NX611 was built by Austin Motors at Longbridge near Birmingham, in April 1945 and was ne of the bombers destined to be part of 'Tiger Force' in the Far East, taking the War to Japan. However, after Japan surrendered due to the atomic bombs being dropped at Horoshima and Nagasaki, the Lancasters were no longer needed in the Far East and so they were put into storage.
NX611 was eventually sold to France in 1952, where she was used firstly as a maritime patrol aircraft, then as an air sea rescue and cartographic survey aircraft. She was eventually overhauled in Australia before being flown back to the UK in May 1965. NX611 flew on the display circuit for a couple of years, but the cost of maintaining the aircraft proved prohibitive and the aircraft was put up for auction in 1972. Eventually the aircraft was installed at RAF Scampton as a gate guardian, and in 1983 was purchased by two brothers, Harold and Fred Panton, as a memorial to their brother Christopher who had died during the famous Nuremburg raids in 1944. Agreeing to let NX611 remain at Scampton for the remainder of the intended ten year period as the station gate guardian, in 1987 NX611 was transported by the RAF to the Panton brothers' farm, the old wartime RAF bomber airbase at East Kirkby in Lincolnshire. NX611 is painted in the colur scheme of 'Just Jane' and is being painstakingly restored, with the intent of restoring her to flying condition in due course.
This beautiful aircraft can be seen taxying at East Kirkby - see the excellent website at https://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/ for details.
NX611 was eventually sold to France in 1952, where she was used firstly as a maritime patrol aircraft, then as an air sea rescue and cartographic survey aircraft. She was eventually overhauled in Australia before being flown back to the UK in May 1965. NX611 flew on the display circuit for a couple of years, but the cost of maintaining the aircraft proved prohibitive and the aircraft was put up for auction in 1972. Eventually the aircraft was installed at RAF Scampton as a gate guardian, and in 1983 was purchased by two brothers, Harold and Fred Panton, as a memorial to their brother Christopher who had died during the famous Nuremburg raids in 1944. Agreeing to let NX611 remain at Scampton for the remainder of the intended ten year period as the station gate guardian, in 1987 NX611 was transported by the RAF to the Panton brothers' farm, the old wartime RAF bomber airbase at East Kirkby in Lincolnshire. NX611 is painted in the colur scheme of 'Just Jane' and is being painstakingly restored, with the intent of restoring her to flying condition in due course.
This beautiful aircraft can be seen taxying at East Kirkby - see the excellent website at https://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/ for details.
Category: Historic Aircraft
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