Arguably the most famous of the World War 2 bombers, the Lancaster was the third of the four-engine ‘heavies’ to be used by Bomber Command of the RAF, the other two being the Stirling and Halifax. The Avro Lancaster continued the tradition of naming bombers after major British towns. A.V. Roe designed and built the Lancaster in vast numbers, and it was introduced to frontline service at the beginning of 1942. It was designed by Roy Chadwick as a contemporary to the Handley Page Halifax using the same Air Ministry specification. It first flew in February 1941.
The Lancaster was a development of the existing Avro Manchester, a twin-engine heavy bomber which saw limited service in late 1940. Only 209 were built. It was classed as a failure very early on due to the under-performance of its Rolls-Royce Vulture engines and withdrawn from service in early 1941. It was redeveloped as a four-engine bomber and renamed the Lancaster.
The Lancaster is a four-engine monoplane heavy bomber with mid-cantilever wings and twin tail. It was all metal skin apart from some ailerons, over a robust designed fuselage and flying surfaces giving it the ability to receive much punishment. It had a crew of seven and ten Browning .303 guns in four turrets although the ventral turret was quickly removed due its staggering inability to perform. The Lancaster was built by four aircraft companies and one motor company in the UK as well as under license in Canada. A total of 7,377 were produced during the war with production ceasing in early 1946. Avro produced most of them as the B.I. 3,030 were produced as the B.III, however, there were very few differences or modifications due to its overall design perfection, the B.III being powered by the American Packard Merlin engines. The B.I was never superseded and stayed in production throughout the war. There was a B.II built by Armstrong Whitworth using the Bristol Pegasus radial engine but only 300 were built. The B.IV and B.V were renamed due to design alterations with larger wingspan and lengthened fuselage to become the Lincoln B.I and B.II respectively. There was a B.VII, the last production type, which again differed only slightly with more powerful Merlin type and the newer turrets with .5 Browning machine guns. The Canadian Lancasters were all B.III’s but renamed the B.X series.
Variants included maritime patrol versions for RAF Coastal Command and the conversion of 23 B.III’s to carry the bouncing bomb.
It was powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines giving it immense power. It was fast for a bomber, manoeuvrable, easy to fly and a solid bomb platform. It could carry 18,000lb maximum normal load of bombs in different configurations within its long bomb bay. It could carry all the larger bombs including the 22,000lb ‘Grand Slam’ used famously on the U-boat bunker raids with the bomb bay doors and turrets removed.
It was first operated by 44 Squadron and 97 Squadron both based at Waddington in Lincolnshire in early 1942. Production increased dramatically and by early 1943, 50 squadrons operated the type forming the mainstay of Bomber Command for the duration of the war and beyond.
Countless missions were flown over Germany to destroy manufacturing facilities as well as military targets during night sorties. Some daytime sorties were flown but only by small numbers of aircraft in any one raid. During late 1943 and early 1944 bombing raids on German mainland eased off to concentrate on the build up to D-Day with many targets being switched to transport and communication facilities in occupied Europe. In total 156,000 sorties were flown dropping over 608,000 tonnes of bombs with a loss of 3000+ aircraft.
Its most famous raid was by 617 Squadron commanded by Guy Gibson DFC, VC during Operation Chastise on the night of 16-17 May 1943, commonly referred to as the Dambuster raid. 23 Lancaster B.III’s were specially converted to carry the 9,250lb cylindrical, water-skipping bouncing bomb, designed by Barnes Wallis, to attack the great dams of the Ruhr Valley. The bomb had to be dropped at a certain height and speed for it to skip over the water, hit the dam wall and sink to explode at a pre-measured depth rupturing the dam wall. 19 aircraft took off in a full moon period and approached the Ruhr on two attack routes flying at very low level to avoid detection. Two turned home with mechanical failure and one lost its bomb when flying too low while crossing the Dutch coast. One was shot down by flak enroute and three at the dams.
They attacked the Mohne first then the Eder. The third target, the Sorbe, was attacked but too many bombs were needed to breach the Mohne coupled with the loss of four devices on the outbound trip so the attack on the Sorbe was not successful. The Mohne and Eder were breached successfully with the Ruhr Valley flooding the industrial heart of Germany. It was deemed a massive success and became an instant legend. Wing Commander Guy Gibson received a VC and was brought home to parade the enormity of the raid. He also was awarded a DSO & bar and DFC & bar making him the highest awarded Bomber pilot at the time.
However, although the raid was 66% successful with only two dams being destroyed, it was also a highly costly affair. Eight of the aircraft were destroyed losing a total of 53 men. Three managed to bail out of their stricken aircraft but were captured for the remainder of the war. This meant a 45% loss, totally unacceptable for any bombing raid. The dams were rebuilt by the Germans in a very quick period and production returned to the Ruhr Valley. Many civilians died in the flooding, but the main loss was to immigrant workers housed within the flood zone. Over 2,300 perished, mostly Polish and Yugoslav forced workers. So, was this the great success it was thought? The Air Ministry thought so.
Unfortunately, Wing Commander Guy Gibson died over the Netherlands in September 1944.
The Avro Lancaster was still in service until 1952 and 1962 in Canada, being eventually superseded by the Avro Lincoln.
There are at least 17 examples on static display and two airworthy types still flying today. One in the BBMF, Lancaster B.I PA474 which was built in July 1945, and one in Canada, Lancaster B.X FM213. I had the privilege of standing at the fence at the end of the runway at Farnborough during an air show when the Lancaster PA474 took off. The sound of four Merlin engines is unique. It was astounding as the huge aircraft lumbered overhead, the most incredible sight. I witnessed the BBMF twice growing up in Stafford when they flew directly over our house on the way to whichever air show. I’ve seen the collection at Farnborough twice and Duxford. It is one of the most incredible sights, and sounds, you can ever witness.
