Lancaster internal tour Club ballot prize
Header image: Club member and prize winner Andrew Scoley in the cockpit of BBMF Lancaster PA474 on 10th July. (Photos: Clive Rowley)
Club member Andrew Scoley won the April ballot prize of an internal tour of BBMF Lancaster PA474. He was able to take up his prize on Thursday 10th July, bringing two friends – Graeme Beattie and Joss Vincent – with him to the BBMF hangar at RAF Coningsby to share in the special experience. They were hosted by retired Squadron Leader Clive Rowley, a former OC BBMF and now a volunteer guide at the BBMF Visitor Centre and editor of the Club’s magazines and newsletters.
When the visitors arrived, the BBMF engineers were busy refuelling all of the available aircraft – two Hurricanes, three Spitfires and the Lancaster – for the forthcoming weekend’s flying. As the aircraft were brought back into the hangar one by one, the opportunity was taken to have a close and personal explanation of the BBMF fighters, their histories and their current colour schemes. The Lancaster was the last to be pushed back in and the group then had a detailed look around the outside of the big bomber before clambering in and making their way through the cramped interior up to the cockpit, with the details explained by Clive.
Andrew and his guests thoroughly enjoyed the two hours spent in the BBMF hangar and especially the rare opportunity to explore the inside of Lancaster PA474. Andrew is a trustee of the Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre and nephew of the founders, so he is well versed in all things Lancaster, but he said that it was, “a very informative tour of both the hangar and the Lancaster. It was an absolute pleasure for all three of us and I'm very grateful to have been pulled out of the hat and offered the chance to have the tour.” His friend Grame Beattie, who is a trustee at the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln, said, “To get up close and personal in a real Avro Lancaster brought so many of our stories alive for me. What they did in those cramped condition under such danger never ceases to amaze me and it is so important we keep these memories alive. BBMF is hugely important for that reason.”
With the Lancaster due to go away for a ‘Major’ maintenance programme in October, which will last for 18 months or more, we will not be able to offer the Lancaster internal tour ballot prize next year, but hope to be able to do so again in the future when PA474 is returned to Coningsby.
