Lancaster: URGENT APPEAL!

Our "Made in Toronto" Avro Lancaster Bomber has been grounded.

Corrosion found. Propellers.

$100, 000 CDN needed to get our Lanc back in the air.

Whatever you can give…

HERE, I'll let the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum tell you:

"At this time we are seeking your financial support for a very special project here at Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. During the annual inspection on our Lancaster bomber aircraft it was discovered that there is a corrosion issue with the propellers and until we can replace these propeller blades our Lancaster will be grounded.

The propellers used on the aircraft are unique and although we have been fortunate enough to locate a very limited and currently available supply, the total replacement cost will be about $100,000.00. As I am sure you are aware, we own and operate one of only two Lancaster bombers still flying in the world today. This aircraft is the most popular and notable aircraft in our collection and we therefore receive many requests to have the Lancaster attend events throughout North America. Unfortunately without new propeller blades we will not be able to meet our flying commitments for the 2009 season.

As this year is the Centennial of Flight in Canada, the Lancaster has been requested to attend a number of high profile events and venues including Air Venture at Oshkosh, WI, the largest air show in the world. It is also scheduled to go to Cold Lake, Alberta; Bagotville, Quebec; and Winnipeg, Manitoba; as well as attending several other events in Southern Ontario. In 2009 the Lancaster C-GVRA flight schedule has been planned to allow many hundreds of thousands of people to enjoy this aviation icon during the course of the summer as we celebrate 100 years of powered flight in Canada.

In order to honour our commitments, we must endeavor to make our Lancaster airworthy once again. We have sent an appeal letter to our members and supporters and now we are asking for your assistance at this difficult time. With less than 2% of our annual operating budget coming from any government grant or assistance, we rely very heavily on supporters like you. As a donor, your investment in the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is an investment in a great Canadian success story. We still have a great deal to be accomplished here at the museum and we hope you will take part in this worthy endeavor.

PLEASE DONATE NOW!!
Donations can be made on our website: www.warplane.com/Gift-Shop/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=38&a...

Or please contact the museum at (905) 679-4183 to donate by phone.

Donations can also be mailed in to: Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, 9280 Airport Road, Mount Hope, ON. L0R 1W0

Please mark "Lancaster Propeller Fund" on your cheques."

The GLORIOUS PAST Flies Overhead…

…and THE MOB below is oblivious.

“Why would you write such a thing?” asks Barb, incredulous that I toss out ANOTHER INSULT…kinda like some folk toss about footballs.

TOO MANY people today have forgotten the sacrifices of the past…and don’t recognize the sacrifices of today that PATRIOT CANADIANS have always made…and will always make to keep…“the True North strong and free!”

And let’s not forget the prayer found in our national anthem,

“God keep our land,
Glorious and free!"

AMEN to that–

No Dam TOO FAR!

THEY'LL never understand…

THEY say they do.

But YOU KNOW they don’t.

They just haven’t had the LANC EXPERIENCE yet.

So, let’s break it down for them.

The aircraft pictured above is an AVRO LANCASTER that was built, nearby, in Toronto at Victory Aircraft.

Of the 7, 366 Lancasters (all types) built back in the day, this is the only one that still flies in North America.

That’s right…of the THOUSANDS built in Canada and Great Britain during World War II…THIS is it.

There are a few “Lancs” on static display, somewhere…but this IS the only FLYING EXAMPLE, again, over here in the Americas!

Seeing a “Lanc” start up, roll forward, head out to a runway, and then fly overhead constitutes participating in the “Lanc Experience”.

That means you have participated in History and connected “mystically” with all those others who went before us, and who “lived” that experience, and made our history, whether friend, or foe, during the war.

NOW, IF YOU WANT, you can travel to England in grand fashion, and for about $2,700 CDN per person (all expenses paid) you can “get” the “Lanc Experience” over there, and see the ONLY OTHER flying Lancaster in the world.

Or, for a couple of tablespoons of gas, and $10 per person you can travel on over to Hamilton, Mount Hope specifically, to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum on this June 16th or the 17th, and get your “experience” there!

So when veterans recount war tales, or WW II is discussed, in books, newspapers and “on-line”, or you see movies like the “Dambusters” due out in 2008, you’ll have experienced personally, first hand, the sounds, sights, and smell of World War II and Bomber Command.

YOU’LL NO LONGER have “yellow canaries” flying about your head when World War II enters the discussion and you haven’t got a clue what everyone else is talking about!

You’ll know…because you’ve been there…

Mystically ~

ONE MORE thing you need to know to get the FULL “Lanc Experience”.

The Lancaster JUST ISN’T any ole’ plane out there…denuding our fragile environment and cluttering up our skies like the "horrendous" Cessna 152 does.

No.

The “Lanc” became the MOST FAMOUS and successful NIGHT BOMBER of World War II, "delivering 608,612 tons of bombs in 156,000 sorties (bombing missions)." The Lancaster was also used, at times, for daylight precision bombing.

The Lancaster garnered worldwide attention in 1943 during “Operation Chastise” when she took out Germany’s most important dams. Factories as far away as forty miles were immediately flooded, and a serious shortage of water occurred. This severely crippled the German “war machine” at the time.

Other Facts YOU NEED to know:

• B X version of the Lancaster: The B X (pictured above) was a Canadian-built B III, differing in having Canadian/US made instrumentation and electrics. Also on later batches, the Martin 250CE was substituted for the Nash & Thomson FN-50 mid-upper turret. The greater weight of this turret necessitated moving the turret forward for C-of-G balance reasons. Canada was a long-term operator of the Lancaster, utilizing modified aircraft in postwar maritime patrol, search and rescue and photo-reconnaissance roles until 1963.

• The test pilot Alex Henshaw is the only known pilot to have barrel rolled a Lancaster bomber, a feat considered almost impossible because of the slow speed of the aircraft.

• During the war, Lancasters carried out a total of 156,000 missions and dropped 608,612 tons of bombs. This was double what the Handley Page Halifax, the other major bomber used by the Royal Air Force achieved. In the four years of combat service 3,249 Lancasters were lost in action and another 487 were destroyed or damaged while on the ground. Only 24 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful missions.

• While only 7, 366 Avro Lancasters were made during the war…more than 30 MILLION die-cast and model Lancasters have since been purchased by an adoring public.

SOURCES: Wikipedia, Canadian Warplane Heritage, AVSIM.com, and Special Projects In Research

The Way We Were ::: 1939 - 1945 ::: CANADA

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) came into effect on December 17, 1939 when Canadian PM MacKenzie King, The United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand agreed that Canada would host the greatest air training scheme ever ushered into existence.

“THE PLAN” trained aircrews from all over the Commonwealth to give Britain the aircrews she needed, at her most desperate hour.

So successful was the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan that eventually 131,553 air force personnel successfully graduated…in 8 different categories, providing trained aircrews for the RAF first, and then the Air Forces of Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

The 360 schools that were established at 231 sites all across Canada so transformed the country that U.S. President Roosevelt called Canada, "The Aerodrome Of Democracy".

The LANCASTER bomber, shown flying above, was one of the aircraft these trainees learned to fly and bomb targets with.

But why Canada…for so great an undertaking?

1. Proximately to Britain (by air)
2. Suitable climate (no fog or rain interference)
3. She had the manpower
4. Safe distance from every theatre of WW II
5. Inexhaustible natural resources

MANY AMERICANS also trained at these BCATP schools. One school had so many Californians that the RCAF was nicknamed the “Royal Californian Air Force” by the locals!

And that was a country, called Canada…during WW II.

NOW! ::: You Know ::..

THE EGG-SHAPED tail of the LANCASTER was designed by the none-other-than, soon to be legendary, Jim Floyd when he was only a designer at A. V. Roe in England.

He worked alongside a Canadian designer…there at A. V. Roe, who kept singing the praises of some far-flung country called Canada.

Jim just couldn't get Canada out of his head.

So it worked.

And finally…Jim had to come over to see this enigma called Canada, for himself.

And there he stayed. He went on to became a Canadian citizen, and oversaw such LEGENDARY PROJECTS as the AVRO C-102 JETLINER and the CF-105 Avro Arrow.

UNBELIEVABLY, the nearsighted Canadian Government eventually scrapped both aircraft.

And the man who fell in love with Canada, was eventually rejected by his newly adopted country!

Ironic.

So back to England he went…where Jim wrapped up his aeronautical career designing the "lowly" BAC-Aerospatiale CONCORDE.

HE DID retire in Canada, and penned a book about his greatest love…the Canadian designed AVRO Jetliner. JIM FLOYD, now in his 90s, was seen recently at the Toronto Aerospace Museum Arrow roll-out this last October.

THANKS JIM for your contribution to Canadian aviation!


(Lancaster photo taken at the CNE during CIAS)

The Way We Were ::: 1957 ::: CANADA

The ROLL-OUT of the CF-105 Avro Arrow…here again at the Toronto Aerospace Museum in 2006~

AVRO CANADA was "wrapped up" very quickly after PM Diefenbaker cancelled the Arrow interceptor and Iroquois engine programmes. Former Avro employees were sought out immediately, by eager American and British aerospace employers. THESE VERY ex-Avro Canada engineers went on to produce Lougheed, McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing aircraft, the Concorde and then THEY PUT America in space!

Yup…Diefenbaker's irrational posturing (with Crawford Gordon, President of AVRO CANADA in 1959) and final decisive stupidity, set ALL THAT, Canada's first BRAIN DRAIN, in motion.

NEWLY-ELECT Prime Minister Diefenbaker, who preached "a brave new world" as his campaign promise…in the end, completely lacked ANY VISION or bravery whatsoever.

FOREVER TO BE REMEMBERED, as that "small town prairie lawyer" who rose to the occasion, at that defining moment, so drunk with "newfound" power and who so enraged, deliriously and maliciously, demanded an end to our (AVRO CANADA's) momentous cutting-edge, and preeminent aerospace achievements…and We…WE, the slumbering citizens of Canada, just as lost for letting him shamefully end it!

EVERY TIME I think of this needless and HORRENDOUS aviation tragedy, the death of the Arrow interceptor and the Iroquois engine projects, how close we came, I get so mad…DAMN IT…I don't know what to do!!!!!!

You'd think the years would lessen the blow!

Nope.

IF THIS reflective RAGE doesn't still consume you…even now…well then, you just can't be all that Canadian~

:::LOUD and LOW::::::

…the RCAF during WW II!