'Our dad built exact replica of WW2 bomber cockpit'

When Léon Ellison watched the World War Two epic The Dam Busters as a child, it triggered a lifelong obsession with the famous raid.

He would go on to spend decades researching the Avro Lancaster bomber before recreating an exact replica of its cockpit in his back garden in Binfield, Berkshire.

On Monday, following Léon's death in 2024, it was winched out of the garden and moved to the Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre in Lincolnshire, where engineers want to eventually use it as a fully working simulator.

RAF Metheringham, which is located nearby, was home to the Lancasters of 106 Squadron from November 1943 until the end of the war.

The Dam Busters flew 19 specially adapted Lancaster bombers over Germany's Ruhr Valley, dropping bouncing bombs made to explode under water at three dams, in May 1943.

They caused widespread damage, with 330 million tonnes of flood water from breached dams spreading for about 50 miles (80km), wrecking war production factories and two power stations.

But of the 133 members of the aircrew, 53 were killed and three others captured. Widespread casualties included up to 1,600 civilians.

Léon's son Adrian said: "He bought every book on the subject, he made models when I was a kid, and I guess he's built the biggest model you could build.

"He built it from scratch. He spent the best part of 20 years doing all the research, finding the original drawings, where they existed, taking photographs of every Lancaster that he could get his hands on.

"Then he started to build it, starting from the ground up, all of it fabricated in his workshop in the garden," Adrian added.

The only parts that were not made by Léon were the struts around the top half of the model, which were laser cut by a company for him.

"The guy was a genius. [It being moved is] a bit bittersweet. On the one hand, to see it 'fly' for the first time is incredible," Adrian added.

"It's going to a very good home, to a charity that's going to look after it, a place where Lancasters flew during the war. So it's the right place. But it feels a little strange."

Ian Brett, from the Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre, said the cockpit is an "absolutely fantastic piece of engineering".

He added: "It's a labour of love. It is exactly the same [as a Lancaster bomber] - very small and cramped and there are lots of places to bang your head."

Léon's daughter Belle Ellison added: "I always thought he was bonkers. Whenever you tried to get hold of him, you would phone him up and he would be in his workshop.

"He would quite often go to places to buy specialist parts and he would come home all excited, saying: 'oh, I've been out and I've bought a lot of trinkets.'

"It's been a long journey and obviously he spent so much of his time doing it. It's an incredible achievement."