The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight has a mission to commemorate those who fought, and died, for their country in the effort for peace. However, today we celebrate the remarkable achievements of one of our own, as she reaches a milestone in her career.
On the 31st of May 1945, Avro Lancaster PA474 rolled off the production line at Vickers Armstrong’s factory in Broughton, Cheshire, now the location of one of Airbus’ factories.
In 1948, having spent a few years in storage, PA was once again called upon for operations. This time she was to be refit into a Photo Reconnaissance configuration for use in 82 squadrons mission, surveying Africa for the Colonial Office. This involved a number of modifications, including the removal of all gun turrets, the fitment of new camera and radar equipment, and giving her a new paint scheme- silver with a black nose, and a red “M” on the fuselage. In November 1949, PA arrived in RAF Eastleigh, Kenya, to begin her work creating maps that, in some cases, are still used today. One of the methods used by 82 to complete this mission was to send an advance party to set up radar beacons in the designated area, a Lancaster or Dakota would then hone in on the signal, take around 60-70 exposures, and return to base where the exposures would be developed in a mobile processing unit, and then be handed to the cartographers.
In May 1952, PA474 returned home and was loaned to Flight Refuelling Limited for use in trails where she would be converted into a pilotless drone in order to carry out air-to-air refuelling research where she, and other Lancasters, would be used as the targets. After 19 months of assessment and design work, it was found that the wing flexing experienced on the Lancasters was too great for the complexities of the task, and it was decided that Avro Lincolns would be better suited for the job.
Following this decision, PA474 was then loaned to the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield. Here PA’s career as a testbed continued as she was chosen to carry out research into Laminar Flow over a wing surface and Boundary Layer control. To do this, different types of test wings-in a swept configuration-were fit to the rear of the fuselage, around where the mid-upper turret is today. The purpose of these tests was to study the pressure loading along the surface of the wing under different conditions, and then use this data to discover means of reducing boundary layer separation to create laminar flow along the wing. In many ways the research carried out by PA474 and Cranfield contributed to the modern design principles used in aerodynamics today, shaping aviation as we know it.
In 1964, after 10 years of use in research and education, PA474 was once again replaced by an Avro Lincoln, and consequently returned to the Royal Air Force. The Air Historic Branch chose PA to be used at a potential new RAF Museum and was flown into Wroughton to be returned to wartime colours. Before being moved to RAF Henlow, she appeared in films such as “Operation Crossbow” and “The Guns of Navarone”.
The following year, in 1965, Wing Commander Michael D’Arcy, of 44 Squadron at RAF Waddington, expressed his interest in securing an Avro Lancaster as 44 had been the first RAF squadron to operate them. While several frames had been identified for this task, including our close friend NX611 aka ‘Just Jane’, PA474 was deemed the most desirable. D’Arcy approached the Air Historic Branch, and after a bit of negotiating, permission was granted to restore her, and a one-time flight was authorised to Waddington.
On the 18th of August 1965, the engineers at 44 squadron began a 2-year project returning PA474 to factory specification, and in November 1967 an (Almost) completed Lancaster B1 taxied to the runway to return to the skies once more. Just 5 years after that flight, PA474 was given one final mission. Departing RAF Waddington on the 20th of November 1973, she was joined by a fighter escort as she made her way to RAF Coltishall to join the newly renamed “Battle of Britain Memorial Flight”. She would later be adopted, taking on the name “The City of Lincoln” in 1975. The following year she would “Lead” the way back home to Lincolnshire, as the BBMF moved to RAF Coningsby, and the rest is history.
Since coming into our care at the BBMF, every effort has been made to maintain her airworthy status, being the only one in Europe, and providing support to those who wish their own Lancasters to join her in the sky.
Looking back, she has done her job with distinction. Despite her early decades of uncertainty around her future, over the span of 80 years she has laid the foundations for developing countries, helped shape the design of the Jet Age, strengthened foreign relations, and has been the forefront of attention for the Armed Forces. Now honouring the previously long-forgotten members of Bomber Command who flew, and were lost, in the Second World War, she has created an unmatched level of national pride, as well as personal pride for those who get the chance to see her in action, creating a vocal point between our veterans, the future generations, and all those in-between.
She has, rather remarkably, outlived many of the aircraft of her era, and is one of only two that remain airworthy today. To those of us at BBMF, she is much more than just another airframe, and for most is the jewel in the BBMF crown.
I hope you join all of us at BBMF in celebrating her remarkable achievement.
Happy Birthday, PA474.
Photo Credit:
· BAE Systems
· Cranfield University Archives
· Air Historic Branch
· The National Archives
