Owner of full-size Lancaster cockpit replica hopes it won’t bomb at auction

THE owner of a full-size Lancaster cockpit replica hopes it won’t bomb when it’s auctioned for £150,000.

Norman Groom, 85, spent six years building the 6ft by 15ft bit of bomber in his garage.

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The retired electronics engineer travelled the country to track down and acquire all of the original equipment from aero jumble sales during the 1990s.

The navigation table even has wartime astronomical books and maps that would have been used by the crew at the time.

Single Norman, of Beds, said: “Every rivet is in the right place.”

The inspiration for the build came when he bumped into a friend at an Aero Jumble sale in 1990 who was starting to rebuild an old bomber.

Once he had decided he would make the plane from scratch, he gained out-of-hours access to the Imperial War Museum in London to take close-up pictures and draw up plans for his project.

During the process, he had to build an extension for his garage to fit the plane parts inside.

He hopes it will be displayed once sold today at Flints Auctions, Newbury, Berks.

The replica will be going under the hammer at Flints Auctions, Newbury.

Auctioneer Matt Nunn said: “It is a truly unique and amazing object to come up for sale.

“This is the closest that people can now come to owning one of these iconic planes.”

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