Avro Lancaster B.III / B.X
Packard-built Merlins from America — and the B.X, the Lancaster built in Canada · First flight 1942 · In service 1943
The B.III was built side by side with the B.I and cannot be told apart from it externally. The difference was under the cowlings: Merlins built under licence in the United States by Packard, with Bendix-Stromberg pressure carburettors that needed extra slow-running cut-off switches in the cockpit. Around 3,020–3,030 were built, almost all by Avro, and in squadron service the B.I and B.III designations were effectively interchangeable — a change of engines turned one into the other.
The B.X was a B.III built in Canada by Victory Aircraft at Malton, Ontario, with Canadian and American instruments and electrics. The first, KB700 "Ruhr Express", flew in August 1943 and in September became the first Canadian-built Lancaster to reach Britain. Later batches had the heavier Martin 250CE mid-upper turret with two 12.7 mm guns, mounted further forward for balance. 430 were built, most of them in 1945; many went straight into storage and later became the RCAF's post-war maritime and survey Lancasters.
The second flying Lancaster in the world is a B.X: FM213 of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, rolled out in July 1945, restored by volunteers and flying again since 11 September 1988. In 2014 it crossed the Atlantic to fly with the RAF's PA474.
