATORS SQUADRONS, and the shots are in the 159 SQ sections, credited to me, if any one is interested.

[thomas oliver 1]

I never saw or worked on a Lockheed Vetura in my time in India. Mostly I worked on the Liberators and they were a lovely aeroplane to fly in. The cockpit was accessed from a hatch in the floor, and when closed the whole floor was carpeted. To the pilots the operations were every other day and were often as much as 14 hours. For them it was like driving a bus and got a bit monotonous. On one op I flew on the pilot asked me to take over at Calcutta and I piloted the aircraft all the way to Pegu in Burma. The pilot slept on the floor nearly all the way. I was of cours supervised by the co-pilot. After the war ended I was stationed at Poona , twice at Karachi, and Lahore. I worked on Dakotas with 232 SQ at Mauripur, then in Maintenance at Drigh Road working on Griffon engine on Spitfire 22s. At Lahore I had an Auster, a Dakota, a Vultee Vengeance Target Tower, & a Rapide to maintain. In spite of strong hints to pilots, I was never offered a flight in the Auster.

[Adrian Smith 1]

You do yourself and injustice Thomas. I am sure there would plenty of interest in a book given the 70th anniversary of WWII ending coming up in 2015. You might find a ghost writer to do it for you. I will have a look at the website you mention for sure. There are plenty of WWII enthusiasts out there who would love to hear you story Lancasters and Liberators et al.

[Colin Leighfield]

Thank you Thomas, I wondered if you'd come across them. They were considered unsuitable for European operations but I knew that they were in action in The Far East.

You had experience with most of the front-line types out there by the sound of it, right up to the post-war Spitfire22. Treasured memories and I can understand why the Liberator lives on in your memories. Not many people came across the Vultee Vengeance either, I think we made a better show with it than the Yanks did!

As far as the Auster is concerned, I had a 1/5 share in a 1946 AOP6 for a while. Lovely steady plane to fly, but wayward to land and I ground-looped it once on concrete. It was much better on grass!

[IanN]

Posted by Adrian Smith 1 on 10/08/2014 16:25:14:

You do yourself and injustice Thomas. I am sure there would plenty of interest in a book given the 70th anniversary of WWII ending coming up in 2015.

Echoed

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

Here she comes.. landing at Conningsby

[Mark Kettle 1]

The practice flying over Coningsby for the pair of Lancasters :

[Adrian Smith 1]

Just awesome!!

[The Wright Stuff]

Wow, thanks Mark, what a terrific sight!

According to the BBMF schedule, there's a flypast over Wyton, Ramsey and Peterborough on Sunday. Any ideas how I can get timings for these so I can go and see them go over?

[Steve Houghton 1]

I love those stories Thomas, and they shouldn't be lost forever but in print for all to read for posterity. They are totally fascinating.

I can't believe how we just destroyed brand new aircraft, considering the cost and the debt the country got into to buy those aircraft.

[David Davis]

I once bought a model off an old boy who had flown in the Fleet Air Arm. He told me that when the war finished, his ship was in Perth in Western Australia where they were about to take delivery of some brand new Corsair fighters. They were bussed out to some airfield where they picked up the Corsairs and flew them back to the carrier. Then they steamed out into the Pacific for four days, removed the compasses and pushed them all over the side. If they had flown them off the carriers the British government would have had to pay for them and the American government didn't want them back.

I knew war was wasteful but I never knew about anything like this until he told me.

[Colin Leighfield]

All that was widespread, a lot of aircraft were disposed of that way. When we left India (1949?) a load of Spitfire XIVs operated by the RAF were lined up and destroyed by dropping concrete blocks on them.

A colleague 40 years ago had been in Palestine post war under the British Mandate with one of the tank regiments. When we left they drove all of the tanks (Cromwells) to the coast and sent them over the cliffs into the sea, because they had been told not to bring them home.

Because of issues with completing contracts, here in the UK brand new aircraft were being flown from the factories to other sites to be scrapped. We grieve now, but there were different priorities then. Have a look at what happened to the thousands of aircraft being flown by the RAF at the end of WW1. The rapidity of the run-down was breathtaking and most aircraft were scrapped very quickly.

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

2 Lancs on the BBC

and this one

Edited By Chris Bott - Moderator on 14/08/2014 13:17:23

[Andrew Price 2]

Yes. Thank you Mark for posting that. What a sight. Have arranged to take my partner for a "romantic" weekend away. I wonder if she, as I will, enjoy seeing the two Lancasters at Dunsfold!!

ME!! Selfish?? Nah.

Meanwhile, I wonder if she fancies a drive out on Sunday? Would you prefer Wyton or Peterborough to find a pub lunch sweet thing??