The operational service life of the Lancaster bomber ended in 1964 when the French military replaced the last of their ageing fleet stationed on the island of New Caledonia, near Australia. The story of Lancaster NX611, however, was just beginning. It was at this time that a group of aviation enthusiasts devised a plan to return NX611 to the UK. Their dream was realised in May 1965 when NX611 touched down on Biggin Hill runway in Kent, having made the journey from Sydney in Australia.

This film tells the rollercoaster story of the Historic Aircraft Preservation Society (later Reflectaire), as its members tried repeatedly to establish a museum centred around NX611. Featuring archive film and photographs recorded by these members, digitally remastered images show NX611 as you’ve never seen it before – in flight!

NX611: The Flying Years includes exclusive archive film of engine and air tests conducted to achieve a CAA certificate of airworthiness, in flight film recorded during the aircraft’s visits to airfields across Britain, plus visitors that included Richard Todd, Leonard Cheshire and Eve Gibson, widow of Guy Gibson.

Viewers of this DVD will witness the emotional recollections by the few men in England who can claim to have flown in Lancaster NX611. Despite every effort to keep the aircraft flying and establish a museum, their Lancaster seemed destined for a different home, eventually becoming the centrepiece of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby, in Lincolnshire. 

Today, the Panton family are poised to continue this story, returning NX611 ‘Just Jane’ to the skies again, nearly half a century after its last flight.

• Total running time 1 hr 38 minutes
• Colour video plus archive film footage
• Aspect ration 16:9