This article was published on June 4, 2015 and information contained within may now be out of date.
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight which had to make an emergency landing after one of its engines caught fire looks set to miss much of the 2015 display season.
It has been reported that the UK’s only flying Lancaster bomber will miss a number of air shows including RAF Cosford and Weston Air Festival in Somerset.
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Lancaster Bomber was grounded indefinitely after an on-board fire near Coningsby
One of the engines caught fire on the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster during a practice run on May 7.
The plane landed safely at RAF Coningsby but was later unable to join a VE Day flypast as a result.
The original Thumper III 617 Squadron Lancaster B1, DV385 was one of a fleet of new Lancasters supplied to the squadron after the Dambuster Raid in 1943.
Warrant Officer Kevin Ball, from the BBMF, told BBC Lincolnshire: “The problems for us are really in the support structure – a lot of the cowlings were damaged – so it’s getting those repaired.”
He said: “It’s not so much the engine itself – it’s the surrounding structure, electrical looms and so on.
“We are looking to possibly air test during the last week of August, first week of September.
“If it all comes together maybe we will see her flying before the end of the season.”
