Wings and Pixels

Avro Lancaster B Mk.1

'City of Lincoln'/'Leader'

The Lancaster first flew in January 1941 and is the most famous British bomber of WW2.

PA474 was built in 1945 but because WW2 ended it was not needed for offensive operations and was used for photo reconnaissance missions instead. Afterwards, PA474 was transferred to the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield and was used for laminar flow wing trials.

PA474 appeared in the films 'The Guns of Navarone' (1961) and 'Operation Crossbow' (1964).

Since 1973, PA474 has been operated by the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, now based at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire and is only one of two Lancasters still flying.

PA474 wears the markings of W5005 AR-L 'Leader' of 460 (RAAF) Sqn on the port side. The starboard side displays the code VN-T, representing a Lancaster of 50 Sqn RAF, flown by Fg Off Douglas Millikin, who was the grandfather of former BBMF commanding officer Sqn Ldr Andy Millikin.