A part of history from the Second World War touched down in Winnipeg this week. (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2009/08/04/mb-lancaster-bomber-winnipeg.html?ref=rss)

One of only two flyable Avro Lancasters left in the world landed at Winnipeg's Richardson International Airport Monday afternoon and was taxied over to the Western Canada Aviation Museum for public display. (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2009/08/04/mb-lancaster-bomber-winnipeg.html?ref=rss)

Having seen one on display in Jackson Park in Windsor for many years, I've always been interested in the Lancaster.
http://images3.jetphotos.net/img/2/1/7/7/31020_1117135771.jpg

When I had the chance to see one of these fly a few years ago, I jumped at it. There was an air show at Willow Run Airport, in Ypsilanti, MI, and the Lancaster was best the of the show. Truely impressive, the size and power.

IIRC, it's payload was the largest of any WWII bomber. It also was of interest to me because of it's engines; 1649 cu. in. 12 cylinder Rolls Royce Merlin, the same power plant used by many Unlimited Hyrdoplanes for decades after WWII.

An uncle of mine was the rear gunner in Lancs for two tours.

I read a book a few years ago called Lancaster to Berlin, in which the author writes about being trained to fly the Lanc, he was doing loss-of-power takeoff practice, and mistakenly pulled the 2nd powering engine (they had 2 engines off already) into Beta, effectively eliminating all thrust from the 2nd engine. He proved a Lanc can rotate and climb on a single engine when unladen.