Council passes motion to swap Lancaster Bomber parts with Britain

Windsor's city council has passed a motion to swap aircraft parts with England.

Council, in a debate that lasted two hours Monday night, approved the exchangeof horizontal stabilizers on the Lancaster Bomberwith theBattle of Britain Memorial Flight Project team.

Only 17 Lancastersare known to still existtodayworldwide.Britain's Lancaster PA474 is one of only two still in flying condition.

Their horizontal stabilizers have almost reached their max flying hours,so they could use the same part from Windsor's Lancaster FM212,which will never fly again.

"Our aircraft in Windsor will never fly again," said Mayor Drew Dilkens after the council meeting.

"The best we can hope for is that it would taxi up and down the runway but it will never fly again, so fromour perspective, it's something we can do to help our neighbours across the ocean but also puts us in a better position than the position we're in today with respect to the quality of that part."

Windsor's Lancaster used to be placed on a pedestal in Jackson Park, but structural weakening caused it to be taken down for restoration.

Stabilizers to arrive in 2018

Dilkens says there's a lot more work to be done on the fuselage of the aircraftbefore the wings can be put back on.

"This swap Ithink makes a lot of sense. It actually puts us in a better position and gives us parts that are in better condition than the ones we're sending. We're going toget stabilizers back that have less than 6300 hours and we're giving ones that have 8000 hours of flying time on them. So from our perspective, we're actually receiving something that's in better condition than the one we're sending."

The city is in partnership with the Canadian Historical Aircraft Association.

"To be able to say that we've taken a part of our Lancaster and it's going to go on an EnglishLancaster that's actually flying, there's a good marriage there. and it's going to bode well for the city," John Robinson, President of CH2Atold media after council.

Robinsonsays the exchange comes at no cost to the city andhopes the stabilizers will come to Windsor by the end of Britain's 2018 flying season.

"Imagine the headlines - City of Windsor helps Battle of BritainMemorial Flight fly for another 50 years. What a tribute to us as citizens of the City of Windsor to let something like that happen."