>>>>> RCAF Jet Lancaster!

THERE ARE ACTUALLY people who say, there never was a Canadian-made Jet Lancaster.

Now I expect that from Torontonians, where unless its something green… they don't know a thing.

But from Trentonians? C'mon.

They laugh, and slap their knees, coughing and cackling, telling me I'm too much!

Well.

That, sure looks like a Jet Lanc' to me!

RCAF FM209, a Mark X Lancaster, made originally, and modified entirely in Toronto. It flew as the Jet Lancaster for the first time on July 10, 1950… 59 years ago TODAY!!

I could tell them that the Jet Lanc' met an unfortunate end, in Toronto, at Orenda, and burned to the ground on July 24, 1956. That, and alongside about a hundred other stabled RCAF aircraft in Orenda's notorious experimental aircraft hangar. Historically, perhaps the worst fire in Toronto. That people ran for their lives from the burning hangar, and were blown to the ground, when... when…

Nah… guess all that didn't happen—

I could tell them about the engines that powered the Jet Lanc', that these were the secretive Orenda 1s… and for a brief time (one year) were the MOST POWERFUL jet engines in the world, at an incredible 6,000lbs of thrust!

I could tell them how the Jet Lanc' on its VERY FIRST flight flew across Lake Ontario right over Buffalo and was intercepted by P-47 Thunderbolts of the United States Air National Guard.

These US defenders had been scrambled to investigate the strange, high speed, intruder. The Jet Lanc' literally flew circles around the normally deadly Thunderbolts.

What a sight that must have been!

For those ANG pilots to see a very large, heavy bomber, darting about the sky like a Spitfire!

And just as quickly as RCAF FM209 had appeared within US air space, she was gone again… on her way back to Canada.

Doing barrel-rolls.

Those Avro Canada Jet Lanc' pilots eventually got their wrists slapped for that maneuver. Right after they had told the story, a few more times, for yet another straggler, who had arrived, mid-story.

BUT, the Jet Lanc' never existed, folks!

Apparently ~

Damn, no-nothings.

Oh, but it did exist. And it was a part of our incredibly great, and our distinctly CANADIAN aviation history. When for a flicker, when for a flash… CANADA was second to none in aeronautical research. Development. And achievement.

Put that in your pipe, and smoke it… 'cause… I'm, outta' here…