The incredible efforts of the BBMF engineers behind the scenes to get the aircraft ready, serviceable and flying again in time for the National VE Day 80 commemorations are not generally known outside the Flight.
The Lancaster required a considerable amount of work during the 2024-25 winter period, during which it underwent a ‘Primary Star’ maintenance programme (a scheduled procedure that is almost as deep as a ‘Minor’ maintenance, and which normally takes four to five months to complete). In addition, the No 1 engine, which was out of life and in need of refurbishment, was changed for a zero-hours Merlin. As recently as early April the Lancaster still looked a long way from being ready to fly.
Just as the work seemed to be reaching a conclusion in the first week of April, and the aircraft looked to be on schedule, pressure testing of the radiators revealed a slight leak in the radiator for one of the engines, which then had to be removed and sent away for repair, an unexpected setback. Meanwhile, new brake hoses were also needed before the aircraft could fly, and these were yet to be delivered.
In order to ensure that the aircraft would be able to meet important pending taskings, some of the BBMF engineers volunteered to work on the Lancaster over the Easter break and across the bank holiday weekend of 18th - 21st April to refit the repaired radiator and carry out the first engine runs of 2025 on the Lancaster. These were completed on Easter Sunday. Further engine runs were conducted on subsequent days.
The new brake hoses were delivered on 25th April and fitted during the weekend of 26th - 27th April.
The Lancaster is now fitted with brand-new main wheels, a remarkable design and manufacturing project which was the subject of the ‘Keeping ’em flying’ article in the latest Club magazine, the 2025 Yearbook. The new wheels are classed as a Major In-service Modification and so formal approval was required from the Type Airworthiness Authority and the MAA for the new wheels to be cleared for flight. The clearance to fly with the new wheels was received just as the Lancaster became ready for its post-maintenance air test.
Meanwhile, the BBMF Lancaster pilots had completed some training flying in the Aero Legends C-47 Dakota on Saturday 26th April, to refresh their multi-engine tailwheel aircraft handling skills before flying the Lancaster.
Finally, with all the stars aligned, the Lancaster was flown on its air test, its first flight of 2025, on the afternoon of Monday 28th April with Flight Lieutenant Seb Davey and Squadron Leader Paul ‘Ernie’ Wise as the pilots, and Master Aircrewman Rick Gomez as the flight engineer. A couple of minor snags, including an elevator trim issue, then needed to be rectified and the air test was successfully completed on a second sortie on 1st May.
On Friday 2nd May, with the crosswind at Coningsby forecast to be out of limits for the next few days, the Lancaster deployed to RAF Waddington which had a more favourable into-wind runway direction. From Waddington, the Lancaster then had the honour of leading the VE Day 80 flypast over London on 5th May, and was also able to fulfil various other VE Day 80th anniversary commitments. All in all, this was an incredible effort by the BBMF team, not the least the engineers who can feel justifiably proud of their success.
