Avro Lancaster
British heavy bomber in action during World War II

Avro Lancaster
Type: British heavy bomber.
History: Undoubtedly one of the major import planes of World War II, and one of the greatest aircraft of history, the Avro Lancaster came about because of the failure of its predecessor.
In September 1936 the Air Staff issued specification P13/36 for a twin-engined bomber of exceptional size and capability to be powered by two of the very powerful engines then under development: the Rolls- Royce Vulture 24-cylinder X engine was preferred.

Lancaster bomber in action: incendiaries cascade from one of the highly secret Lancaster Mk I of No 101 Sqn, from Ludford Magna, with Airborne Cigar electronic jamming equipment.

Handley Page switched to four Merlins with the Halifax bomber, but Avro adhered to the big-twin formula and the first Type 679 Avro Manchester flew on 25 July 1939. Altogether 209 Manchesters were delivered by November 1941, but the type was plagued by the poor performance and unreliability of its engine. Though it equipped eight Bomber Command squadrons, and parts of two others plus a flight in Coastal Command, the Manchester was withdrawn from service in June 1942 and survivors were scrapped.
Nevertheless the basic Manchester was clearly outstandingly good, and in 1940 the decision was taken to build a longer-span version with four Merlin engines.

The first Lancaster (BT 308) flew as the Manchester III at the beginning of 1941. So outstanding was its performance that it went into immediate large-scale production, and Manchesters already on the line from L7527 onwards were completed as Lancasters (distinguished from later aircraft by their row of rectangular windows in the rear fuselage).

Deliveries began in early 1942 to 44 Sqn at Waddington, and on 17 April 1942 a mixed force of 44 and 97 Sqns made a rather foolhardy daylight raid against the MAN plant at Augsburg, whereupon the new bomber's existence was revealed.
From then until the end of World War II Lancasters made 156,000 sorties in Europe and dropped 608,612 long tons of bombs.
Total production, including 430 in Canada by Victory Aircraft, was 7,377. Of these 3.425 were Mk I and 3,039 the Mk III with US Packard-built engines.

The Mk I (FE) was equipped for Far East operations with Tiger Force.
The Mk VI had high-altitude Merlin engines and four-blade propellers and with turrets removed served 635 Sqn and 100 Grp as a countermeasure and radar spoof carrier.
Other marks served as photo-reconnaissance and maritime reconnaissance and air/sea rescue aircraft.

Lancasters were also used for tactical duties. This aircraft from No 576 Sqn was lost on 24 September 1944 during an attack on Calais.

Lancasters took part in every major night attack on Germany. They soon showed their superiority by dropping 132 long tons of bombs for each aircraft lost compared with 56 (later 86) for the Halifax and 41 for the Stirling.
Around Caen, Lancasters were used en masse in the battlefield close-support role, and they finished the war dropping supplies to starving Europeans and ferrying home former prisoners of war.
The last MR7 leaving RAF front-line service in February 1954.

Users: RAF (British, Canadian and Polish squadrons), Canada, New Zealand.

Two photo-reconaissance pictures of Peenemunde, the German rocket development research center, taken before (above) and after (down) the 17/18 August 1943 attack, which was done by RAF Lancasters, clearly show how effective this raid was.

A rare Britsh colour photography from World War II. This splendid picture was taken from beside the pilot of a Lancaster of 50 Sqn at Swinderby, August 1942.

3d model Avro Lancaster

Late-war Lancaster bombers in action over a cloud-covered target in daylight, after spring 1944.

This is the aftermath picture from a Lancaster raid on Frankfurt (railway aerial) on 12/13 September 1944. This raid was destinated to be the city's last major attack of the war.