Lancaster Bomber completes Stockport flyover - residents share remarkable pictures
By Alasdair Perry
31st May 2023 | Local News
On Sunday 28 May, as soapbox racers rattled through the town centre, a Lancaster Bomber flew over the Stockport rooftops.
A few minutes after 1pm, the historic aircraft completed three flypasts, circling landmarks such as the viaduct, the Hat Museum, and the Plaza building.
The Lancaster was not just visible from Stockport town centre, though; residents all across the borough, from Marple to the Heatons, were treated to a good view.
See this collection of pictures shared with us by residents.
The Lancaster Bomber was introduced in 1942, first seeing service with RAF Bomber Command (the bomber force in the RAF) in the same year.
It eventually became the principle bomber for the RAF, taking part in strategic offensives over Europe.
This Lancaster is one of only two still flying - the other is in Canada. This particular model - PA474 – was originally used as a reconnaissance plane in eastern and southern Africa.
Nearly all Lancasters were powered by four Rolls Royce Merlin engines. It was a development on the earlier Avro Manchester model, an early war medium bomber.
The majority of Lancasters during the war years were built by aircraft manufacturer Avro at their factory in Chadderton, near Oldham, only a few miles from Stockport. PA474, however, was built near Chester.
Lancaster Bombers were famously used in the dambusters raid - Operation Chastise - in 1943. The aircraft used the bouncing bombs developed by Barnes Wallis to breach the Möhne and Edersee dams, causing catastrophic flooding of the industrial Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley.
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