A British family donated a hand-built Lancaster cockpit that their father spent 40 years building.
A handcrafted replica of the cockpit of a Lancaster bomber, which he spent almost 40 years building in his garden shed, has been donated to an RAF visitor center by his family.Leon Ellison, a retired electronics engineer from Binfield, began the project as a child after being fascinated by the 1955 film “Dambusters.”Ellison spent about 20 years studying the Lancaster bomber and then spent another 20 years hand-building an exact replica of the aircraft’s flight deck.His family kept the cockpit in his home-made hangar until his death in June 2024 at the age of 77.His son Adrian Ellison told the Bracknell News that his father had devoted much of his life to understanding the Lancaster bomber.“He visited everyone who was still around,” Adrian said.“We thought he was crazy when he built the cockpit from scratch, but he’s actually a genius.”The family has now donated the replica to the RAF Metheringham Airport Visitor Center in Lincolnshire, where staff plan to turn it into a flight simulator for visitors.The simulator will recreate the famous “Dam Busters” attacks carried out by RAF Lancaster bombers during World War II.Ellison had always wanted to transform the cockpit into a fully functional simulator, but died before completing the project, according to family members.Much of the cockpit is entirely hand-built, including detailed controls and instruments. Ellison also used frequency devices to recreate the sound of the Lancaster engine.Adrian described the thrilling moment of watching the cockpit being lifted out of the hangar by a crane.“He wanted to build this cockpit to introduce other people to the Lancaster, and the simulator was his dream,” Adrian said. .“It feels right that it will be on display at the RAF Visitor Centre, home of Lancaster.”Ian Brett from the visitor center described the replica as “an absolutely brilliant piece of engineering”, according to the Bracknell News.The center was once home to No. 106 Squadron Lancaster Bomber Squadron.
