Media Release: G for George lands back home at the Australian War Memorial, Australian War Memorial, 31 July 2025
G for George, the iconic Avro Lancaster and one of Australia’s most beloved aircraft, has officially returned to the Australian War Memorial.
A crowd gathered on the Memorial’s Parade Ground to watch the final leg of George’s journey back home. It marks another major milestone in the development of the Memorial’s new Anzac Hall and future Australians in Bomber Command exhibition.
“We have brought a national icon back home and next year people will get to see G for George as you have never seen her before in new Anzac Hall,” Matt Anderson, Director of the Australian War Memorial said.
Built in mid-1942 by Metropolitan Vickers limited in Manchester,UK, George flew its first mission on 6 December 1942.
Mr Anderson said: “G for George is loved by generations of Australians. It will stand as a centrepiece in our new galleries, helping to tell the stories of the 10,000 Australians that served in Bomber Command, the 4,100 who made the ultimate sacrifice and their loved ones back home.”
The new Bomber Command gallery will feature hundreds of stories of Australian Second World War veterans through the display of personal objects, artworks, and rarely seen collection items.
The permanent exhibition is set to open in the new Anzac Hall in 2026 and will provide a deeper exploration of Australia’s involvement in the air war over Europe.
The bomber’s last mission was flown against Cologne on 20 April 1944. It was withdrawn from service the following day.
Remarkably, during its 89 completed operational missions over Germany and occupied Europe with No. 460 Squadron RAAF, no crew members were killed in the aircraft.
By the end of the war over 7,000 Lancasters had been built and over half were lost in battle or flying accidents.
Australian War Memorial senior historian Dr Lachlan Grant said: “The Lancaster was one of the most iconic aircraft of the Second World War. It became a symbol of the Allies’ will to win by taking the war to the heart of Germany but it came at a great loss.
“Over 55,000 British and Commonwealth aircrew were killed in Bomber Command. Over 40 per cent of those who served.
“Over one third of Australians that served in Bomber Command never came home. Many of these men were listed as missing. So for families at home it sometimes took years after the war for mothers and fathers to learn the fates of their sons, if they were to find out at all.”
G for George has been in the Memorial’s collection since 1945 and the aircraft has been at the Memorial’s collection storage facility where our conservators, supported by the RAAF, have carefully prepared her for her return to public display.
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