04/30/2019. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "One of 7,374 production aircraft delivered, this Lancaster was built under the Air Ministry Contract No.B69274/40 at Avro's Manchester works as a B.Mk.I. R5689 was allotted to RAF No. 50 Squadron at RAF Swinderly, Lincolnshire, England, on 22 June 1942 and coded "VN-N". In late June the aircraft was presented to the press and it hence it became one of the most photographed Lancasters of WW II.

In the following months R5689 was involved in operations to Germany, including Duisburg, Essen, Nuremberg, and France, including Le Havre. In the evening of September 18, 1942, the aircraft was one of eleven Lancasters that left RAF Swinderly for a "Gardening" mission (a code word for a mine-laying operation). Coming in for landing in the early hours of September 19, the aircraft crashed into woodlands near Thurlby, just one mile (1.6 km) from RAF Swinderly, due to failure of both port engines. Of the seven RAAF/RAF/RCAF crew members four were killed."