MOTAT's Lancaster bomber 'The Captain's Fancy'. The Lancas. [22] In response to feedback on the lack of application for the ventral turret, the ventral turret was often eliminated during the course of each aircraft's career. setTimeout( [27], The Avro Lancaster was a British four-engined strategic bomber that was used as the RAF's principal heavy bomber during the latter half of the Second World War. On 23 August, a major raid on Berlin was conducted, dropping roughly 1,700 tons of bombs on the city; German night fighters responded, causing a 5.4% loss rate amongst Lancasters, while the Halifax and Stirling bombers suffered 8.8% and 12.9% loss rates respectively. Photographing Avro Lancaster KB889. Turrets As standard the Lancaster bomber was fitted with three twin 7.7mm turrets in the nose, rear and upper-middle fuselage. [13][17], Avro received an initial contract for 1,070 Lancasters. The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber.It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the same wartime era. The mid-upper turret was removed and a more bulbous bomb aimer's blister was fitted; this, as "Mod. Slam-dunk Lancaster bombers often had their already-large bomb bays modified in order to carry the monumental 10,000 kilogram Grand Slam earthquake bombs. 18,704. Family desperate for news of Lower Hutt man missing for months. [114] Key industrial sites, such as the Auguste Viktoria benzol factory, were struck, while oil installations continued to be a prominent target of bombing raids in the hope of exacerbating the German fuel shortage. One of these was the Avro Lincoln bomber, initially designated Lancaster IV and Lancaster V which became the Lincoln B.1 and B.2 respectively. var notice = document.getElementById("cptch_time_limit_notice_91"); He told me how once he was working in the tail turret and the rotator seating mechanism jammed so he couldn't exit the turret for landing. Stuff visual journalist Jason Dorday was given a rare glimpse inside a Lancaster bomber at Auckland's Museum of Transport and Technology. In the final months of the war, Lancasters were encountering the newly-developed Messerschmitt Me 262, the first jet-powered fighter aircraft, sometimes flying in formations of up to 40 aircraft. [102] On 24 August, eight Tallboys were dropped in a daylight attack on the U-boat pens at IJmuiden, two direct hits were recorded. Ammunition for the turret was 1,000 rounds per gun (rpg). During early 1942, it was decided that the bomber should be produced in Canada, where it was manufactured by Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario. Nicholas Stephen Alkemade (10 December 1922 - 22 June 1987) was a British tail gunner in the Royal Air Force during World War II who survived a freefall of 18,000 feet (5,490 m) without a parachute after abandoning his out-of-control, burning Avro Lancaster heavy bomber over Germany. [28], Lancasters from Bomber Command were to have formed the main strength of Tiger Force, the Commonwealth bomber contingent scheduled to take part in Operation Downfall, the codename for the planned invasion of Japan in late 1945. })(120000); 44 Sqn; a planned mission against the German battleshipTirpitz had been rescheduled due to poor weather conditions. . [100] These daylight raids quickly became frequent as, due to a shortage of oil, the Luftwaffe were increasingly incapable of mounting opposition; to further this difficulty for their opponent, Lancasters were directed against numerous oil installations. + The wing is constructed from five separate main sections while the fuselage is likewise composed of five sections. She is 69ft 6in long, 19ft 7in high, has a. wingspan of 102ft and was powered by four. ); The power suppllies, rotary generators in the air, were located below the operators table. The inside of . The Lancaster had a very advanced communications system for its time. 99 Squadrons. [28] It possessed largely favourable flying characteristics, having been described by Goulding and Garbett as being: "a near-perfect flying machine, fast for its size and very smoothsuch a delightfully easy aeroplane to flythere are instances of Lancasters having been looped and barrel-rolled, both intentionally and otherwise". Military Wireless Museum. [155], Data from Avro Aircraft since 1908,[156] The Secret Years: Flight Testing at Boscombe Down 19391945,[140] The Avro Lancaster I: Aircraft in Profile Number 65[37]. Saying all this, I had the honour and privilege of being allowed close up and personal with a Lancaster today, as well as being allowed inside that very same aircraft. This year, the left side of . 1 x 12,000lb (5,400kg) short-delay fused "Tallboy" bomb. The Tallboy strike successfully destroyed roughly 100 yards of the viaduct's length; additional viaducts, such as at Arnsberg, were promptly targeted by the squadron thereafter. It was designed to counteract and evade German defences below and above the waterline, allowing Allied forces to target German hydroelectric dams and floating vessels. Operational research experts, including British scientist Freeman Dyson, amongst others, attempted unsuccessfully to have the escape hatch enlarged. NA 337[154], For the 2018 flying season, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Operation Chastise, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Lancaster was painted in the markings of Guy Gibson's 617 Squadron aircraft (Code AJ-G, ED932) when he commanded the "Dambusters" raids. The war in the Far East ended before she was . + The bomber measured 69 feet 6 inches in length, had a wingspan of 102 feet, and stood 20 feet 6 inches in height off the ground weight. At first, the heaviest bomb carried was the 4,000lb (1,800kg) high capacity HC "Cookie". By the last full month of war-time operations (April 1945) the dominance of the Lancaster within Bomber Command reached its peak, no fewer than 56 Squadrons being equipped with the type. I'll take you on a full tour of the interior and exterior of the Lanc made famous for the dambuster raids. Later the nose turret was also removed to further improve performance. Originally developed as an evolution of the Manchester (which had proved troublesome in service and was retired in 1942), the Lancaster was designed by Roy Chadwick and powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins and in one of the versions, Bristol Hercules engines. The first of the two RAF Lancasters chosen for the test flight was nicknamed "Bad Penny" from the old expression: "a bad penny always turns up." Pilot's Instrument Panel. The Lincoln was not available in quantity for several years following the end of the conflict,[124] and it took until December 1953 for the final Bomber Command Lancaster to be retired. These provided radio direction-finding, as well as voice and Morse capabilities. (photosinhouse16@gmail.com) Walk arounds - Avro Lancaster source. [5][note 6], Specific bomb loads were standardised and given code names by Bomber Command:[50], Bombsights used on Lancasters included:[51]. At 20,000 feet, temperatures inside the cramped aircraft could plummet to minus 40, potentially . [citation needed], The Avro Lancaster was initially equipped with four Nash & Thompson Frazer Nash hydraulically operated turrets mounted in the nose, tail, mid-upper and underside. [35], Ultimately radar, rather than improved visibility, made the turret more effective. This icon of the RAF Bomber Command was one of the most important aircraft of World War 2. Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre's Lancaster bomber - known as Just Jane - is three years into a 10-year restoration project to get it airborne. On 17 September, precision strikes were performed on Boulogne only 200 yards from the Allied lines. A civilian airliner was converted from the Lancaster with the addition of nose and tail fairings and seats, as the Lancastrian and a similar aircraft was derived from the Lincoln as the Lincolnian. The Avro Lancaster bomber was a key weapon of the Allies during the War. Starting at the nose, the bomb aimer had two positions to man. [10] Twin-engine designs were submitted by Fairey, Boulton Paul, Handley Page and Shorts, using Rolls-Royce Vulture, Napier Sabre, Fairey P.24 or Bristol Hercules engines. Of the 17 surviving and largely intact Lancasters known to exist, two are airworthy; one, PA474, based at Coningsby (in Lincolnshire, UK), is operated by The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and the other, named Vera (coded VR-A, FM213), is in Canada, operated by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, a suburb of Hamilton, Ontario. Early PFF operations produced mixed results, but did prove decisive on 27/28 August against Kassel and the three factories of the Henschel aircraft company in the city. Only 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. Later on, these two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster; these saw use during the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties. Numerous strikes on the German capital occurred over the following weeks, sometimes by an all-Lancaster force. Now on display at RAF Hendon, she flew in 137 Second World War raids more than any other aircraft. The Lancaster weighs 36,900 pounds empty and was capable of flying with an extra 33,100 pounds of fuel and bombs on-board. This was a key element of Operation Bellicose, the bombing of a German radar factory in the former Zeppelin Works at Friedrichshafen and the Italian naval base at La Spezia. A total of 430 of this type were built, earlier examples differing little from their British-built predecessors, except for using Packard-built Merlin engines and American-style instruments and electrics. [63] On 17 October 1942, an audacious daytime raid was performed by 90 Lancasters of No. The aircraft used were modified Avro Lancaster Mk IIIs, which had much of their armour and central turret removed in order to accommodate the payload. Lancasters were later used to test other engines, including the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba and Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops and the Avro Canada Orenda and STAL Dovern turbojets. [13][17] Based upon its performance, a decision was taken early on to reequip twin-engine bomber squadrons with the Lancaster as quickly as possible. A Lancaster bomber crew recorded during a raid. Around this time, Lancasters would also provide direct support to the local operations of field forces. The Lancaster bomber called 'Ropey', which served as part of the Canadian 428 Squadron. The green is very shiny and does not look right. [46][47] Two Aldis lights were fitted in the rear bomb bay fairing, aimed forward so the bomb aimer could see the converging lights below his blister in the nose; the optimum height for dropping "Upkeep" was 60ft (18m) and, when shone on the relatively smooth waters of the dam's reservoirs, the light beams converged into a figure 8 when the Lancaster was flying at the correct height. [11], Avro submitted the Avro 679 to fulfil Specification P.13/36 and, in February 1937, Avro's submission was selected, along with Handley Page's bid as a backup. [citation needed], Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era. [63] The tempo of Lancaster operations rose to a new height in August 1942, major raids were flown against targets in the Ruhr, Duisburg, and in the Baltic Sea. timeout . This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 13:10. Peter Wheeler, from the New Zealand Bomber Command Association, says the aircraft, on display at MOTAT in Auckland's Western Springs, "is a point for everyone to recognise the efforts of the people who put all their families aside and went to war and did what was asked of them". [64], A major improvement to night-time bombing came with the implementation of the Pathfinder Force (PFF) in August 1942, multiple squadrons were transferred from Bomber Command groups to constitute the new unit. notice.style.display = "block"; Most of these engines were still under development and while four-engined bomber designs were considered for specification B.12/36 for a heavy bomber, the extra engines required the wing and overall aircraft structure to be stronger, increasing the structural weight. It's the oldest, and has the greatest operational history.". 1 [34], Behind the wireless operator were the two spars of the wing, which created a major obstacle for crew members moving down the fuselage even on the ground. The sound of the 4 Merlins alone has a profound effect on any one who is the least bit . In 1943, a Lancaster was converted to become an engine test bed for the Metropolitan-Vickers F.2 turbojet. The turret had 1,000 rounds of ammunition per gun. [126] During its Argentine service, Lancasters were used offensively in suppressing and supporting military coups. [4] The versatility of the Lancaster was such that it was chosen to equip 617 Squadron and was modified to carry the Upkeep "bouncing bomb" designed by Barnes Wallis for Operation Chastise, the attack on German Ruhr valley dams. Video first published in April 2017. Ammunition for the tail turret was 2,500 rounds per gun. There are only two airworthy Lancasters left in the world - 7,377 were built. [116], RAF Lancasters dropped food into the Holland region of the occupied Netherlands, with the acquiescence of the occupying German forces, to feed people who were in danger of starvation. Only eight bombing missions were conducted during all of December, the most prominent of which being against Duisburg, due to poor prevailing weather conditions. With a bomb load of 7,000 pounds, its range was a lengthy 2,530 miles, and a service ceiling of 24, 500 feet. Mantelli, Brown, Kittel and Graf 2017, p. 59. The gunners could have been just 18 or 19. LEFT: Inside the radio room of the British RAF Lancaster Bomber, as used during WWII. [106][107] Executed by Nos. She had a top speed of . [72], Throughout 1942, the Lancaster remained in relatively short supply; consequently, both training and crew conversion courses typically had to be performed by the squadrons themselves; there were no aircraft furnished with dual controls at this time, and pilots would therefore have to perform their first flight without their instructors being capable of directly acting on the controls themselves. Aside from a few elements, such as the fabric-covered ailerons, the Lancaster's oval-shaped fuselage had an all-metal covering. The typical aircraft was powered by an arrangement of four wing-mounted Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engines, each of which drove a 13ft (4.0m) diameter de Havilland Hydromatic three-bladed propeller. Lancasters had the nose section for a bombardier painted with matt black.The rest was of the Interior Green. 1 x 22,000lb (10,000kg) short-delay fused "Grand Slam" bomb. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. . 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