A British family has donated a hand-made Lancaster cockpit after their father spent 40 years creating it.
The family of a Berkshire man have donated a hand-crafted replica of the cockpit of a Lancaster bomber to the RAF Visitor Center after he spent almost 40 years making it in his garden shed.Leon Ellison, a retired electronics engineer from Pennfield, began the project after becoming fascinated by the 1955 film The Dam Busters as a child.Ellison spent about 20 years researching Lancaster bombers before devoting another two decades to hand-building a replica of the aircraft’s flight deck.His family kept the cockpit inside a homemade barn at his home until his death in June 2024 at the age of 77.His son, Adrian Ellison, told Bracknell News his father devoted most of his life to learning about Lancaster bombers.“He visited everyone who was still around,” Adrian said.“We thought he was crazy when he started building the cockpit from scratch, but he was actually a genius.”The family have now donated the replica to RAF Metheringham Airport Visitor Center in Lincolnshire, where staff plan to turn it into a functional flight simulator for visitors.The simulator will recreate the famous Dam Busters raids carried out by RAF Lancaster bombers during World War II.According to the family, Ellison always hoped to turn the cockpit into a fully functioning simulator but died before completing the project.
Most of the cockpit parts were completely handcrafted, including the detailed controls and gauges. Ellison also recreated the sound of Lancaster engines using a reverb machine.Adrian described watching the cockpit being lifted from the hangar by the crane as an emotional moment.“He wanted to build this cockpit to teach others about the Lancaster, and the simulator was his dream,” Adrian said. .“It is only right that it should be displayed at the RAF Visitor Center which was home to the Lancaster team.”Ian Brett, from the visitor centre, described the replica as “an absolutely fantastic piece of engineering”, according to the Bracknell News.The center was formerly home to the fleet of 106 Lancaster Bomber Squadron.
