On this day in 1941 the first Avro Lancaster, first took flight at Manchester, England’s Ringway Airport.
That first prototype was flew well, and the model was put into production. The aircraft became synonymous with Bomber Command, including squadrons from the Royal Canadian Air Force. The first Lancaster went into service in early 1942, with some continuing in use up to the 1960s.
Of the total of more than 7,300 Lancasters built, some 430 Lancaster B X models were produced in Malton, Ontario by Victory Aircraft.
Today only two are airworthy, on in Great Britain, and one based at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario.
Canada Post honoured the aircraft on a 17-cent postage stamp issued in 1980.