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This exact aircraft left the Fairchild production plant in Quebec, Canada in 1944 as a Bolingbroke IVT and was taken on Strength with the Royal Canadian Air Force with serial number 10201 later that year.

In 1946 the airframe was bought by Mr C. A. Yuill who stored it on his farm at Portage La Prairie, Manitoba for the next 20 years.

In 1984 the airframe was sold to Sir W. J. D. Roberts who transported it to the Strathallan Aircraft Collection in Scotland.

The airframe was sold again in 1989 to the Aircraft Restoration Company and was transported to the Duxford Airfield where it received a civil registration G-BPIV it has to this day.

On the 28th of May 1993, the Bolingbroke IVT was restored back to an airworthy condition in the colours of Z5722, 68 Squadron RAF.

In 1994 the aircraft received a new colour scheme and QY-C, L8841 markings of the 254 Squadron RAF and in 2003 changing the colours again to R3821/UX-N.

The Bolingbroke was grounded in 2003 and sold to Blenheim Ltd who re-built it in Duxford. The aircraft retained the extensively restored rear fuselage of 10201 but has the nose of the Blenheim L6739.

On the 20th of November 2014, the Blenheim performed its post-restoration flight painted in the markings of 23Sqn RAF when the aircraft nose section was serving at RAF Wittering in late 1939.

Bristol Blenheim 

The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years and in some cases throughout the Second World War. The aircraft was developed as Type 142, a civil airliner, in response to a challenge from Lord Rothermere to produce the fastest commercial aircraft in Europe. Type 142 first flew in April 1935, and the Air Ministry, impressed by its performance, ordered a modified design as the Type 142M for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a bomber. Deliveries of the newly named Blenheim to RAF squadrons commenced on 10 March 1937.

Development of the Type 142M was the Type 149 which Bristol named the Bolingbroke, retrospectively changed by the Air Ministry to Blenheim Mk IV and the Type 142M to the Blenheim Mk I. Fairchild Canada built the Type 149 under licence as the Bolingbroke. Blenheims Mk I and the Mk IV were adapted as fighters by the addition of a gun pack of four Browning .303 machine guns in the bomb bay. The Mk IV was used as a long-range fighter and as a maritime patrol aircraft; both aircraft were also used as bomber/gunnery trainers.

The Blenheim was one of the first British aircraft with all-metal stressed-skin construction, retractable landing gear, flaps, a powered gun turret and variable-pitch propellers. The Mk I was faster than most fighters in the late 1930s but the advance in the development of monoplane fighters made all bombers more vulnerable particularly if flown in daylight, though it proved successful as a night fighter. The Blenheim was effective as a bomber but many were shot down. Both Blenheim types were used by overseas operators, being licence-built in Yugoslavia and Finland.

The Bristol Blenheim was a twin-engine high-performance all-metal medium bomber aircraft, powered by a pair of Bristol Mercury VIII air-cooled radial engines, each capable of 860 hp (640 kW). Each engine drove a three-bladed controllable-pitch propeller and was equipped with both hand-based and electric engine starters. To ease maintenance, the engine mountings were designed with a split segment to facilitate rapid engine removal without disturbing the carburettors. A pair of fuel tanks, each containing up to 140 gallons, were housed within the centre section of the fuselage.

The fuselage of the Blenheim employed a light-alloy monocoque structure using open-section stringers and was constructed in three sections. The wing is also built in three sections, the centre section of which is bolted and riveted to the fuselage. The outer wing sections are tapered in chord and thickness. Extensive use of Alclad sheeting is made in elements such as the ribs, skin, flaps, and web reinforcement of the spars. The tail unit is of a cantilever monoplane style, using an all-metal tailplane and fin while the aerodynamically-balanced rudder and elevators use a metal frame covered with fabric. The undercarriage was hydraulically-retracted, with an auxiliary hand-pump for emergency actuation; medium-pressure tyres were used, complete with pneumatically-actuated differentially-control brakes.

The Blenheim typically carried a crew of three – pilot, navigator/bombardier and wireless (radio) operator/air gunner. The pilot's quarters on the left side of the nose were so cramped that the control yoke obscured all flight instruments while engine instruments eliminated the forward view on landings. Most secondary instruments were arranged along the left side of the cockpit, essential items such as the propeller pitch control were actually placed behind the pilot where they had to be operated by feel alone. The navigator/bombardier was seated alongside the pilot and made use of a sliding/folding seat whilst performing the bomb aiming role. Dual flight controls could be installed. The wireless operator/air gunner was housed aft of the wing alongside the aircraft's dorsal gun turret.

Armament comprised a single forward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine gun outboard of the port engine and a .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun in a semi-retracting Bristol Type B Mk I dorsal turret firing to the rear. From 1939 onwards, the Lewis gun was replaced by the more modern .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers VGO machine gun. A 1,000 lb (450 kg) bomb load could be carried in the internal bomb bay set into the centre section of the fuselage. Like most contemporary British aircraft, the bomb bay doors were kept closed with bungee cords and opened under the weight of the released bombs. Because there was no way to predict how long it would take for the bombs to force the doors open, bombing accuracy was consequently poor. The bomb bay could be loaded using a hand-operated winch incorporated into the fuselage.

To achieve its relatively high speed, the Blenheim used a very small fuselage cross-section, with its upper front glazing all at one angle in the form of a "stepless cockpit" that used no separate windscreen panels for the pilot, a notable feature of a substantial majority of German bomber designs, first conceived during the war years. Both fixed and sliding window panels were present, along with a transparent sliding roof. Other onboard equipment included a radio, cameras, navigation systems, electric lighting, oxygen apparatus, and stowage for parachutes and clothing.