Mynarski Memorial Lancaster Flight with Canadian Warplane Heritage

After watching the video I had two thoughts about the story. The first being that Mynarski for whom the plane was named was a Alberta pilot,killed in action during WW2 and was very decorated for his bravery. I believe he was only 20 or so when he died.

Secondly there is a park named after him in Alberta just south of Red-Deer in conjunction with the Penhold Airport,which was to have been an RCMP training center back in the '60s but they scrubbed the idea before it got off the ground. I don't know if you remember the Bomber Inn which was just across the road from Penhold,that had a Lancaster bomber mounted on a pedestal. It was around for years until about 1970 plus.

Anyway some guys got the bright idea to buy the old Lanc and restore it,so they took it off the pedestal and moved it across the highway to Penhold air base --spent tons of $ on its restoration,then on its first ground test it caught fire and all was lost, Bloody shame !

In the background of the first shots of the Lancaster you will see an F86 Golden Hawk,which used to belong to Milt Harredence, a famous lawyer from Calgary who was a friend of mine. He gave me an eight day clock from his previous aircraft,a P51,which he sold to buy a Vampire, which he later traded to the Air Museum for the F86. He used to fly it to court in Edmonton,and later gave it back to the Museum. It is the only one that did not get scrapped. So much for our Gov'ts love for history.

Likely the most fun I've had watching an aviation video in a long time. The photographer is obviously thrilled to get the ride and it shows. Enjoy!

Tom

This is the next best thing to a personal invitation to climb onboard; well worth watching full screen. The aircraft is the Canadian Warplane Heritage Mynarski Memorial Lancaster, one of only two of the type left flying in the world ... and the ONLY one the public has access to. The other one is still considered "ON STRENGTH" with the Royal Air Force and flies as the centrepiece of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Now ... imagine 1000 of these flying by night into a blacked-out hostile Occupied Europe from Britain, flown and crewed by airmen, mostly under 25 yrs of age!!! Imagine their courage ... and their fears. Imagine what would be going through your mind, if one of them was your young son ...

We often speak of The Fallen as heroes. I believe anyone who went, no matter how large or small their role, earned the title and our enduring gratitude. Because they did, we will never have to do as they did, on that scale, ever again. They truly were the Greatest Generation.

You may have already seen this but it's worth a second look. This video is all the more enjoyable due the correct balance of actual sound and suitable background music. A job well done.

http://vimeo.com/15498493

Sit back and enjoy

Thanks to Bill Hind for passing this on.

Ed. Note: The above was an email that it appears was forwarded to two or three people. The only one identified is Tom. Bill Hind sent it on to me. For a Mid-Upper this will bring back memories. For the rest of the crew there will be some familiar areas in the aircraft. For those of us who came after the video brings alive those stories we have read and heard about.