A Lancaster bomber has flown into turbulence as the City of Toronto debates where the “rare and significant” piece of Second World War history should land.City staff have recommended the bomber be donated to the British Columbia Aviation Museum on Victoria Island, B.C., a plan the grassroots #SaveLancasterFM104 organization is staunchly against.“I just cannot see that airplane being anywhere else,” said Dan Grant, co-head of the group campaigning to restore the Lancaster bomber FM104 and display it in Toronto.Avro Lancaster bombers are one of the most famous Allied bombers of the Second World War. There are only 17 complete Lancasters left, and eight are located in Canada.Donating the bomber to the British Columbia Aviation Museum “should assure the aircraft’s long-term preservation and yield substantial public benefits through a novel approach to restoring and interpreting the Lancaster,” the staff report said.The aircraft was built in Malton, Ont. in 1944. After the war ended, it was used for maritime patrols and search-and-rescues by the Royal Canadian Air Force. The bomber was retired in 1964 and displayed at Toronto’s Coronation Park, and, later, at the Canadian Air and Space Museum at Downsview Park. The City of Toronto is paying $25,000 a year to store the dismantled plane near Stayner, Ont. There are no suitable city properties within Toronto to house the aircraft.The staff report says the city “does not have a budget for restoring objects like the Lancaster.”The British Columbia Aviation Museum is prepared to invest “five figures” into transporting the bomber across the country, and “millions of dollars” into its restoration, said museum president John Lewis.“Any museum would be delighted to have this very iconic aircraft and we’re no different,” Lewis said.The museum is “uniquely capable” of restoring the bomber, Lewis said. It will partner ...
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