VINTAGE FESTIVAL UPDATE: Battle to get Lancaster Bomber ready for Vintage Weekend fly-past

A rare warplane has had a successful test flight ahead of an historic fly-past over Morecambe.
The Canadian Lancaster Bomber known as 'Vera'.The Canadian Lancaster Bomber known as 'Vera'.
The Canadian Lancaster Bomber known as 'Vera'.

Two Lancaster Bombers – the last two airworthy planes of that make – are due to fly above the Promenade this Sunday afternoon, pulling thousands into the resort as part of the two-day Morecambe Vintage-by-the-Sea Festival.

But displays by the Bombers last weekend had to be cancelled after one, a Canadian Lancaster known as Vera, suffered an engine problem.

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A new engine was installed and tested on Wednesday after a first attempt failed to ‘fire up’.

Vera then had a successful test flight and returned to RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

It is now expected to resume its schedule in time for the Morecambe fly-past.

The Bombers are expected to fly over central Morecambe Promenade at around 3pm on Sunday after taking off from Prestwick Airport in Scotland, flying to Windermere, then afterwards were due to head for Holmfirth in Yorkshire.

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This is part of a 60-date UK tour by Vera and the RAF Lancaster Bomber, called the Lancaster Thumper.

Vera, built in 1945, was forced to perform an engine shutdown after a fly-past in County Durham on Thursday.

It was forced to miss several engagements, including the Bournemouth Air Show at the weekend and an event at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre.

The Bombers are most famous for the Dambusters raids, which saw 19 Lancasters attack German dams with Sir Barnes Wallis’s ‘bouncing bombs’ in 1943. The fly-past is the second of two scheduled seafront flights as part of the Vintage-by-the-Sea event, organised by designer Wayne Hemingway and his family. Two intrepid women, the Breitling Wing Walkers, will walk on the wings of a classic bi plane as it speeds above the sands on Saturday, September 6 at 2pm.

See our exclusive pull out guide to the Vintage festival in this week’s Visitor.