Introduction
Section 1 Military Service
Section 2 RCAF Mk10 AR Details Section 3 Canadian Civilian Life
Section 4 Preparations for Leaving Canada Section 5
Flights from Canada to Strathallan, Scotland

Section 6
Strathallan Life

Section 7
Leaving Strathallan
Section 8
To British Aerospace, Woodford
Section 9
1988 to present
Section 10
KB976 and KB994 Connection
Section 11
Nose and Fuselage Build
Section 12
Documents List 1
Section 13
Documents List 2
Links 
Credits
Email Me 

Lancaster KB976 Section 6 - Strathallan Life

On arrival in Scotland, KB976 became part of the Strathallan Aircraft Collection owned by Sir William Roberts. This collection was started in the early 1970s and grew over the 1970s and early 1980s to be an amazing set of vintage aircraft in an excellent state of repair. 
KB976 had to wait for a hangar to be built for her to be stored in, until that time for a few months she lived outside. Over the years the engines were occasionally started, especially at the annual Strathallan Airshow where, although she did not fly, the sound alone of 4 Merlin engines was a rare treat.
In the mid 1970s when she arrived at Strathallan, the only other airworthy Lancaster in the world was PA474 of the Royal Air Force's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
Eventually the engines were filled with corrosion inhibitor, with no plans to run the engines again. The aircraft was gradually converted back to wartime colours and her LQK markings with gun turrets fitted, this was completed around early 1985. During all this time several attempts were made to secure sponsorship which would allow her to return to the skies and perhaps perform on the airshow circuit in the UK. The Strathallan museum also continued to look for more appropriate undercarriage for operation at Strathallan airfield whilst fitting her with authentic and genuine cockpit and gun turret parts.
Sadly she never flew again despite her epic journey from Canada, but remained the most significant exhibit in an amazing collection. The collection was dispersed and sold over the 1980s, with KB976 being sold in 1986 and leaving dismantled, by road to England in April 1987.

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Sir William Roberts and his Aircraft Collection on Strathallan Estate, Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland, PH3 ILA
Clipping courtesy of Margaret Issa
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Photograph courtesy of Dick Richardson
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Photograph courtesy of Dick Richardson
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Sir William in his Lancaster.
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Photograph courtesy of Michael Blank
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Photo courtesy of Paul Thallon
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Photo courtesy of Paul Thallon
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Photo courtesy of R.A. Scholefield

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Avro Lancaster B Mk.X KB786 - Strathallan
                        Collection, 1976
Photo by very kind permission of Franco Sella
Avro Lancaster B Mk.X KB786 - Strathallan
                        Collection, 1976
Photo by very kind permission of Franco Sella
Avro Lancaster B Mk.X KB786 - Strathallan
                        Collection, 1976
Photo by very kind permission of Franco Sella
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The above two pictures show (left) the airfield from KB976's cockpit in 1975, and (right) the museum hangar finally complete some years later and housing KB976 and much of the rest of the collection. The circle in the grass is the Scottish Parachute Club's gravel landing 'pit' and the two large aircraft beside the museum hangar are a De Havilland Comet and an Avro Shackleton, both part of the aircraft collection.

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Photo courtesy of Peter Nicholson

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Photo courtesy of Peter Nicholson
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Photograph courtesy of Wallace Shackleton
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Photograph courtesy of Wallace Shackleton
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Photograph courtesy of Wallace Shackleton
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Photograph courtesy of Wallace Shackleton
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Photograph courtesy of Wallace Shackleton
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Photograph courtesy of Wallace Shackleton
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Photograph courtesy of Wallace Shackleton
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Photograph courtesy of Dick Richardson
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By now much of the painted livery that she arrived with has been stripped off,
this was done with the assistance of volunteer members of the Strathallan Aircraft Society.
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30th May 1981 - Picture courtesy of David A. Ingham
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Photograph courtesy of Alan Waddell
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Perthshire Advertiser cutting supplied by Margaret Issa
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Hamish Mahaddie gets the feel of a Lancaster cockpit again in KB976 at Strathallan in 1982.  Leith-born Group Captain Thomas Gilbert Mahaddie DSO, DFC, AFC (Bar), Czech Military Cross, C.Eng, FRACS, completed several operational tours early in World War II before joining the Pathfinder Force to recruit (steal, said many senior squadron officers, who nicknamed  him “Don Bennett's Horse Thief”) top crews for the elite group that located and marked targets with flares. He retired from the RAF in 1958 and became involved with the film industry, tracking down rare aircraft for major movies such as Battle of Britain, 633 Squadron, A Bridge Too Far, Heroes of Telemark and Operation Crossbow.  Hamish Mahaddie died in 1997 at the age of 85.  photo © Arthur Allan
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“Tell me, son”, asked Hamish Mahaddie, “do you fly that wee thing or wear it?” The former Pathfinder shares a joke at Strathallan in1982 with top aerobatics pilot Richard Goode, sitting in the tiny cockpit of his Pace aircraft, dwarfed by the massive nose of KB976.  photo © Arthur Allan
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25th July 1982 Engine Runs
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The repaint has started. See newspaper articles further down this page.
Photograph courtesy of Dick Richardson
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Photograph courtesy of Dave Thaxter http://www.british-caledonian.com/
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The Scottish Parachute Club still operates at the airfield to this day.
Here member Mike Ramsey lands in front of the Lancaster whilst the repaint is in progress.

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Clipping courtesy of Margaret Issa
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Photograph courtesy of Dick Richardson
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Photograph courtesy of Dick Richardson
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Photograph courtesy of Dick Richardson
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Photograph courtesy of Alan Waddell
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Although the small rear observation windows of the Lancaster AR configuration were present when the new paint scheme was first applied, these were eventually removed for further WW2 authenticity.
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Photograph courtesy of Alan Waddell
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10th August 1986 - Photograph courtesy of Stephen Rendle
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Photograph courtesy of Graeme Stewart
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Photograph courtesy of Alan Waddell
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Photograph courtesy of Derek Fleming

This was as good as it got for KB976 at Strathallan - back to original WW2 colours and appearance. 
This was a very high class restoration and certainly one of the main show pieces of the collection.
She was a credit to her owner Sir William Roberts and to Dick Richardson
and the rest of the engineering team at the Strathallan Aircraft Collection.


Introduction
Section 1 Military Service
Section 2 RCAF Mk10 AR Details Section 3 Canadian Civilian Life
Section 4 Preparations for Leaving Canada Section 5
Flights from Canada to Strathallan, Scotland

Section 6
Strathallan Life

Section 7
Leaving Strathallan
Section 8
To British Aerospace, Woodford
Section 9
1988 to present
Section 10
KB976 and KB994 Connection
Section 11
Nose and Fuselage Build
Section 12
Documents List 1
Section 13
Documents List 2
Links 
Credits
Email Me