It was a beautiful day in April 1964 and the crowd lining the fence at Whenuapai airfield was getting restless as the time was getting near to hearing a sound that was pretty rare nor likely to be heard ever again, the sound of four Merlins doing their job driving a Lancaster to carry out its final duty. The gleaming white aircraft with an anchor surrounded by a red circle and a large black 13 came into view, made a pass with that magical sound following her and then a lowering on finals. By this time, as the aircraft slowed down the engines making a backfiring popping sound as they always did when slowing down, she had made her way to the other side of the airfield and to the official welcome with members of the Government and MOTAT. The crew were lined up in their white uniforms and the formalities were concluded. She was here, and MOTAT was to look after her. Her final flight on the 16th April 1964 was to show her off to the people of the upper North Island and the city of Auckland.
The RNZAF was generous with time and personnel. Slowly, this great piece of machinery was dismantled into her various components. The wings and engines were carefully removed and finally she rested on a transporter ready to be towed to Western Springs. The other components were to travel separately to the site via local roads. Now, finally at Great North Road the aircraft was unloaded and slowly put back together. After this the aircraft reverted to her wartime markings and in recognition of importance to RNZAF crews one side was painted in the colours of 75 SQN and the other side to 101 SQDN. These markings were carefully placed as to what they were during the war. One of the highlights of her time on this site was the running of the two inner engines, but Merlins are extremely thirsty so this was not a regular occurrence.
In the late 1980's the site at Meola Road was being built and the aircraft was again partially dismantled and shifted to her permanent home and reassembled. A mid-upper turret was added and she now sits proudly with a fairly recently added nose art "The Captains Fancy". Underneath are replicas of the ordnance she could carry and deliver to Germany. A fitting tribute to all who served in Bomber Command.
Article by Peter Burch
Photograph courtesy Bill Rayner
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