Gallery

WE NEED YOUR HELP!! The RCAF flew FM104 until the aircraft's retirement in 1964. We've found a few photos of FM104 but would really appreciate receiving any photos or information that YOU may have about our Lancaster. Please send any information to http://avrolancasterfm104.com/contact or use our Contact Page. We thank you very much.

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Parts salvaged from other Lancasters incorporated into Lancaster FM104

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Check for our regular updates of work in progress and completed.

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Vandals and 35 years of exposure to the elements and bird droppings took its toll. Salvaged parts from a crashed Lancaster were repaired, and drawings of missing parts were made and parts reproduced. Extensive cleaning was performed to bring the pedals back to working condition.

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Pilot seat was completely reproduced. Seat support frame was disassembled, corrosion removed, primed and reassembled. Top and bottom skins of support floor were removed, interior frame members cleaned and primed and both skins reriveted.

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While initially found to be seized and timed out, these iconic Packard Merlin engines are being preserved in present configuration. Each engine component is completely disassembled and processed which arrests and prevents further internal and external corrosion. Special tooling and techniques have been developed to ensure a complete preservation process.

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The floor framing was completely destroyed. A severely damaged forward-half section of floor framing was recovered from Lancaster FM118, which required extensive repair. The aft-half framing required numerous custom jigs to be made in order to reproduce 42 floor ribs, 3 floor cross members and top and bottom floor skins.

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Illustrating the steps and custom jigs and fixtures used in fabricating one type of floor rib. Forty-two ribs of different lengths and shapes and thicknesses (50 and 80 thou.) were reproduced.

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The exchanger core required 3 flushes in a radiator shop to clean out the bird nests and feathers. Body work on the inlet duct and extensive corrosion removal brought the unit back to pristine condition.

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The lower fuselage along the bomb bay consists of ten panels, five on each side of the aircraft. Although they vary in length, the approximate length of each panel is 6 feet (2 m), with the total length of the bomb bay being 33 feet (10 m). These panels enclose the upper portion of the bomb bay and the bomb doors are hinged to the bottom of the edge of the panels. The panels are bolted to the main structural longeron of the aircraft. Each panel has an aluminum skin riveted to a sub-structure consisting of formers, two stringers, brackets and a channel along the bottom to which the bomb doors are attached. The restoration began with the disassembly of the ten panels by drilling out thousands of rivets. All salvageable parts were bead blasted to remove paint and corrosion then chemically cleaned and primer painted to prevent corrosion. Seven of the ten panels were fabricated using the old skins as a pattern for dimensions and rivet holes. The formers were mostly reusable, except the ones that had been flame-cut out in the Centre Section, along with the floor, to facilitate the mounting of the aircraft on the concrete plinth. Twenty new formers were fabricated by hammering sheet metal over a wooden die. About half of the extruded channels were so badly corroded that sections had to be cut out and replaced by welded pieces salvaged from Lancaster FM118. The stringers needed only minimal repairs and replacement from FM118. Of course, all the panels had to be riveted back together again with thousands of rivets.

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