A unique sight in the skies above Willow Run Airport during the Thunder over Michigan Airshow: the Avro Lancaster bomber!
The aircraft in the photo is an Avro Lancaster, one of only two airworthy examples in the world. This aircraft was built in Toronto at Victory Aircraft as construction number 3414 and was delivered in July 1945. Because the war in Europe was over, the plane was transferred directly to storage at CFB Trenton. There it was later modified for maritime reconnaissance, but was damaged upon delivery and subsequently repaired, it is now 1953.
From 1953 until 1963 the aircraft served as search and rescue aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean.
In November 1963 she was retired and sold to the Royal Canadian Legion and served as a gatekeeper at Goderich, Ontario.
In 1977 she was donated to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum and brought to Hamilton by a Chinook helicopter in 1979. She underwent a lengthy restoration before returning to flight in September 1988 and has been flying an average of 50 hours per year ever since.
I took this photo on August 30, 2015 during the Thunder over Michigan Airshow.
I am Jaap van den Berg and photography has become a great passion of mine since 2010. Since then I travel all over the world to take pictures of military aircrafts. But besides aircraft I also love to photograph other subjects like landscapes, architecture, flowers, animals, .. Read more…