Hi Gang,
I am sharing the below because at this point, I've tried my best and there is nothing more I can do about the situation.
As some of your may have seen through the grapevine of modern media, the owners of Avro Lancaster KB882, located in Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada have been forced to make a heart-breaking decision about their beloved Lancaster's future. Unable to secure funding to build a hangar for it, they have been actively looking for a new home to send their Lanc. They created a competitive application process for any Canadian organization to offer their group to be the new custodians for the airplane. The City of Edmundston, the true owners of Lancaster KB882, will be making their decision over the coming days.
(photo credit unknown)
From what I deduced, this Lancaster is deemed "Canadian Cultural Property" which means it cannot be exported, and can only be offered to an organization within Canada that can properly look after and prevent any further deterioration to the artifact. This past September, when I learned about this opportunity, and the possibility that I could potentially acquire this amazing piece of Canadian aviation history, and bring it to British Columbia for permanent display and restoration to flying condition, I jumped at the opportunity.
I created and incorporated an organization called the Lancaster Preservation Society, and started building a plan of how I would transport it, where I would keep it, how it would be housed, who would help restore it, and where the money would come from... Because let's be serious, this is probably one of the largest WWII warbird restoration projects anyone could possibly undertake, save for maybe a B-29, or B-24. I suspect when all is said and done, that $10 million dollars wouldn't be unrealistic.
I'd like to admit to you a funny fact. Because of the enormity of this undertaking, I have actually found it very easy to build support for the project. This isn't just a little airplane that played a little part in the history of humanity; it was a major player and dimensionally speaking, it's bloody huge! This ain't no Anson or Bolingbroke, of which I suspect it would be much harder to fundraise for. Needless to say, it has gotten people very excited. Also, so many Canadians have family connections to the Lancaster; whether it was a family member who helped build them, repair them, or flew aboard them during WWII.
To make a long story short, I'll say that I have gotten some amazing support and received some surprising commitments.
I have spoken with Abbotsford Airport management and they are incredibly supportive of our project, and they are committed to providing the lowest possible cost/leased land on which we can build our restoration facility.
I have also communicated with RCAF headquarters in Ottawa requesting the use of their heavy-lift resources to transport the Lancaster from New Brunswick to British Columbia (that's practically all the way across the continent). The RCAF representative I spoke to was very interested in the project and my request is just awaiting the Defense Minister's approval.
In just the last few days, I was also provided with a commitment from a person that for now I will keep nameless, who offered a currently dismantled hangar for us to use as our restoration facility! For this, I am incredibly grateful, as it was the last piece of the puzzle I needed before I could put forward a truly excellent application to acquire KB882.
So, I've got a place to keep it, a building to put it in, and a way of getting it here. I keep saying over and over in my head, "If you build it, they will come!"
Perhaps it's wishful thinking, but I expect that there will be a lot of enthusiasm and support for this project and hopefully lots of people interested in volunteering to bring this Lancaster back to life. Abbotsford Airport is home to Cascade Aerospace which does heavy maintenance on Boeing and Bombardier products, and they also have a contract with the RCAF to do retrofitting work on their C-130 Hercules. Conair Aerial Firefighting also has their home base at Abbotsford Airport, and they too do significant maintenance work on their fleet of waterbombers. Lastly, there is the University of the Fraser Valley's Aerospace Campus, where they have British Columbia's only aircraft structures training program. Sharing the airfield with these three organizations, I expect that we'll have a very large and skilled local population to draw volunteers from.
Abbotsford Airport is also home to the Abbotsford International Airshow, which attracts approximately 125,000 spectators every year. The exposure our project would get from just being at the airshow each year would be significant. It will serves as an excellent way for us to show off our project's progress on an annual basis. It would also be our main tool to attract new members and volunteers, as well as project funding.
The last thought I'd like to leave you with is a selfish one, but I think it's a good argument. Of the surviving 16/17 Lancaster in the world, 8 are located in Canada. Of these 8, 4 are in the province of Ontario, and none are in British Columbia. The closest Lancasters we have to Vancouver are two examples in Alberta. I want to change that by bringing KB882 to Abbotsford, British Columbia. I can't say for sure, but through the research I've done, it appears that all the organizations I am competing against to acquire this Lancaster are based in Ontario. This would mean Ontario's population of Lancasters would rise to 5 and BC would still be left Lancaster-less. I feel that Canada's aviation artifacts should be more evenly spread across the country, and it makes sense to grant one Lancaster to British Columbia. Hopefully this argument will help Edmundston City Council decide in our favour.
There you go. That's my story. This has been a project that I've poured my heart and soul into over the past 4 months. In such a short amount of time, I've come from one man dreaming, to an organization that is fully prepared to receive and begin an absolutely massive warbird restoration project.
Cheers,
David McIntosh
**Disclaimer: We'll take the Lancaster restoration as far as the airframe condition and funding will allow. It may only be static, or possibly ground running, but our goal is to fly her someday. That vision is what guides our efforts.
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