Iconic Lancaster Bomber set to return to the skies at the Blackpool Air Show 2024

Blackpool Gazette

The Lancaster Bomber will return to the 2024 display season over the skies of Blackpool this weekend.  The iconic Lancaster, flown by the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, will take display at the annual air show over the Lancashire resort.

Transcript

00:00The Lancaster is a true icon of the Second World War with over 7,000

00:12aircraft being produced, over seven sites, six in the UK and one in Canada.

00:18This is the PA-474 aircraft, it came off the line in 1945 in Broughton near

00:24Chester. So it was originally intended to be part of the war in the Far East

00:28involved in combat but it was reassigned to be used in photographic reconnaissance

00:33and then it's now found its way into the BB&F where it does its regular flights.

00:43So BA Systems are the design advisor, we work with the RAF product team to

00:49answer queries just like we do on Typhoon, In-Service and F-35 queries. So

00:55any queries on the airframe we come through our team at Salisbury and

00:58Wharton. But part of the significant work is the replacement of the tailplane.

01:03The tailplane has run out of fatigue life and it needs to be replaced to carry on

01:08flying the Lancaster for the years to come. As you can imagine materials

01:12available in 1945 and the years previous to that were very different to what we

01:17have now as contemporary material specifications. So the key thing is

01:20process and product obsolescence that we now have to replace. Any of those

01:24changes go through the design advisors at BAE Systems for consideration of is

01:29this acceptable from a structures, design, aerodynamics, all disciplines

01:35associated with aerospace in the modern day. So the beauty of conducting STEM at

01:40RAF Conisbee is that we get to work alongside BAE Systems who not only

01:44assist us in delivering operational capabilities through Typhoon but through

01:48their support as a design organisation for the Lancaster aircraft that is

01:51behind us here. So through that it's really good that we can work together

01:55and try and take the history of engineering through to the modern day

01:59and further through to the future and try and inspire generations. For me as an

02:03early career coming into BAE Systems it's really it's really an exciting time

02:07because we've got so much exciting work going on at the moment and what I think

02:10is similar to this and what excites me about this is when you look at the

02:13Lancaster you see a real legacy and I feel like at the moment with so much

02:17work coming coming into BAE Systems as an early career I feel like I have the

02:20opportunity to make a little bit of a legacy. It's a real honour to be part of

02:24the Lancaster here today but not just because of the RAF and the heritage it

02:28brings but also the heritage for BAE Systems that we've been designing

02:33aircraft from the 1940s and that will go right through to future generations and

02:38it's a fantastic opportunity to be here and support the ongoing fleet of the BBMET.

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