BRUCE DICKINSON Flies Lancaster Bomber Plane Before IRON MAIDEN's Toronto Show: Video, Photos

According to CBC News, IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson flew the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's prized Lancaster Bomber plane before the band's sold-out Toronto show Saturday night (July 15).

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum museum CEO and pilot David Rohrer said that the storied aircraft, nicknamed Vera because of its VRA flight initials, holds a special place in the heart of the British musician.

"The first model airplane he ever built as a young lad was a Lancaster," Rohrer told CBC News.

The 72-year-old aircraft Dickinson flew is said to be Canada's only operational Second World War-era Lancaster bomber plane.

During the war, the Lancaster was able to carry 22,000 pounds of bombs.

Rohrer said a total of 7,377 Lancaster planes were built in both the U.K. and Canada.

Following the war, more than 200 Lancaster planes remained in service for Arctic reconnaissance and patrol. The Royal Canadian Air Force discontinued the Lancaster in 1964.

Dickinson, a registered commercial pilot who owns Cardiff Aviation, told Wales Online in a recent interview that he still gets a thrill out of flying, but that it's a totally different sensation to playing live.

"The satisfaction flying airplanes is getting the job done, but the satisfaction with playing live is external, looking out at all the people looking at you," he said. "With an airliner, it's all internal. If you've got passengers, nobody goes, 'Wow! Wasn't that great?' They're thinking about the rest of their day. Your job as an airline pilot is to deliver them safely and be invisible. That's quite nice for me because it's completely the opposite to what I do when I sing."

Dickinson flew his band around the world in their plane dubbed Ed Force One, named after IRON MAIDEN's iconic mascot Eddie.

He gained a commercial pilot's license after learning to fly in the 1990s. In 2012 he set up Cardiff Aviation, an aircraft maintenance company which has signed an agreement with the Djibouti government to help re-launch their national airline.