Lancaster back online

[GHD]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-li ... e-40491289

[FlyTexas]

That's great news.

Brian

[Paul K]

And not so glossy as has been in the past. The black paint looks more matt now, and she looks better for it. ARC had a viewing window while she was being worked on at Duxford, and it was very interesting to see what they were doing.

[Nigel H-J]

I had wondered about that nose art, the kangaroo and bagpipes and what it had to do with Australians as could not imagine Mike parading up and down his street wearing a kilt and playing the bagpipes with a kangaroo hopping alongside him (though it would be highly amusing).

Had a quick Google and found out, scroll to the bottom of the page, Lancaster JB 607 'Leader' of the 460 Squadron of the RAAF crashed on the 29th of December 1943 at 22.30hrs over Kerkrade (Netherlands). All crew but one died.

http://460squadronraaf.com/planes/lancnoseart.html

Regards
Nigel.

[Airspeed]

Thanks for that link, Nige.
Did you see the 460 Sqn stats?

Killed in Action 9%
Killed in Crashes 51%
Seriously injured in crashes 3%
Prisoners of War 12%
Evaders 1%
Survivors unharmed 24%

I had heard that training crashes and collisions when mustering 1,000 bomber raids were common, but if the above crashes were not "in action", the figure is staggering.