Lancaster PA474 at Duxford for maintenance

Header image: BBMF Lancaster PA474 on the approach to land at Duxford on 16th November 2020. (Photo: Peter Green)

As regular readers of the Club members’ newsletters will know, the BBMF Lancaster, PA474, had been scheduled to be delivered to the Aircraft Restoration Company (ARCo) at Duxford for contracted maintenance. The flight from Coningsby to Duxford took place on Monday 16th November.

PA474 was then moved into the large Stephenson Hangar at Duxford, where it was resident for several months between October 2016 and July 2017 when it received a ‘Major’ servicing and a repaint into its current colour scheme.

This time, ARCo engineers will be conducting a ‘Minor’ maintenance programme (which is something of a misnomer as the maintenance schedule is only just short of a ‘Major’), along with a multitude of additional work. The BBMF engineers have the necessary expertise to conduct these larger maintenance programmes, but the nature and extent of the additional work required on the Lancaster has driven the decision to have this work completed externally. The ‘Lanc’ is not due a re-paint at this time and so will remain in its current colour scheme with the bagpipe-playing kangaroo nose art.

PA474 is scheduled to return to Coningsby and to the BBMF in the summer of 2021.