Lancaster Bomber set to fly over Carlisle airfield

An historic Avro Lancaster bomber will fly over Cumbria in July as part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

The Lancaster is one of just two air worthy bombers left and is set to fly over the Solway Aviation Museum on Sunday, July 23 at 2.52pm.

Cumbria has welcomed its fair share of ionic aircraft recently with a 1950s De Havilland jet fighter, a bullet-scarred, battle-used Vietnam War Huey Helicopter and a WW2 Yak-3 fighter all spotted at the recent Kirkbride Airshow and three Hercules aircraft were spotted over Bassenthwaite Lake on their retirement flight.

The RAF describes the Avro Lancaster as the most famous and successful RAF heavy bomber of World War Two.

The prototype Lancaster took to the air for its first flight from Woodford, Manchester, on January 9, 1941, with the first production Lancaster flying later that year on October 31.

The Lancaster bomber was at the centre of the famous Operation Chastise – commonly called the ‘Dam busters’ raid – in 1943.

There are only 2 Lancaster bombers left that are able to fly (Image: Archieve)Legendary engineer, Barnes Wallace, created a ‘bouncing bomb’ designed to destroy key dams in the industrial Ruhr area of Germany.

Two dams were destroyed, and 53 RAF soldiers lost their lives in the raid. The raid was later immortalised in the 1955 film ‘The Dam Busters’.

The aircraft are often seen at events commemorating World War II, upon British State occasions, notably the Trooping the Colour and at air displays throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.

The Lancaster bomber also played a key role in Bomber command during the war where more than 55,000 aircrew lost their lives.

A ‘bomb aimer’ who trained at Longtown airfield and flew in Lancasters throughout the war recently celebrated his 100th birthday.

The plane is set to fly over the Solway Aviation Museum at 2:52pm on Sunday, July 23, weather permitting.