Lancaster completes 1st leg of U.K. journey

(Updated)

After yesterday’s disappointment, the Lancaster has begun a one-of-a-kind barnstorming tour of England to mark its role in the Second World War — and to help raise funds, for its continued operation.

When you’ve just crept past your 70th birthday — you might be forgiven if it takes a little more effort to roll yourself out of bed, and get going in the morning.

Such was the case with Vera. On Monday she just wasn’t feeling up to snuff, and she needed some TLC.

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum CEO Dave Rohrer called in a team of specialists: “We had seven people working on it.”

Known to most of the world as the Mynarski memorial Lancaster, the crown jewel of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum was having some pacemaker problems: a magneto, and starter coil in the number two engine that needed replacement.

The crew worked well into the night. Then Rohrer says: “Finally, at 1:05 this morning, she came to life.”

And this morning, she was raring to go: “Well, I had a little talk with her last night and I said ‘Now, you’re going to England Vera, so you’d better behave’.”

No one wants Vera to behave more than the single first class passenger that paid nearly $80,000 for a one-way ticket home on the historic aircraft. You might think British entrepreneur Matthew Munson may have been a little bit apprehensive, facing 18 hours in the air on board an elderly war bird, with recent health issues.

Not a bit: “We’re good to go, the aircraft has been checked out top to bottom and it will be nice to get goin’.”

Munson will leave with fond memories of Hamilton, tinged with a bit of envy: “The facility that you’ve got here is amazing. To be able to do what you do and to fly this, people have the chance to ride in it, and see it is very good. We’re very jealous of it because we don’t have anything like this in the U.K.”

And before she even left the ground, Vera has been causing a stir “over ‘ome.”

Dave Rohrer: “Well what’s going on over there of course all the social media. It’s alive, it’s on all the front pages of the newspapers in London”

There’s time for a last minute text message and a fond farewell. Then – Vera is rolling, heading out on a journey that’s a once in a lifetime affair. And all that’s left is the diminishing drone — of the most beloved aircraft in Hamilton’s history.

Vera is getting some well deserved rest, having landed in Goose Bay, Newfoundland, after the first leg of her trip. Matthew Munson tweeted out a picture of the bomber on the ground in Goose Bay — around 4:15 our time this afternoon — right on schedule.

Next stop — possibly a layover in Greenland — before heading to Reykjavík, Iceland.