My Dad worked for Can. Gen’l Electric (CGE) in the 1950s and he sometimes flew on business on the Canadair North Star which was a DC-4 that was powered by surplus RR Merlins. He used to tell me that Canadair had developed a remarkably effective noise abatement strategy: they made the outside of the aircraft quiet by keeping all of the noise on the inside of the aircraft.
In 1947 i was awakened by a converted lancaster every morning at 6 am taking off from Heath-row airport,it would rattle my windows of my bedroom during the warm up of the motors and take off at 6 am sharp,this was the only flight for the day back then.later in 49-50 I saw the Brabazon fly twice overhead while at an ice cream van with my mother,that was a big plane and noisy.I am 78 now and i recall that as clear as day,what a sight.
I worked with a museum volunteer who before the war was a chemical engineer. He joined the RAAF but was stationed in Britain during the war where he flew spitfires. When Japan entered the war he returned to Australia flying medium bombers. Towards the end of the war he was asked if he would be interested in flying Lancastrians on flights to the UK. He had never flown a Lancaster. The only Lancaster available in Australia was G for George, a famous veteran of raids over Europe. It was in Australia for a promotional tour but eventually stayed and is on display at the war memorial in Canberra. His certification to fly consisted of an instructor taking him on a circuit to show him the controls followed by a take-off and landing. That was the start of an eventual post-war career as a QANTAS pilot.
Things were so much simpler back then. A slap on the back, Port to toast the King and cheerio! you're good to go. Even in my day in the airforce in the 70's-80's, once you have a certain base certification, then the rest just follows.
Thank you for this. I fell in love with the Lancaster after seeing that wonderful film "The Dambusters" aged 10. Revelle brought out a kit that year and I drove my parents bats for one. I got it!! I lasted well I to my thirties, but sadly long lost to the mists of time. I knew of the Lancastrian having read a few articles and books, but I hadn't realised how many there had actually been, or how far afield they had wandered. I have read about the one lost in the Andes, and it's recent discovery in an icefield. It's strange how, even now, no one understood it's last radio messages . . . 👍👍👍👍👍👍
You should read the BSAA story of how the politicians of the day would destroy the best of Britain’s enthusiasm to develop and grow. Also read the book Empire of the clouds which a brilliant history of governments giving up on our engineering triumphs and buying American at a greater cost. I was an apprentice at Hawker Siddeley when the supersonic Harrier which ready to go into production and the TSR2 was scrapped by a Labour government so they could borrow money.
Watched from Old Harbour Jamaica. One of my neighbors served at Lyneham RAF base and Pembroke Dock as a leading aircraft man. Dembroke Dock did a tribute to him after his 100th birth day. Born Oct 25,1916 and died March 11, 2017 just days after his tribute was published 3/3/2017 .His name was George Chung.
I never realised the Lancastrian was so widely used. I was aware of BOAC/Qantas and BSAA but the other operators were a revelation. Thank you for this information.
Whenever I want quality documentary content about Canadian history I turn to UK researchers. You are carrying on with a great tradition, & thanks for this! 😊
@@ukaircraftexplored6556 Couldn't agree more martK. If you want to know what happened to the Avro Arrow 202, read BBC Futures story on the same and the RAF Kent base.
Utterly fabulous documentary of an incredible aviation story, the likes of which you will never see Hollywood do a depiction of. CDN Victory Aircraft fans may know that supposedly the Allies were going to use a Malton, Ontario Lancaster aircraft for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki because of the superior performance characteristics of the Malton aircraft. The U.S. reaction to the idea was that no U.S. bomb would ever be dropped by a non-U.S. aircraft. U.S. aircraft with these payload requirements were questionable at the time. Congrats to those involved in this superb bit of aviation journalism.
@@ukaircraftexplored6556 My father-in-law was a mid-upper gunner on a Lanc and he was one of the fortunate few to be able to walk away at the end of his tour. Our family has some reverence for that plane.
This is a wonderful video. I only found this because I was looking through a model kit website and came across a model of this (with 4 prop engines) and I think I'll never read about all the aircraft produced before I snuff it. Thank you.
My life only overlapped a little with the life of the Lancastrian, but it was very familiar to me, as both my younger brother and I had cast metal model Lancastrians when we were quite young. I remember their being around the house for many years though with broken propellors by that time.
Wow. Just WOW! I just found this channel and its is a godsend to me. I just bought the Border Models 1/32 Lancaster bomber. There are no colour callouts/indications for any of the interior. I have other Lancasters in my stash and I could use some of their references for painting. However this channel answers all my prayers. Thank you so much for putting this channel up. It is extremely interesting and fantastically informative. Well done UK Aircraft Explored, jolly good show old chap!
I think calling it the first jet passenger aircraft is a little bit of a stretch. Yes it took passengers up on demonstration flights. A real passenger aircraft flies with PAYING passengers.
Extremely well presented, in every way. Despite Britain being vertually banKrupt by WW2, we still had the skills and knowledge that War production forced us to maintain. As always, Britain was among the first with progressive ideas; I had no idea about our early attempts at Jet propulsion in the civil Airliner field, thinking the Commet was our only attempt. What I'd like to have had mentioned (if possible ) is the noise levels in the passenger area. My first flight was in a 'Bristol Brittannia' , which puzzlingly was called ''The wispering Giant'. My crossing of the Atlantic, in 1966, was all BUT---whispering.
Around 1946 there was a rocket assisted Lancaster . It still had its 4 engines but it was fitted with a 2 rocket engines one under each wing. The idea was to use these to assist the take off with the main engine’s throttled to less than 100% to save fuel and give increased range. I don’t know if they would then be jettisoned or remain with the Lancaster. They were high test peroxide with I believe a silver catalyst pack. This converts H2 O2 ( HTP ) to H2 O , water enriched with oxygen, The exhaust is super heated steam. You can inject a combustible fuel into this exhaust to increase thrust but I believe that the pods on the Lancaster just relied on the thrust from the decomposed HTP. Some or possibly all of the trials were carried out at what became Rocket propulsion Establishment Westcott . I have 3 pictures of my father fuelling the rocket pods.
My Uncle was a navigator in R for Roger. I believe it was shot down after he completed his tours. Mentioned to me how he saw a jet powered Lancaster. His impression was that it "Took off like a fighter". Very impressive and informative documentary. Keep it up.
I live a mile or so from RAF Hucknall, Royce’s flight test base. The airfield has been closed for several years now and they are building houses on it, sacrilege! I still get a lot of pleasure from my own memories and from knowing the history that was created there. I don’t really miss the outdoor test rig where the RR Trent achieved certification. Even with the large earth bank they built, it was a noisy beast.
Thank you for this; I was completely unaware of the Lancastrian, despite being an aviation fan for almost half a century. I once had the privilege of taking the controls of a Lancaster and am now living very close to Hurn.
You failed to mention the jet Lancaster of 1944. My late friend Flt/Lt Jack Bosomworth was on screen from Ops and was called to report to Bruntingthorpe to act as the W/Op for flight in a special Lancaster. The Lanc was fitted with a single ventral jet engine with a long jet pipe. It took off normally then changed to the jet engine banking and climbing for about an hour. After the flight he was strictly warned not to log it or to talk about.
Thanks for your comment. Please note, Lancaster B Mk. II, LL735, powered by the Metrovick F2/4 Beryl jet engine in 1944 is covered towards the end of my Lancaster B Mk.II video. Thanks for watching.
Very interesting video Bryan! I have a particular interest in BSAA and the Lancastrian having co-written 'Fly With The Stars' with my sister Susan, so was delighted to find your video. I particularly enjoyed your fine illustration of 'Star Glow'. Ian
A B.O.A.C. Lancastrian, G-AGLX , flown by a Qantas flight crew, disappeared without trace somewhere over the Indian Ocean between Karachi and Cocos Island, on March 23rd 1946, while on a flight from London to Australia. The aircraft departed Karachi with 5 crew and 15 passengers onboard.
Amazing report. I bit before my time as I was born late 40’s but I never heard of this very important development of aviation history, and the creation of the BOAC.
Modifying the Lancaster was a great idea, taking advantage of an inexpensive airframe and massive parts inventory, however; of the 69 produced, 26 were lost with 81 fatalities. Not the best record but people still used them until the 1960s. Not bad!! I knew little about the aircraft until now, thanks for an outstanding presentation.
I knew an engineer on the Avro Arrow project. They mounted an Orenda for flight test on the rear fuselage of a Lancaster. He maintained that when they shut the Merlins down that if any airman had heard the creaks and groans from the Lanc airframe no one would have stepped into a Lanc in WW2.
I would expect that the Lancastrian suffered from the same flaw as the later Canadair Northstar: the Merlin was a superlative engine for military use, but for civilian use it was far too loud which caused great discomfort to the passengers.
@@ukaircraftexplored6556 There's noise and there's noise. In the North Star, modified exhausts were able to *reduce* the noise level to 102 decibels. Aircraft with radial engines, though still droning, didn't approach this level of noise.
Interesting that they found jet engines to be silent back then. There was a lancastrian at the Buenos aries Airport museum a couple of decades ago. Saw it outside when passing but regrettably didn't get chance to investigate further. A very interesting video. Surprising that aries 1 doesn't get more airplay as it achieved some spectacular results back then.
I believe my father was a pilot on the South American routes. He flew (as i recall him saying) London to Portugal and then down to Senegal and across (via the Azores, I think), before the crossing to Natal in Brasil. I was so young that I did not understand the routes from there, but I know they crossed the Andes to Chile wearing rubber oxygen masks. As I recall, my father told me that one aircraft crashed on the Andes and was only found forty or fifty years later. Don't bother trying to look him up under this surname; it's a falsie and I will never divulge my real name.
Star Dust crashed in oct 1947 and appeared in 1998, surely they crossed wearing oxygen masks, to clear Tupungato (6800m) they needed FL210, no one can breath there and Lancastrians were not pressurized. There is a strong wind current up there always, so speed readings were false, pilots thought they were in the west side of the Andes and prepared descent to Los Cerrillos (SCTI), but they were 200 km east of their supposed position and when they began descent to FL140 they crashed head on with Tupungato.
Interesting. I read the Brickhill book the Dambusters and have had an interest in Lancs ever since. I never knew they were adapted to airliner/ cargo planes. The wing spar the obvious impediment. I have seen a Lanc in the Australian war memorial and it was so small!! Just compared measurements with a C47 which is a metre shorter but has a LOT more cargo or passenger room. Anyone would think it was built as an airliner!!
The Lancaster in the early shots had a ventral gun turret. That was very unusual and covered the aircraft's main defensive weakness against night fighters. There must be a back story to this fitment and why it didn't become standard given the high loss rate to this type of attack. Otherwise that was very informative about the Lancastrian. I'm not very far from the old Avro shadow factory at Yeadon, which still exists as a logistics depot. I once met an elderly Halifax bomber flight engineer. After WW2 he told me he and his crew briefly ran two Halifaxes as transport aircraft (one for flying, one for spares). Then the CAA knocked on their door with a big book of regulations and operations ceased. He moved to BOAC.
I imagine the reason why the Lancaster did not have a ventral turret in squadron service was to retain the one piece bomb bay that allowed it the versatility to carry every bomb in the Airforces inventory including bombs such as the Tall boy with a minimum of modifications, As a sideline the USAAF gave serious thought to using the Lancaster to deliver the two Atom bombs over Japan because American strategic bombers all carried a ventral turret which did not leave enough space to carry the Weapon , Politics prevailed and as most B29s by this stage of the war had all the armament removed anyway Boeing reengineered the fuselage to change the twin bomb bays into a single bomb bay large enough to carry the BOMB.
I've often wondered about the Lancastrian and this video was full of great information. I'd read that Lancastrians with just the two jet engines operating, flew faster than a stock 4-prop Lancaster.
I've been an airplane "nut" forever ... but I can honestly say I've just learned something I did not know. I suspect there are none of these modified air frames in existence now... and that's a pity. Thanks for this.
A BSAA Lancastrian was the first commercial flight to take off from Heathrow airport. Must have been in about 1946. I think Don Bennet the Pathfinder was at the controls. He ran BSAA
That's right Mike. BSAA Lancastrian G-AGWG 'Star Light' was the first international departure from the new London Airport on January 1st 1946. You're correct, Don Bennett was at the controls.
