Which Canadian factory built the Lancaster?

Short answer

Victory Aircraft Limited, whose Malton plant received the contract on 18 September 1941 to build the Avro Lancaster Mk X heavy bomber. 430 Mk X were completed there, including six conversions to Lancastrian transports. The Canadian prototype, the KB700, came off the line on 1 August 1943.

Published: November 4, 2026 · Updated: November 4, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Which Canadian factory built the Lancaster?

Lancaster B Mk I R5852 of No. 83 Squadron in flight over Lincolnshire, June 1942

A Canadian factory under licence

Victory Aircraft Limited was a Canadian manufacturing company that, during the Second World War, mainly built British-designed aircraft under licence. Its Malton plant received the contract on 18 September 1941 to manufacture the Avro Lancaster Mk X heavy bomber. In August 1942 a Lancaster Mk I (R5727) from Avro Aircraft (United Kingdom) was flown across the Atlantic to serve as the production pattern aircraft.

From blueprint to one aircraft a day

From the arrival of the first blueprints to the first test flight only 16 months passed, a remarkable achievement that did not go unnoticed by Avro's management in the United Kingdom. The Canadian prototype, serial number KB700, came off Victory Aircraft's assembly line on 1 August 1943. Lancaster production at Victory Aircraft came to reach a rate of one aircraft a day.

Malton's tally

By the end of the war, the Malton plant had built a total of 3,629 Avro aircraft: 3,197 Ansons and 430 Lancaster Mk X. Among the latter were six conversions to Lancastrian transports. Victory Aircraft ceased operations on 11 November 1945.