Ride in a Lancaster bomber! Anyone done this?

Airframe needs to be certified to fly.
 
I've visited this museum and its great. Although the aircraft can run, and it sounds amazing, I'm not sure whether it has an air worthiness certificate or if it's purely the cost reasons it doesn't fly.
 
While getting it airworthy would cost money, surely it would be worth it to have only the 3rd airworthy lancaster in the world?
 
They just need to find someone with that money, I'm sure the people at the museum would like nothing more than to get it fully functional.
 
I do believe it's owned by a couple of farmers who have been asked by some famous film director to use the plane and several others in a remake of the Dam Busters. He is willing to stump up the. Cash to put it in the air the Germans have given permission to fly them on location. Think I am going to visit very soon
Regards mick
 
Photodoktor said:
I do believe it's owned by a couple of farmers who have been asked by some famous film director to use the plane and several others in a remake of the Dam Busters. He is willing to stump up the. Cash to put it in the air the Germans have given permission to fly them on location. Think I am going to visit very soon
Regards mick
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Let me know what u think if u do visit as thinking about going myself.
 
The long term plan is apparently to make it airworthy, and get the appropriate certificates to fly.
The remake of the dambusters is going to be GCI, very little if any real aircraft.
Is it worth it? Only you can judge Simon....But if I had the cash, yes, I'd do it!
 
Its not cheap compared to some other 'experience' days [though still cheaper than some of them], but given there are precious few of these beasts left, for someone that loves them, it is probably well worth the cost given one has to assume the money goes into maintaining it and possibly even a pot towards restoring to air worthiness at some point in the future. If you fancy it, and can afford/justify the expense, JDI! ;)
 
Wife's grandad did this a few years back - mind yuo he was a tail gunner in them in WWII and was in hospital with shrapnel injuries, when "his" plane got shot down over Belguim.
 
i would love to have the chance to fly in one of those
 
neil_g said:
id pay that.. i think id let out a little sex wee when the merlins get rev'd :naughty:
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Thats my worry, would love to do this but would then have to spend time PP the dark stain on my jeans when I review the pics!
 
It was my brother (Ian) who dismantled this aircraft, and re-built it !
The plane stood at the gates of RAF scampton for many years until the Panton brothers decided to have it back and transport it to their farm, part of which is a WW2 airfield.
Ian is an ex RAF member who worked on the Battle of Britain Flight at RAF Coningsby until he left the RAF. THen one night, when he was in the pub he was approached by one of the brothers, and it all started from there !
(And yes, I've been in it for a few taxi runs !!)

There is a DVD available which tells the story,
http://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/store/multimedia/dvd/two-farmers-and-a-lancaster.htm

Mods- if posting the link is not allowed, I apologise and feel free to remove it.
 
My old man was in the RAF during the war, and used to talk about the Lancs when I was growing up. I'd love to do the taxy/taxi run, but Lincolnshire is too far away, and it's not possible for us.

It would be wonderful if they can get the plane flying again, but is there any real chance of offering flights to the public? I thought they restricted the flying hours on most of these vintage aircraft to reduce the strain on them.
 
cambsno said:
Let me know what u think if u do visit as thinking about going myself.
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I've done it (but not with this one) and I don't think it's worth that sort of money unless you're in the standing position behind the pilot's seat.
 
There are some articles online from 2010 suggesting a push towards airworthiness but alas nothing up to date... Reading around it seems every time they get remotely close the CAA move the goalposts further away.

I've been there (long time ago) and it's nice to see it taxiing but the prices are so steep!
 
Hazza said:
There are some articles online from 2010 suggesting a push towards airworthiness but alas nothing up to date... .
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It may depend on the main spar - iirc it costs £2m to replace on a Lanc.
 
Getting airworthiness certification will be difficult I'd have thought, and the ongoing cost to keep it airworthy will be huge. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the BBMF Lanc is limited to something ridiculous like 100 hours flying a year in order to preserve the airframe (can't remember the exact figure).

While it's nowhere near as complicated as the Vulcan, that aircraft costs a monumental amount of money to keep flying and relies on an ongoing stream of donations and airshow appearances, as well as a team of engineers to keep it in the air.

That said, it would be great to see it fly!
 
Hmm, I've just looked at the cost. For £248, I think I'd expect the photograph of me leaning out of the cockpit to be included!
 
Quick update, wife booked this for me as a 40th Birthday pressie, luckily she called just as they decided to add some runs for August Bank Holiday so managed to get on the list (rather than wait till May next year.

I have added some pics in the transport section, and also cobbled together a video of it (me with a compact in the cockpit and the wife with the camcorder, plus me filming a later run).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcgjbiA1Cmk

Nothing can describe the feeling you get (for me anyway) when the merlins started, or when at the end of the runway the revs were pushed. A lot of money but something I will never forget and would do it again in an instant!

I will point out that this is basically just 7 minutes of Merlin noise!!!
 
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According to local "sources" (my father-in-law) getting it up in the sky isn't the problem, they know it can fly. It's the "getting it back on the ground" part that presents the problem!! ;)

Joe
 
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