Lancaster & Spitfires- RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight - IWM Duxford ’Best of 2021’ Flying Day
The first segment of the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s display, featuring the Avro Lancaster and a pair of Supermarine Spitfires - Spitfire Mk. IIa, P7350 and Spitfire Mk. XVI, TE311 - during the Imperial War Museum Duxford’s ’Best of 2021 Flying Day’, on 9th October 2021. This was the Lancaster’s first and last public display of 2021 away from her home base at RAF Coningsby, following completion of her ’Minor’ Service at Duxford over the past 11 months.
Avro Lancaster PA474 is one of only two Lancaster aircraft remaining in airworthy condition out of the 7,377 that were built (the other is in Canada with the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at Hamilton, Ontario).
The left-hand side of PA474 represents Lancaster BIII W5005 ‘AR-L’ “Leader” of 460 (Royal Australian Air Force) Squadron, with its nose art of a kangaroo in wellington boots playing bagpipes reflecting the mixed nationalities of the crew: Scottish, Welsh and Australian. The ‘bomb log’ on the nose shows a ‘snapshot in time’ at the poin