A piece of history flew over Empire Machinery today. The Mynarski Memorial Avro Lancaster Mk10 Bomber is stopping in Winnipeg for a four day visit and with Empire Machinery located north of the Winnipeg Airport we were able to see the Lancaster fly over our heads.
The Lancaster Bomber was one of the main Heavy bombers used during WWII. There were 7,377 built and only two remain air worthy. During WWII, the Lancaster flew 156,000 sorties dropping more than 608,000 tons of bombs.
The Mynarski Memorial Avro Lancaster is named after the Winnipeg born, Andrew Mynarski. Mynarski received the Victoria Cross for his actions on his last flight. On Mynarski’s last mission his Lancaster had received flack and cannon fire, before bailing out he noticed his friend and tail gunner was trapped. Unfortunately in his unsuccessful attempt to free the gunner he was burned and later died from his injuries. Ironically the tail gunner survived the crash and was able to relay this tragic story. Mynarski was the only crew member not to survive the mission.
