Sorry to be another one to have to correct you. The Lancaster is not a big plane at all. It is quite tiny when you see it on the ground. The Battle of Britain Memorial flight were frequent visitors at the site I used to work at and I would say that it was not much longer than a Tornado ADV. Higher at the front, but much lower at the back, due to its back to front tricycle undercarriage. It had a wider wing span, but that does not make it a bigger aircraft.
The skin panels looked very much like a well patched up aircraft that had been in the wars, but if I remember rightly, this one never saw active service in WWII. But I will stand corrected, if anyone can tell me otherwise.
Many years ago, we had a German working party on site and the boss got wind of the arrival of the B.o.B. memorial flight's arrival. As we all looked out to the East for it, as soon as the first plane came into view (the Lancaster) he turned on his heels to let the rest of the Germans know that the flight was arriving. One wag turned round and shouted 'Look, the buggers are still s**t scared of them'.
Dave