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and US ball bearings (otherwise, the aircraft was typical of an Avro MAPLE LEAF Lancaster Mk. III). Typical of a task Last of the of such magnitude, changes were being made on the production line as work began on the first batch of air- craft. As work began, it was decided to name the bomber Lancaster X. Initially, all components were to be LANCS built at the company’s facility in Malton Another view of KB976, displaying the lengthened nose to advantage. On 9 April 1964, the Lanc took part in the last official RCAF THESE BOMBER COMMAND VETERANS but to speed production the decision was Lancaster flights. On 23 April 1964, it was sold surplus to Lynn Garrison by the Crown Assets Disposal Corporation for $1500, which is a bit odd since the plane was not officially retired from RCAF service until 26 May. On 4 July, KB976 made the last official RCAF Lancaster WOULD FIND A WHOLE NEW LIFE IN THE made to subcontract various components. flight. This was just one month ahead of the last-ever Lanc military flights — done in August 1964 by French Aeronavale aircraft. The bomb doors, flaps, ailerons, and ele- POST-WWII ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE vators were built by the Ottawa Car & Lancaster X KB944 was one of 15 bombers Aircraft Company. Later, Canadian received by No. 425 BY MARSHALL WAINWRIGHT General Electric Co. Ltd. would build the Squadron in May 1945. fuel tanks, tail plane, fins, and rudders. All 15 aircraft were used for training crews and on uring the darkest days of the Second World War, Even further on, Fleet Aircraft would build the outer wing pan- 1 June 1945, they Britain realized it had a very significant asset in els. In a model of efficiency, crews from the subcontractors prepared to launch on a Canada. That vast nation could build combat aircraft would arrive at Malton where they would be instructed on mass transatlantic flight back home to Canada. without the threat of Luftwaffe bombardment. During building the components specific to their company. They would However, bad weather D cancelled the mission. On April 1941, the National Steel Car’s Aircraft Division was cre- then return to their parent company with one production jig. As ated to build 218 Martin B-26 Marauders under license. work increased, more jigs were built and using this rather innov- 14 June, they got underway and all made it However, meetings between American, Canadian, and British ative method, no production delays were encountered. safely home, including officials came to the conclusion that production of the four- Interchangeability of Canadian/British/American compo- KB944 which was named engine Avro Lancaster bomber would be more beneficial to the nents was stressed. The Martin mid-upper fuselage turret King of the Air. Approximately 288 Lancasters returned to Canada and around 100 became post-war Mk. Xs. However, none of the combat veterans were saved and all were scrapped by the government beginning in 1947. The government reasoned that the Lancs war effort than that of the twin-engine medium bomber. It took was made in America but other turrets were built in held in reserve had much lower flight time and had not received any battle-damage repairs. until December of that year to finalize and announce the order. Canada. Twenty-five sets of British turrets were kept on For the Canadian aviation industry, this was a very significant hand and this was to ensure that armed aircraft could be was caused by building the extrusions in Canada on equipment Lancasters made its way back to the factory. All components step forward since the Lancaster would be the biggest aircraft delivered directly to operational airfields in Europe if the that was too small to handle the sections correctly. This was mated perfectly with British components and this was a situation built in Canada as well as the country’s first four-engine type. need arose. Every fourth Lancaster X was soon overcome. that pleased and, apparently, surprised British authorities. Royal Air Force LB-30 Liberators flew over thousands flown to Britain with a set of turrets installed The Lancaster X prototype, serial KB700, first flew of rolls of drawings in negative form. The negatives were while the other three were flown across with on 1 August 1943 from Malton under the command of then printed to the correct size, factory size was expanded, fairings installed over the openings. This Ernest Taylor. After testing, KB700 was flown to and thousands of new employees were hired and trained method ensured a gradual turnover of turret Britain and the flights of early production aircraft for the skilled tasks that lay ahead. supply and kept the units up-to-date with the began to pick up. Once in To simplify production, a decision was latest modifications with the minimum of Britain, praise for the made to utilize Canadian/US shipping problems. Canadian-built instruments, radios, Of course, on a project of such magnitude wiring, there were some problems. The most serious was encountered when defects were discovered in the early production of large spar extrusions. This An additional view of our centerspread aircraft — Lancaster 10P FM207. The aircraft was struck off charge during 1962 and scrapped. Lancaster X KB976 was completed by Victory Aircraft and was flown to the United Kingdom, arriving on 24 May 1945 where it joined 405 Squadron. However, the war was over and the bomber was flown back on 17 June where it joined 664 (Heavy Bomber) Wing at Greenwood, Nova Scotia, to become part of Tiger Force — the British Commonwealth long-range heavy bomber force scheduled to attack Japan. However, the atomic bombings ended Tiger Force. During 1953, KB976 was modified to Mk. 10AR configuration as illustrated. Two other Lancs were similarly modified (KB839 and KB882) and all three survive today. 32 AIR CLASSICS/April 2020 airclassicsnow.com 33.