Canada’s only Avro Lancaster in flying condition has landed in Winnipeg, where there is a deep connection to an aircraft considered one of the famous Allied bombers of the Second World War.
Nicknamed VeRA for its flight initials, VR-A, it is also known as the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster in honour of Andrew Mynarski, who grew up in Winnipeg’s North End and died trying to help rescue a trapped crew member aboard a Lancaster that was on fire and going down.
Unable to free his friend, tail gunner Pat Brophy, and with his parachute and clothing on fire, Mynarski reluctantly gave up and jumped.
He did not survive the fall.
He earned the Victoria Cross, the highest award for bravery in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Awarded posthumously in 1946, it was the last Victoria Cross received by any Canadian serviceman in the Second World War.
“He’s a huge Winnipeg hero,” said Terry Slobodian, president and CEO of the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada in Winnipeg, where the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster landed Tuesday afternoon for a two-day stopover.
“The other connection to Winnipeg� is … we had the British Commonwealth Air Training program, and many folk from Winnipeg and the Prairies learned to fly here and then were either pilots or crew on the Lancaster,” Slobodian told CBC Manitoba Information Radio guest host Faith Fundal.
It’s been 10 years since the plane was last in Winnipeg — well before Slobodian started at the museum in 2019. He has never seen it in person.
“My uncle was a Lancaster bomber pilot and he flew 32 missions and he inspired me to get into air cadets and aviation. So to be able to go onto Lancaster for the first time will be emotional for me, just like it has been for so many other people whose family has served,” Slobodian said.
The last time it was in Winnipeg, 3,000 people showed up to see it, including a man who once flew a Lancaster. Many others talk about their fathers or grandfathers who flew them or were part of a crew, Slobodian said.
“To come back that many years later and be able to go through it is a very emotional experience for them.”
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Canada’s only Lancaster bomber in flying condition, the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster, landed in Winnipeg on Tuesday. Visitors shared memories of loved ones who flew on one during the Second World War.
The Mynarski Memorial Lancaster, owned and operated by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, was originally built at Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ont., in 1945.
The museum bought it in 1977 for about $10,000 and a team of volunteers spent 11 years restoring it before it took flight again in September 1988.
It has since gone on several coast-to-coast tours of Canada and, in 2014, was flown to England to tour the U.K. with the world’s only other flying Lancaster.
At more than 21 metres long and with a wingspan exceeding 31 metres, the Lancaster has an imposing presence. It can carry a crew of seven, with three gunner positions, and has four engines.
“It’s very loud,” Slobodian said.
‘Good night, sir’
On June 12, 1944, a week after D-Day, Mynarski was the mid-upper gunner of a Lancaster aircraft on a mission to attack a target at Cambrai, France.
The aircraft, KB726, was attacked from below and behind by an enemy fighter. The plane caught fire, two engines failed, and it began plummeting.
The captain ordered everyone to parachute to safety.
Mynarski strapped on his parachute and was about to abandon the plane when he saw Brophy trapped in his turret. Mynarski ran to help but the hydraulics for the hatch were damaged. After a number of attempts to pull it open, Mynarski repeatedly hit the turret with a fire axe but to no avail.
Brophy yelled for Mynarski to save himself. He crawled through the burning plane, his clothing on fire. When he reached the escape hatch, he stood at attention, saluted his friend and jumped into the night.
Brophy, who survived the crash when the turret broke open and pitched him out, later recounted the story of his friend’s heroism, and how Mynarski said, ‘Good night, sir,’ as he saluted.
Mynarski’s descent was rapid due to the burning parachute. He hit the ground hard and also suffered extensive burns. French farmers found him and rushed him to a doctor, but he died soon after at age 27.
The memorial Avro Lancaster is painted the colours of the aircraft from that mission, and branded with the same number, KB726, in honour of Mynarski.