Glasgow Herald on 3rd July 1989
- Charles Church, KB976's
owner at the time, was killed in a
Spitfire crash. Prior to his death
legal proceedings were ongoing
with British Aerospace to attempt
salvage the Lancaster project.
Eventually these came to nothing
in respect of the aircraft's
restoration and sadly the project
was abandoned.
"I spent
nearly a year getting KB 976
ready to fly back to
Strathallan and in 1987 when
Charles Church purchased it
from Willie Roberts, I went
with the aircraft and was the
project manager on behalf of
the owner Charles Church. I
was there when the roof at
Woodford collapsed and was
with the project for Charles
during the "battle" with BAe
at Woodford to try to recover
it from the mess it was in.
During this time, I went to
Edmonton and purchased the
fuselage of KB 994 from my
friends who owned it and had
it parked at Namao air force
base. Then later we purchased
the Lincoln off Mike Woodley
to help sort the project out.
Around this time Charles was
sadly killed and the Lanc
project came to a halt and I
stored the Lanc components
with Bill Fisher in the wilds
of Lincolnshire....after that
it was out of my hands. "
Dick
Richardson
The
aircraft fuselage was relocated
several times in England as new
owners attempted to rebuild the
aircraft.
Here is the midsection of the
fuselage at Sandtoft airfield
showing the damage to the roof
section. This section is now in
Australia as part of the Avro
Lincoln project. Picture
courtesy of Steven Hatton - www.intothewind.co.uk
The
above two pictures show parts of
the aircraft at Biggin Hill
airfield.
The
above 3 pictures show the damaged
fuselage at North Weald.
Photographs courtesy of Phil
Furner, with permission from Glenn
White, author of the book "Avro
Lancaster The Survivors"
The next few
pictures on this page are of the
damaged fuselage tail end which
is now on display at Aeroventure
Museum in Doncaster, UK.
The
following pictures are of the
display at Aeroventure alongside
the KB976 fuselage section
In
the late 1980s the fuselage of
KB994 was brought from Canada to
the UK to replace some of the
damaged KB976 fuselage. Pictured
here is its arrival at
Bruntingthorpe. More details in
the "KB994/976 connection" page.
Around
1992, KB976 and some of KB994 were
shipped to Florida and the Fantasy
of Flight Museum.
The above shows shipping
containers at the musuem allegedly
containing the aircraft.
The
following 4 photographs are from
Florida and inside the containers
are courtesy of Glenn White,
author of the book "Avro Lancaster
The Survivors"
Looking
forward into the cockpit from
behind the radio bay.
The
nose, seemingly the original nose
that was on the aircraft when the
hangar roof collapsed. This is the
nose that was on the aircraft when
it flew over from Canada in 1975,
but is actually the short nose
taken off KB994 when the long nose
was removed from KB976 in 1969.
The
instrument panel with gauges
bagged and tagged.
The
mid section is stored in a hangar,
starboard side showing here.
The
mid section again, port side front
face showing in this picture.
This leaves the
current status of KB976
(and some of KB994) as
"in-storage" at the Fantasy of
Flight, Polk City, Florida USA.
Hopefully one day she will be
put back together again.
"....No
room to display the pieces at
present. I do plan to restore it
in the long term, but have other
projects ahead of it. Big four
engine bombers take a lot of
space.." Kermit Weeks,
August 2013
The
following 3 pictures of
the Packard Merlin engines
from KB976 at Fantasy of
Flight in 2013 are
courtesy of Mike Minear
The below
pictures and text are
current to December 2015,
courtesy of Kermit Weeks.
This is a
post from Kermit Week's
Facebook page regarding
KB976 and other plans at
the museum, posted
December 2015
"OK Gang, you all did your
part by clicking 3500
LIKES so here's my end of
the bargain and the rest
of the pics I took
recently of my
Lancaster project. This
airframe was
Canadian-built and flown
over to Scotland in 1975
to be housed in Sir
Willie's Strathallan
Museum in Scotland. I
first saw the airplane at
the 1983 Strathallan
auction where I purchased
the Mosquito on my
thirtieth birthday! The
Lancaster was
later sold to Charles
Church but unfortunately
damaged in a hangar
collapse while under
restoration. After Charles
was killed in a Spitfire
accident it eventually
ended up in Doug Arnold's
collection. I purchased
the project and parts from
his son David after Doug
passed. It was shipped to
Fantasy of Flight in the
mid-1990's and has
remained in storage ever
since.
I have never collected
anything I didn't intend
to fly but currently need
to focus on creating a
successful sustainable
business with Fantasy of
Flight before we dig into
the Lancaster.
One day I will have the
gut-wrenching decision to
face as to which aircraft
I should choose to be my
next four-engine aircraft
project and having to
decide between either a
B-17, a B-24, a
Sunderland, or a B-29
before the Lancaster
becomes a priority! I
realize that is a cross
not many have the
opportunity to bear but
such are the burdens I
find myself having to
endure.
I am also mindful (based
30 years of experience)
that it's a sad fact a
cool four-engine bomber
flying in my collection
will still not bring
enough people through the
door to pay the light
bill, let alone the cost
of the restoration. For
that reason, over the next
few years, I will be
focusing my finances and
efforts on creating
something that doesn't yet
exist that will begin with
Act III of Fantasy of
Flight. All my aircraft
will be there for future
consideration.
So, before I bring on the
wrath of the Lancaster
aficionados, I would like
to point out one more
thing: it seems we find
ourselves living at a time
where everyone expects
instantaneous
self-gratification and
I've discovered a few
airplane enthusiasts are
no exception. Somehow we
have lost any vision to
metaphorically build
"Cathedrals" anymore,
where the generation
dreaming of, designing,
and beginning the
construction of a
"Cathedral" never sees the
finished product that
their GRANDCHILDREN
eventually enjoy! And
while I support and
respect everyone out there
touring their four-engine
bombers, I will be
focusing on creating a
place with the potential
of becoming "THE FOCAL
POINT ON THE PLANET FOR
VINTAGE AIRCRAFT" where
everyone will come visit
us. Fantasy of Flight will
be where the aircraft are
restored and maintained
while being operated in
period settings as part of
an entirely new Themed
Entertainment concept.
Think about this - I'm in
the only
place on the Planet where
65,000,000 people a year
are looking for something
new to do. I hope one day
people will look back and
say, "This was so obvious,
why didn't somebody do
this sooner!" Visionaries
are always considered
crazy until they are
successful. Then they go
down in history as
geniuses. Time will tell!
There's a reason why I
changed the name of the
(Kermit) "Weeks Air
Museum" to "The World's
Greatest Aircraft
Collection!" It's not
about me. Sit back, watch,
and DON'T FORGET TO CLICK
LIKE!"
Kermit
Weeks, December 2015
Another
update from Kermit's
Facebook provided the
below text and picture
and videos to the
opening of the storage
containers.
"OK,
Gang, Paul and crew have
been doing a LOT of
unloading and organizing
old containers while I
was gone.
After I got home from my
trip out west, Paul gave
me a quick tour of what
they’d accomplished!
Here’s a bunch of
Lancaster parts that
haven’t seen the light
of day in several
decades! And while there
will be a LOT of work to
get it back together,
there was a lot of
pretty cool stuff! I
forgot I had this!
And before anybody tells
me when it will be
flying and how to spend
my money, don’t be so
selfish, as I have plans
to save this for your
great-granddaughters to
enjoy! Think of their
future.
Expect a video soon!"
Kermit Weeks, 4th
April 2022, Polk City,
FL, United States
Additionally,
at April 2022 the damaged
fuselage tail end from
KB976 previously on
display at Aeroventure
Museum in Doncaster, UK is
being restored by
Lincolnshire Aviation
Heritage Centre at East
Kirkby. This is being
restored and will be
fitted to East Kirkby's
Lancaster NX611 to allow
it to continue to do taxi
runs as a complete
aircraft whilst their own
fuselage tail is restored
to airworthy condition. A
similar arrangement is
being undertaken with the
outer wings of Lancaster
NX664/WU21 from Paris.
NX664’s parts will
eventually return to
Paris. Hopefully the
French will eventually
have a complete static
aircraft in the future.
Pictures
below are courtesy of
David Kavanagh,
showing the KB976 rear
being repaired and readied
for use, alongside
pictures of NX611 being
separated from her
original rear fuselage.
