Lancaster Remains Resolute Bay

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24 years 2 months

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Just seen on Billy Connely's round Canada trip - the mortal remains of a Lancaster.

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Member for

17 years 11 months

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Caught it - any one know its I/D?

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24 years 2 months

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May I ask how much remains. Recognisable?

Mark

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24 years 2 months

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FM221

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16 years 10 months

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**Edited the photo to show credit.**

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Member for

17 years 7 months

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Yes thats FM 221 for sure, I have the BFP out of the old girl, not much left to recover of the Lanc is there Peter? I think the picture is 221 not long after crash, cheers DB

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24 years 2 months

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Might be even less now as the "locals" have been stripping the metal off this and the york wreck.

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17 years 6 months

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That's what happens if plans for a recovery take too long. Claiming a wreck for recovery is one thing but the actual recovery itself is more important and that's often where things start to slow down.
Get that York out of there, FAST!!!!

Cees

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Cees, it would be cheaper to recover the Lunar rover than it would the york. It is very remote.

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17 years 6 months

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Peter,

Yes, I understand but if locals can strip her than it can be accessed. That York is only the third survivor and really needs to be rescued fast.

Cheers

Cees

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16 years 7 months

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Got some bits of this aircraft years ago but always assumed it was on of the aircraft displayed as static memorials,fantastic to see this and put a picture with my bits,Thanks !

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What bits did you get Hindenburg?

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16 years 6 months

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Does anyone have a picture of the York ?????

Keith.

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Heres one pic I have taken many years ago

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17 years 11 months

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Cees, it would be cheaper to recover the Lunar rover than it would the york. It is very remote.

Got any Google Earth co-ords for these wrecks? Its seems that two Lancasters ended their days there, possibly FM216 was the other?

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16 years 6 months

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Thank you for the picture Peter, Yet another York that made an impact !
So sad but thats history !

Keith.

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19 years 9 months

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.
According to Troy Kirby's excellent website on KB882 there were/are two Lanc. wrecks at Resolute, FM221 and FM216 which crashed within a month of each other in 1950.

http://www.lancaster-kb882.freeservers.com/photo2.html

FM221
http://lancaster-kb882.freeservers.com/images/crash_no21.jpg

FM216
http://lancaster-kb882.freeservers.com/images/crash_site_3.jpg

Both photos appear to show parts recovery underway by the RCAF at the time, and the remains surviving today in the photo in the original post seems to be FM221 only because its tail in sitting in its approx correct position where as FM216 apparantly suffered a broken fuselage in the crash with its tailplane resting at angle to main fuselage.

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=170628&d=1236388852

Do any recent photos exist of the wreck of FM216 to confirm its current state?

Clearly FM221 has deteriorated beyond environmental affects from its original crash due to manmade intervention.

Is it possible both airframes were burnt by the departing RCAF parts recovery team, or by a subsequent visit to ensure the wreck wasnt mistaken for a recently downed aircraft - this has been the justification for the destruction of many other wrecks.

If both are in this poor condition they seem well beyond rebuilding in their own right, and most other Lancaster restorations already have the main components that seem to be surviving in the picture, making recovery unlikely or un-neccessary?

The only possible use for the relatively intact wing outer panels, tail planes etc (other than individual display as parts) could be with the former KB994/KB976 "fuselage" recovered from the UK a few years ago, if that project was ever able to develop from its intended restored fuselage display outcome, to a complete airframe, however I dont think that is likely.

That project is without a rear fuselage and centre-section, which while examples survive elsewhere , both would need to be also acquired to make any recovery and use of the tailplanes and wing outer panels viable.

The York is similarly "well short" of a complete airframe, despite a relatively intact wing tip to tip, the rear fuselage is seperated and damaged and the substantial forward fuselage and cockpit appear totally destroyed.

The large box fuselage would be a huge and difficult project to recreate accurately, and while the wing outer panels, fins and rudders may also be of use for a Lancaster project the wing centre-section is wider due to the York fuselage width and therefore only good for re-use in a York project.

Being only 2 survivors world wide, the parts are unlikely to be needed for re-use other than if someone can take on the recovery and future re-build of this aircraft itself. I cannot comment on the importance of the York as a type to Canada's Aviation Heritage to know the level of interest in that happening?

It may be possible to recreate the forward fuselage to be externally complete, with non-aviation internal crossbracing and materials, but to build that large box section to its original design to hold its own weight and remain rigid and straight would require a large jig, and siginificant aluminium in terms of fuselage frames and stringers, all in all a much "larger" project than the cockpit mockup on the YAM Halifax FSM in the UK.

regards

Mark Pilkington

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24 years 2 months

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Yes FM216 pics do exist and that aircraft I believe the aircraft was pushed off of the runway with mechanical equipment hence the extreme damage done. There are some significant parts still at both wrecksites but once again cost of recovery is prohibitive.
The avro york wreck also suffered from fire damage and the main spars are badly buckled at the rear of the cockpit attachment points.

Mark, your links do not appear to work.

The following pics show FM216 FM221.

The second set show the wreckage of FM216 and the extensive damage on the york fuselage from the cockpit aft.. You can see that the section of 216 is the largest piece left today with the wreckage spread over a wide area.

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Member for

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Just a reminder,can we please make sure we have permission to post other people's photographs before uploading them to the forum? I corrected a couple of posted photo's that did not credit the original owner.
Peter, Moderator

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Peter,

my blocked photos were IMG links to two photos on Troy Kirby's website
(http://www.lancaster-kb882.freeservers.com/photo2.html)
captioned as FM221 & FM216 respectively:

http://lancaster-kb882.freeservers.com/images/crash_no21.jpg

&

http://lancaster-kb882.freeservers.com/images/crash_site_3.jpg

(The images are apparantly automatically blocked by the server hosting Troy's website)

Those photo's are reproduced and credited in the first two images in your post above.

The next 3 photos in your post depicting recent photos of FM216 appear to show the same basic remains as FM221 but clearly a different wreck with the evidence of the broken back of FM221 implied by the location of the tail unit.

Again little if any remains of the main fuselage and it appears the cockpit has been burnt away leaving the remanents of the canopy sitting in front of the main spar?

Similarly the remanents of the covered wagon section of the fuselage over the centre-section, and the deterioration of the centre-section itself suggests a fire was lit to consume the remains, that didnt succeed in destroying the wing outer panels and tail, but causing more rapid corrosion and loss of the heat stressed material over successive years?

Again, a recoverable tail section and wing outers but only of use to someone with a reasonable section of fuselage and a huge amout of time and money.

The earlier photo of FM221 by Anthony Jarvis appears to show the same type of deterioration to the centre-section and I suspect its fuselage and centre-section were similarly disposed of. I am sure I have seen photos of (FM221?) a badly battered section of cockpit nose with rudder pedals still in place, so I assume both wrecks are still "all there" just no longer intact, rather than being evidence of scrapping or souvenir hunters.

thanks for the photos Peter.

Regards

Mark Pilkington