The Avro Lancaster is a British
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
heavy bomber
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...
. It was designed and manufactured by
Avro as a contemporary of the
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.
The Halifax has its orig ...
, 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
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
(RAF) during the same wartime era.
The Lancaster has its origins in the twin-engine
Avro Manchester which had been developed during the late 1930s in response to the
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
Specification P.13/36 for a
medium bomber
A medium bomber is a military bomber aircraft designed to operate with medium-sized bombloads over medium range distances; the name serves to distinguish this type from larger heavy bombers and smaller light bombers. Mediums generally carrie ...
for "world-wide use" which could carry a torpedo internally, and make shallow dive-bombing attacks. 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 Merlin
The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was late ...
s and in one of the versions,
Bristol Hercules engines. It first saw service with
RAF Bomber Command in 1942 and as the
strategic bombing offensive over Europe gathered momentum, it was the main aircraft for the night-time bombing campaigns that followed. As increasing numbers of the type were produced, it became the principal
heavy bomber
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...
used by the RAF, the
Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
(RCAF) and squadrons from other
Commonwealth and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an countries serving within the RAF, overshadowing the Halifax and Stirling, two other commonly used bombers
A long, unobstructed bomb bay meant that the Lancaster could take the largest bombs used by the RAF, including the , and ''
blockbusters'', loads often supplemented with smaller bombs or
incendiaries
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, th ...
. The "Lanc", as it was known colloquially, became one of the most heavily used of the Second World War night bombers, "delivering of bombs in 156,000 sorties". The versatility of the Lancaster was such that it was chosen to equip
617 Squadron
Number 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron, originally based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and currently based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. It is commonly known as "''The Dambusters''", for its actions during Operation Chastis ...
and was modified to carry the
Upkeep "bouncing bomb" designed by
Barnes Wallis for
Operation Chastise
Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on Nazi Germany, German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by No. 617 Squadron RAF, 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using sp ...
, the attack on German
Ruhr valley
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
dams. Although the Lancaster was primarily a night bomber, it excelled in many other roles, including daylight precision bombing, for which some Lancasters were adapted to carry the
Tallboy and then the
Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
earthquake bomb
The earthquake bomb, or seismic bomb, was a concept that was invented by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis early in World War II and subsequently developed and used during the war against strategic targets in Europe. A seismic bomb ...
s (also designed by Wallis).
["Second World War propaganda film of "Grand Slam" in action."](_blank)
''youtube.com.'' Retrieved: 3 January 2012. This was the largest payload of any bomber in the war.
In 1943, a Lancaster was converted to become an engine test bed for the
Metropolitan-Vickers F.2 turbojet
The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, an ...
. Lancasters were later used to test other engines, including the
Armstrong Siddeley Mamba and
Rolls-Royce Dart
The Rolls-Royce RB.53 Dart is a turboprop engine designed and manufactured by Rolls-Royce Limited. First run in 1946, it powered the Vickers Viscount on its maiden flight in 1948. A flight on July 29 of that year, which carried 14 paying passe ...
turboprop
A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller.
A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...
s and the
Avro Canada Orenda
The Avro Canada TR5 Orenda was the first production jet engine from Avro Canada's Gas Turbine Division. Similar to other early jet engines in design, like the Rolls-Royce Avon or General Electric J47, the Orenda nevertheless outperformed its r ...
and
STAL Dovern
The STAL Dovern was a Swedish turbojet design of the early 1950s, named after a lake in Finspång municipality in Östergötland, Sweden. Intended to power the Saab 35 Draken, this aircraft was powered by the Rolls-Royce Avon instead. The Dov ...
turbojets. Postwar, the Lancaster was supplanted as the main strategic bomber of the RAF by the
Avro Lincoln, a larger version of the Lancaster. The Lancaster took on the role of long range
anti-submarine patrol aircraft (later supplanted by the
Avro Shackleton
The Avro Shackleton is a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) which was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a develo ...
) and air-sea rescue. It was also used for photo-reconnaissance and aerial mapping, as a flying tanker for
aerial refuelling
Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...
and as the
Avro Lancastrian
The Avro 691 Lancastrian was a Canadian and British passenger and mail transport aircraft of the 1940s and 1950s developed from the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. The Lancaster was named after Lancaster, Lancashire; a Lancastrian is an inhabita ...
, a long-range, high-speed, transatlantic passenger and postal delivery
airliner. In March 1946, a Lancastrian of
BSAA flew the first scheduled flight from the new
London Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
.
Development
Origins
In the 1930s, the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
(RAF) was primarily interested in twin-engine
bombers
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an aircra ...
.
These designs put limited demands on engine production and maintenance, both of which were already stretched with the introduction of so many new types into service. Power limitations were so serious that the British invested heavily in the development of huge engines in the class in order to improve performance. During the late 1930s, none of these were ready for production. Both the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
were pursuing the development of bombers powered by arrangements of four smaller engines; the results of these projects proved to possess favourable characteristics such as excellent range and fair lifting capacity. Accordingly, in 1936, the RAF also decided to investigate the feasibility of the four-engined bomber.
[Norris 1966, p. 3.]
The origins of the Lancaster stem from a twin-engined bomber that had been submitted to British
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
Specification P.13/36 of 1936 for a twin-engined
medium bomber
A medium bomber is a military bomber aircraft designed to operate with medium-sized bombloads over medium range distances; the name serves to distinguish this type from larger heavy bombers and smaller light bombers. Mediums generally carrie ...
for "worldwide use" which could carry a torpedo internally, and make shallow dive-bombing attacks.
[Mason 1994, pp. 324–325.][Robertson 1964, p. 7.] Further requirements of the specification included the use of a mid-mounted
cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
wing, and all-metal construction while the use of the
Rolls-Royce Vulture, which was in development was encouraged.
[Moyes 1966, p. 3.] Twin-engine designs were submitted by
Fairey,
Boulton Paul
Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd was a British aircraft manufacturer that was incorporated in 1934, although its origins in aircraft manufacturing began earlier in 1914, and lasted until 1961. The company mainly built and modified aircraft under co ...
,
Handley Page and
Shorts
Shorts are a garment worn over the pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" because they ...
, using Rolls-Royce Vulture,
Napier Sabre,
Fairey P.24
The Fairey P.24 Monarch was a British experimental 2,000 hp (1,490 kW) class H-24 aircraft engine designed and built by Fairey in the late 1930s. The engine did not go into production.
Design and development
The P.24 Monarch was a 24-cylin ...
or
Bristol Hercules engines. 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.
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. In April 1937, a pair of prototypes for each design was ordered.
Avro's aircraft, named the Manchester, entered RAF service in November 1940. Although a capable aircraft, the Manchester was underpowered and its Vulture engines proved to be unreliable.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, p. 3.][Robertson 1964, pp. 9-11.] As a result, only 200 were constructed and the type was withdrawn from service in 1942.
[Jackson 1990, pp. 355–356.]
Flight testing
By mid-1940, Avro's chief design engineer,
Roy Chadwick, was working on an improved Manchester
powered by four of the more reliable but less powerful
Rolls-Royce Merlin
The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was late ...
engines, specifically adopting the
"Power-egg" installation developed for the
Beaufighter II, and installed on a wing of increased span. Initially, the improved aircraft was designated as the ''Type 683 Manchester III'' but was subsequently renamed the
Lancaster. The prototype,
serial number ''BT308'', was assembled by the Avro experimental flight department at
Ringway Airport,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, being modified from a production Manchester airframe, combined with the new wing to accommodate the additional engines.
The first flight was made by test pilot H. A. "Sam" Brown on 9 January 1941 at
RAF Ringway
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
,
Cheshire.
[Robertson 1964, p. 14.]
![Avro Lancaster bombers nearing completion at the A V Roe & Co Ltd factory at Woodford in Cheshire, 1943](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Avro_Lancaster_bombers_nearing_completion_at_the_A_V_Roe_%26_Co_Ltd_factory_at_Woodford_in_Cheshire%2C_1943.jpg)
Flight testing of the new aircraft quickly proved it to be a substantial improvement over its predecessor. The first prototype was initially outfitted with the Manchester I's three-finned tail but this was revised on the second prototype, ''DG595'', and subsequent production Lancasters used the larger elliptical
twin-finned tail unit that was also adopted for the last Manchesters built.
This not only increased stability but also improved the dorsal gun turret's field of fire. The second prototype was also fitted with more powerful Merlin XX engines.
Manchesters still on the production line were converted into Lancaster B.Is.
Based upon its performance, a decision was taken early on to reequip twin-engine bomber squadrons with the Lancaster as quickly as possible.
''L7527'', The first production Lancaster made its first flight in October 1941, powered by Merlin XX engines.
Production
![Avro Lancaster aircraft under construction at the A V Roe & Co Ltd factory at Woodford in Cheshire, 1943](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Avro_Lancaster_aircraft_under_construction_at_the_A_V_Roe_%26_Co_Ltd_factory_at_Woodford_in_Cheshire%2C_1943._TR1384.jpg)
Avro received an initial contract for 1,070 Lancasters.
The majority of Lancasters manufactured during the war years were constructed by Avro at its factory at
Chadderton near
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...
,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
and were test-flown from
Woodford Aerodrome
Woodford Aerodrome is a former airfield and aircraft factory at Woodford, Greater Manchester, England, north of Macclesfield. It was opened by the Avro company after the First World War and became an important production centre for military ...
in
Cheshire. As it was quickly recognised that Avro's capacity was exceeded by the wartime demand for the type, it was decided to form the ''Lancaster Aircraft Group'', which comprised a number of companies that undertook the type's manufacture, either performing primary assembly themselves or producing various subsections and components for the other participating manufacturers.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, pp. 3–4.]
In addition to Avro, further Lancasters were constructed by
Metropolitan-Vickers
Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...
(1,080, also tested at Woodford) and
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and ...
. They were also produced at the
Austin Motor Company works in
Longbridge,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, later in the Second World War and post-war by
Vickers-Armstrongs
Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...
at
Chester as well as at the Vickers Armstrong factory, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham.
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
-based aircraft firm
Short Brothers
Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...
had also received an order for 200 Lancaster B.Is, but this was cancelled before any aircraft had been completed.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, p. 4.][Robertson 1964, pp. 79-81.] Only 300 of the ''Lancaster B.II'', which was outfitted with
Bristol Hercules engines, were constructed; this had been produced as a stopgap modification as a result of a shortage of Merlin engines due to fighter production having higher priority for the engines at that time.
The Lancaster was also produced overseas. During early 1942, it was decided that the bomber should be produced in Canada, where it was manufactured by
Victory Aircraft
Victory Aircraft Limited was a Canadian manufacturing company that, during the Second World War, built mainly British-designed aircraft under licence. It acted as a shadow factory, safe from the reach of German bombers.
Initially the major wa ...
in
Malton, Ontario
Malton is a neighbourhood in the northeastern part of the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, located to the northwest of Toronto.
Malton is bounded by Highway 427 to the east, the Brampton city limits (a Canadian National Railway (CN) rail l ...
.
Of later variants, only the Canadian-built ''Lancaster B X'' was produced in significant numbers. 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. In August 1942, a British-built Lancaster B.I was dispatched to Canada as a pattern aircraft, becoming the first of the type to conduct a
transatlantic crossing
Transatlantic crossings are passages of passengers and cargo across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe or Africa and the Americas. The majority of passenger traffic is across the North Atlantic between Western Europe and North America. Centuries ...
.
The first Lancaster produced in Canada was named the "Ruhr Express". The first batch of Canadian Lancasters delivered to England suffered from faulty ailerons; this error was subsequently traced to the use of unskilled labour.
[Brown 2016, p. 80.] By the end of the conflict, over 10,000 Canadians were employed on the production line, which was producing one Lancaster each day.
[Robertson 1964, p. 81.]
Factories
Further development
The Lancaster B.I was never fully superseded in production by a successor model, remaining in production until February 1946.
According to aviation authors Brian Goulding and M. Garbett, the Lancaster B.I altered little during its production life, partially as a result of the sound basic structure and design; of the visible changes, the fuselage side windows were deleted, the
Perspex
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite ...
chin of the bomb-aimer was enlarged, and a larger
astrodome
The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas. It was financed and assisted in development by Roy Hofheinz, mayor of Houston ...
was provided.
Various additional bumps and
blisters were also added, which typically housed
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
equipment and
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
navigational aids. Some Lancaster B.I bombers were outfitted with bulged bomb bay doors in order to accommodate increased armament payloads.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, pp. 4–5.]
Early production Lancaster B.Is were outfitted with a ventral gun turret position.
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. While some groups chose to discard the position entirely, various trials and experiments were performed at
RAF Duxford
Duxford Aerodrome is located south of Cambridge, within the civil parish of Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England and nearly west of the village. The airfield is owned by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) and is the site of the Imperial War Mus ...
,
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...
and by individual squadrons.
A total of 50 Austin-built Lancaster B.Is was constructed to a non-standard configuration, having a Frazer Nash turret installed directly above the bomb bay; however, this modification was largely unpopular due to its obstruction of the internal walkway, hindering crew movements. Various other turret configurations were adopted by individual squadrons, which included the removal of various combinations of turrets.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, pp. 5–6.]
The ''Lancaster B.III'' was powered by
Packard Merlin
The Packard V-1650 Merlin is a version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine, produced under license in the United States by the Packard Motor Car Company.Gunston 1995, p. 144. The engine was licensed to expand production of the Rolls-Ro ...
engines, which had been built overseas in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, but was otherwise identical to contemporary B.Is.
In total, 3,030 B.IIIs were constructed, almost all of them at Avro's
Newton Heath factory. The Lancaster B.I and B.III were manufactured concurrently and minor modifications were made to both marks as further batches were ordered. The B.I and B.III designations were effectively interchangeable simply by changing the engines used, which was occasionally done in practice.
Examples of modifications made include the relocation of the
pitot head from the nose to the side of the cockpit and the change from de Havilland "needle blade" propellers to
Hamilton Standard
Hamilton Standard was an American aircraft propeller parts supplier. It was formed in 1929 when United Aircraft and Transport Corporation consolidated Hamilton Aero Manufacturing and Standard Steel Propeller into the Hamilton Standard Propeller C ...
or
Nash Kelvinator made "paddle blade" propellers.
Design
Overview
![Lancaster B MkI 44 Sqn RAF in flight 1942](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Lancaster_B_MkI_44_Sqn_RAF_in_flight_1942.jpg)
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. The typical aircraft was powered by an arrangement of four wing-mounted
Rolls-Royce Merlin
The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was late ...
piston engines, each of which drove a diameter
de Havilland Hydromatic three-bladed
propeller. While not optimal, the Lancaster was capable of flying the return journey home on only two operational engines, along with very limited distances on a single running engine.
Aviation authors Brian Goulding and M. Garbett have claimed that experienced Lancaster pilots were often able to out-manoeuver Luftwaffe fighters.
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 smooth...such a delightfully easy aeroplane to fly...there are instances of Lancasters having been looped and barrel-rolled, both intentionally and otherwise".
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, p. 6.]
The Lancaster benefited from a structure that possessed considerable strength and durability, which had been intentionally designed to maximise structural strength-per-weight; this resulted in the Lancaster being capable of withstanding some levels of damage resulting from attacks by hostile
interceptor aircraft
An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are c ...
and ground-based
anti-aircraft batteries.
However, during the first year of the type's career, some instances of structural failures were encountered on Lancaster B.Is and a number of aircraft were lost in accidents as a result of the design limitations having been greatly exceeded.
Compared with other contemporary aircraft, the Lancaster was not an easy aircraft to escape from as its escape hatch was only in size; in a Halifax or Stirling (which both had an escape hatch wider), 25 per cent of downed aircrew bailed out successfully, and in American bombers (albeit in daylight raids) it was as high as a 50 per cent success rate while only 15 per cent of the Lancaster crew were able to bail out.
The Lancaster uses a mid-wing
cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
configuration. The wing is constructed from five separate main sections while the fuselage is likewise composed of five sections. Aside from a few elements, such as the
fabric
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not th ...
-covered
ailerons, the Lancaster's oval-shaped fuselage had an all-metal covering.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, p. 5.] All of the wing and fuselage sections were manufactured separately, during which they were outfitted with all of the required equipment in advance of final assembly being performed, as a measure intended to accelerate the rate of production. The Lancaster was equipped with a retractable main
undercarriage and fixed tailwheel; the
hydraulically-actuated main landing gear raised rearwards into recesses within the inner engine nacelles.
[Bridgman 1988, pp. 105–106.] The distinctive tail unit of the aircraft was outfitted with a large twin elliptical fins and
rudder
A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...
arrangement.
Like any aeroplane, the Lancaster was not viceless in its handling. In a dive, it had a tendency to go more deeply into the dive as speed increased. Not all aeroplanes did this, for example, the Halifax tended to get increasingly tail-heavy as speed increased, and thus fly itself out of the dive. Furthermore the Lancaster suffered longitudinal instability at speeds above .
Crew accommodation
The standard crew for a Lancaster consisted of seven men, stationed in various positions in the fuselage. Starting at the nose, the
bomb aimer had two positions to man. His primary location was lying prone on the floor of the nose of the aircraft, with access to the
bombsight
A bombsight is a device used by military aircraft to drop bombs accurately. Bombsights, a feature of combat aircraft since World War I, were first found on purpose-designed bomber aircraft and then moved to fighter-bombers and modern tactical ...
controls facing forward, with the
Mark XIV bomb sight
The Mark XIV Bomb Sight was a bombsight developed by Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command during the Second World War. It was also known as the Blackett sight after its primary inventor, P. M. S. Blackett. Production of a slightly modified ve ...
on his left and bomb release selectors on the right. He also used his view through the large transparent perspex nose cupola to assist the navigator with map reading. To man the Frazer Nash FN5 nose turret, he stood up placing himself in position behind the triggers of the twin .303 in (7.7 mm) guns. Ammunition for the turret was 1,000 rounds per gun (rpg). The bomb aimer's position contained the nose emergency hatch in the floor; at (two inches narrower than the Halifax escape hatch) it was difficult to exit through while wearing a parachute.
Operational research experts, including British scientist
Freeman Dyson
Freeman John Dyson (15 December 1923 – 28 February 2020) was an English-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrices, mathematical formulation of quantum m ...
, amongst others, attempted unsuccessfully to have the escape hatch enlarged.
On the roof of the
bomb bay
The bomb bay or weapons bay on some military aircraft is a compartment to carry bombs, usually in the aircraft's fuselage, with "bomb bay doors" which open at the bottom. The bomb bay doors are opened and the bombs are dropped when over t ...
the pilot and
flight engineer sat side by side under the expansive canopy, with the pilot sitting on the left on a raised portion of the floor (almost all British bombers, and most German bombers, had only a single pilot seat as opposed to the American practice of carrying two pilots, or at least having controls for two pilots installed). The flight engineer sat on a collapsible seat (known as a "second
dicky seat") to the pilot's right, with the fuel selectors and gauges on a panel behind him and to his right. The pilot and other crew members could use the panel above the cockpit as an auxiliary emergency exit while the mid-upper gunner was expected to use the rear entrance door to leave the aircraft. The tail gunner escaped by rotating his turret to the rear, opening the door in the back of the turret, passing into the fuselage, and clipping on a parachute that was hung on the side wall. He could then exit through the rear entrance door.
Behind the pilot and flight engineer, and behind a curtain fitted to allow him to use light to work, sat the
navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...
. His position faced to port with a chart table in front of him. An instrument panel showing the airspeed, altitude, and other information required for navigation was mounted on the side of the fuselage above the chart table. The
wireless
Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...
operator's radios were mounted on the left-hand end of the chart table, facing the rear of the aircraft. Behind these and facing forwards the wireless operator sat on a seat at the front of the main spar. On his left was a window, and above him was the
astrodome
The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas. It was financed and assisted in development by Roy Hofheinz, mayor of Houston ...
, used for visual signalling and by the navigator for
celestial navigation.
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. At the end of the bomb bay was the mid-upper gunner's turret, at which the floor dropped down to the fuselage's bottom. His position allowed a 360° view over the top of the aircraft, with two
Browning .303 Mark IIs to protect the aircraft from above and to the side. The mid-upper gunner sat on a rectangle of canvas that was slung beneath the turret and would stay in position throughout the flight. The turret had 1,000 rounds of ammunition per gun.
To the rear of the turret was the side crew door, on the starboard side of the fuselage. This was the main entrance to the aircraft, and also could be used as an emergency exit. The Elsan
chemical toilet, a type of
aircraft lavatory
An aircraft lavatory or plane toilet is a small room on an aircraft with a toilet and sink. They are commonplace on passenger flights except some short-haul flights. Aircraft toilets were historically chemical toilets, but many now use a vacuum f ...
, was located near the spars for the tailplane. At the extreme tail-end of the fuselage, the rear gunner sat in his exposed position in the tail turret, which was entered through a small hatch in the rear of the fuselage. Depending on the size of the rear gunner, the area was so cramped that the gunner would often hang his parachute on a hook inside the fuselage, near the turret doors. Neither the mid-upper nor the rear gunner's position was heated, and the gunners had to wear electrically heated suits to prevent
hypothermia
Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...
and
frostbite
Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the ha ...
.
Armament
Defensive armament
![Lancaster Mk I gun positions](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Lancaster_Mk_I_gun_positions.jpg)
The Avro Lancaster was initially equipped with four
Nash & Thompson
Nash & Thompson was a British engineering firm that developed and produced hydraulically operated gun turrets for aircraft. As part of Parnall Aircraft it was also an important manufacturer of hydraulic-powered radar scanners used on radar sys ...
Frazer Nash
Frazer Nash was a brand of British sports car manufactured from 1922 first by Frazer Nash Limited founded by engineer Archibald Frazer-Nash. On its financial collapse in 1927 a new company, AFN Limited, was incorporated. Control of AFN passed t ...
hydraulically operated turrets mounted in the nose, tail, mid-upper and underside. The original tail turret was equipped with four
Browning .303 Mark II machine guns and all other turrets with two such machine guns.
[Jacobs 1996][Franks 2000, p. 83.]
Late on in the war,
Freeman Dyson
Freeman John Dyson (15 December 1923 – 28 February 2020) was an English-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrices, mathematical formulation of quantum m ...
(as a 19-year-old who had yet to win a degree) put forward a case for the removal of the majority of the Lancaster's defensive armament. He argued that this would reduce the loss rate by increasing the Lancaster's cruising speed by up to (assuming the bomb load was not increased), making the bomber harder to intercept. He also claimed reducing defensive air gunners would reduce human losses incurred with each aircraft lost. However this neglects the fact that the two main Luftwaffe
night fighter
A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...
s of the time, the
Messerschmitt Bf 110
The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often known unofficially as the Me 110,Because it was built before ''Bayerische Flugzeugwerke'' became Messerschmitt AG in July 1938, the Bf 110 was never officially given the designation Me 110. is a twin-engine (Des ...
and the
Junkers Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called '' Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast ...
night fighters were capable of over , thus a increase over the Lancaster's normal cruising speed of around , giving a speed of , still left the Lancaster vulnerable to interception. The introduction of the
Heinkel He 219
The Heinkel He 219 ''Uhu'' ("Eagle-Owl") is a night fighter that served with the German Luftwaffe in the later stages of World War II. A relatively sophisticated design, the He 219 possessed a variety of innovations, including Lichtenstein SN ...
and
Messerschmitt Me 262
The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed ''Schwalbe'' (German: "Swallow") in fighter versions, or ''Sturmvogel'' (German: "Storm Bird") in fighter-bomber versions, is a fighter aircraft and fighter-bomber that was designed and produced by the Germ ...
night fighters erased any speed advantage and would have left the aircraft undefended. Consequently, Dyson's proposal was not adopted.
= Nose turret
=
Only the FN-5A
nose turret which was similar to the FN-5 used on the preceding
Avro Manchester, the
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...
and the
Short Stirling remained unchanged during the life of the design, except in instances where it was removed entirely.
= Ventral turret
=
The ventral (underside) FN-64 turret quickly proved to be dead weight, being both difficult to sight because it relied on a periscope which limited the gunner's view to a 20-degree arc,
and too slow to keep a target within its sights. Aside from early B.Is and the prototype B.IIs, the FN-64 was almost never used. When the
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
began using ''
Schräge Musik
''Schräge Musik'', which may also be spelled ''Schraege Musik'', was a common name for the fitting of an upward-firing autocannon or machine gun, to an interceptor aircraft, such as a night fighter. The term was introduced by the German ''L ...
'' to make attacks from below in the winter of 1943/1944, modifications were made, including downward observation blisters mounted behind the bomb aimer's blister and official and unofficial mounts for machine guns or even cannon, firing through the ventral holes of the removed FN-64. The fitting of these guns was hampered as the same ventral position was used for mounting the
H2S blister, which limited installations to those aircraft fitted with bulged bomb bays which interfered with the H2S.
= Mid-upper turret
=
![A No](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/A_No._57_Squadron_Lancaster_mid-upper_gunner_in_his_turret%2C_February_1943._CH8795.jpg)
The mid-upper (dorsal or top) turret was an FN-50
on early examples and the very similar FN-150 with improved sights and controls
on later examples. On all but the earliest examples, this turret was surrounded by a coaming which provided a track for a cam-operated interrupter device which prevented the gunner from shooting the tail of his own aircraft.
The Mk.VII and late Mk.X Lancasters used the heavier, electrically-controlled Martin 250 CE 23A turret equipped with two machine guns
which was mounted further forward to preserve the aircraft's longitudinal balance, and because it had an internal mechanism to prevent firing on the aircraft itself, it did not require a coaming.
Other experimental turrets were tried out, including the FN-79 and the Boulton-Paul Type H barbette system.
= Tail turret
=
![Rose Gun Turret RAF Museum London](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Rose_Gun_Turret_RAF_Museum_London.JPG)
The tail turret was the most important defensive position and carried the heaviest armament. Despite this, the turrets used, starting with the FN-20, were never entirely satisfactory and numerous designs were tried. The FN-20 was replaced by the very similar FN-120 which used an improved
gyroscopic gun sight (GGS).
Many rear gunners insisted on having the centre section of
perspex
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite ...
removed from the turret to improve visibility. The transparencies were difficult to see through at night, particularly when trying to keep watch for enemy night fighters that appeared without notice astern and below the aircraft when getting into position to open fire. This removal of perspex from the turret was called the "
Gransden Lodge" modification. Ammunition for the tail turret was 2,500 rounds per gun. Due to the weight, the ammunition was stored in tanks situated near the mid-upper turret's position and fed rearward in runways down the back of the fuselage to the turret.
Gunners using both the FN-20 and 120 removed perspex and armour from the turret to improve visibility, but trials by the RAF showed that a
Mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
night fighter was still able to get within a very short distance of the tail gunner without being spotted, confirming what the Luftwaffe had already realised. The
Rose turret attempted to improve on the FN turrets by being completely open to the rear (improving visibility and allowing easier emergency egress) and by being fitted with two machine guns. It was installed in a small number of Lancasters but never became common.
Ultimately radar, rather than improved visibility, made the turret more effective. The FN-121 was the Automatic Gun Laying Turret (AGLT), an FN-120 fitted with
''Village Inn'' gun-laying
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
.
Aircraft fitted with Village Inn were used as bait, flying behind the main formations to confront the night fighters that followed the formations and shot down stragglers. This significantly reduced operational losses; and gun-laying radar was added to the last versions of the turret. Before the end of the war Lancasters built in the UK standardised on the FN-82 fitted with two machine guns and a gun-laying radar as production allowed, which was also used on early models of the Avro Lincoln. The disadvantage of all radar and radio transmitting systems is that attacking forces can locate aircraft by picking up transmissions.
Bombs
An important feature of the Lancaster was its unobstructed long bomb bay. At first, the heaviest bomb carried was the high capacity HC "
Cookie
A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, n ...
". Bulged doors were added to 30 per cent of B.Is to allow the aircraft to carry and later "Cookies". The Lancaster also carried a variety of smaller weapons, including the Small Bomb Container (SBC) which held 236 or 24 incendiary and explosive incendiary bomblets; and General Purpose High Explosive (GP/HE) bombs (these came in a variety of designs); parachute deployed
magnetic or
acoustic mines, or armour-piercing (AP) bombs; Semi-Armour-Piercing (SAP) bombs, used up to 1942 against submarines; post-1942: or anti-submarine
depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
s.
In 1943,
617 Squadron
Number 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron, originally based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and currently based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. It is commonly known as "''The Dambusters''", for its actions during Operation Chastis ...
was created to carry out
Operation Chastise
Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on Nazi Germany, German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by No. 617 Squadron RAF, 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using sp ...
, the raid against the Ruhr dams. This unit was equipped with B.III (Specials), officially designated the "Type 464 (Provisioning)", modified to carry the
"Upkeep" bouncing bomb. The bomb bay doors were removed and the ends of the bomb bay were covered with fairings. "Upkeep" was suspended on laterally pivoted, vee-shaped struts which sprang apart beamwise when the bomb-release button was pressed. A drive belt and pulley to rotate the bomb at 500 rpm was mounted on the starboard strut and driven by a hydraulic motor housed in the forward fairing. The mid-upper turret was removed and a more bulbous bomb aimer's blister was fitted; this, as "Mod. 780", later became standard on all Lancasters, while the bombsight was replaced by a simple aiming device that consisted of a simple triangle of wood with a peephole at one corner and a nail in each of the other corners such that at the correct distance the nails coincided with the towers on the dams. Because each dam was a different width between the towers, each plane carried two or three different sights. 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 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.
After the 'Dam Busters' raid 617 Squadron was converted to a high-altitude precision bombing squadron in preparation for the arrival of Barnes Wallis's forthcoming Earthquake bombs for attacking special and hardened targets, and while they were training for this the bouncing bomb variants of B.I Specials had the spars and equipment removed and were then modified to carry the long
"Tallboy" bomb, a scaled-down version of the upcoming long
"Grand Slam" "earthquake" bombs which were still being built. Aircraft intended to carry the "Grand Slam" required extensive modifications. These included the removal of the dorsal turret and of two guns from the rear turret, the removal of the cockpit armour plating (the pilot's seatback), and the installation of Rolls-Royce Merlin Mk 24 engines for better take-off performance. The bomb bay doors were removed and the rear end of the bomb bay cut away to clear the tail of the bomb. Later the nose turret was also removed to further improve performance. A strengthened undercarriage and stronger mainwheels, later used by the
Avro Lincoln, were fitted.
Specific bomb loads were standardised and given code names by Bomber Command:
= Bombsights
=
Bombsights used on Lancasters included:
;Mark IX
Course Setting Bomb Sight
The Course Setting Bomb Sight (CSBS) is the canonical ''vector'' bombsight, the first practical system for properly accounting for the effects of wind when dropping bombs. It is also widely referred to as the Wimperis sight after its inventor, H ...
(CSBS).
:This was an early preset vector bombsight that involved squinting through wires that had to be manually set based on aircraft speed, altitude and bombload. This sight lacked tactical flexibility as it had to be manually adjusted if any of the parameters changed and was soon changed in favour of more advanced designs.
;
Mark XIV bombsight
:A vector bombsight where the bomb aimer input details of the bombload, target altitude and wind direction and the analogue computer then continuously calculated the trajectory of the bombs and projected an inverted sword shape onto a sighting glass on the sighting head. Assuming the sight was set correctly when the target was in the crosshairs of the sword shape, the bomb aimer would be able to accurately release the bombs.
;T1 bombsight
:A Mark XIV bombsight modified for mass production and produced in the USA. Some of the pneumatic gyro drives on the Mk XIV sight were replaced with electronic gyros and other minor modifications were made.
;
Stabilizing Automatic Bomb Sight
:Also known as "SABS", this was an advanced bombsight mainly used by 617 Squadron for precision raids. Like the American Norden bombsight it was a tachometric sight.
Radio, radar and countermeasures equipment
The Lancaster had a very advanced communications system for its time. Most British-built Lancasters were fitted with the R1155 receiver and T1154 transmitter, whereas the Canadian-built aircraft and those built for service in the Far East had American radios. These provided radio direction-finding, as well as voice and Morse code, Morse capabilities.
;
H2S
: 3 GHz frequency, ground-looking navigation radar system – eventually, it could be homed in on by the German night fighters' Naxos radar detector, FuG 350 ''Naxos'' receiver and had to be used with discretion – a problem which the higher resolution, 10 GHz frequency American H2X radar never had to deal with. This is the large blister under the rear fuselage on later Lancasters.
; H2S (radar)#Fishpond, Fishpond
: An add-on to H2S that provided additional (aerial) coverage of the underside of the aircraft to display attacking fighters on an auxiliary screen in the radio operator's position.
; Monica radar, Monica
: A rearward-looking radar to warn of night fighter approaches. However, it could not distinguish between attacking enemy fighters and nearby friendly bombers and served as a homing beacon for Flensburg radar detector, suitably equipped German
night fighter
A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...
s. Once this was realised Lichtenstein radar#Allied countermeasures, after mid-July 1944, it was removed altogether.
; GEE (navigation), GEE
: A receiver for a navigation system of synchronised pulses transmitted from the UK – aircraft calculated their position from the time delay between pulses. The range of GEE was . GEE used a whip aerial mounted on the top of the fuselage ahead of the mid-upper turret.
; Boozer (radar detector)
: A system of lights mounted on the aircraft's instrument panel that lit up when the aircraft was being tracked by the low-UHF band Würzburg radar, ''Würzburg-Riese'' ground radar and early model Lichtenstein radar, Lichtenstein B/C and C-1 airborne radar. In practice, it was found to be more disconcerting than useful, as the lights were often triggered by false alerts in the radar-signal-infested skies over Germany.
; Oboe (navigation), Oboe
: A very accurate navigation system consisting of a receiver/transponder for two radar stations transmitting from widely separated locations in Southern England which, when used together, determined the aircraft's position. The system could handle only one aircraft at a time, and was fitted to a pathfinder (RAF), Pathfinder aircraft, usually a fast and manoeuvrable De Havilland Mosquito, Mosquito which marked the target for the main force rather than a Lancaster.
; G-H (navigation), GEE-H
: Similar to Oboe but with the transponder on the ground allowing more aircraft to use the system simultaneously. GEE-H aircraft were usually marked with two horizontal yellow stripes on the fins.
; "Village Inn" Automatic Gun-Laying Turret
: A radar-aimed and ranged gun turret fitted to some Lancaster rear turrets in 1944. Identifiable by a radome mounted below the turret.
; Airborne Cigar (ABC)
: This was fitted only to the Lancasters of No. 101 Squadron RAF, 101 Squadron. It had three aerials, two on the top of the fuselage and one under the bomb aimer's position. These aircraft carried a German-speaking crew member and were used to jam ground-to-air communications to German night fighters. The extra equipment and extra crewman added around to the bomber's weight so the bomb load was reduced by .
Due to the nature of the equipment, the enemy was able to track the aircraft and 101 Squadron suffered the highest casualty rate of any squadron. Fitted from about mid-1943, they remained until the end of the war.
; Tinsel (codename), Tinsel
: A microphone installed in the nacelle of one of the engines that allowed the wireless operator to transmit engine noise on the German night fighter control voice frequencies.
Operational history
Second World War
![Avro Lancaster pigeons WWII IWM TR 193](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Avro_Lancaster_pigeons_WWII_IWM_TR_193.jpg)
During early 1942, No. 44 Squadron RAF, No. 44 Squadron, based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, became the first RAF squadron to convert to the Lancaster; it was quickly followed by No. 97 Squadron RAF, No. 97 Squadron, which was also based at Waddington.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 14-15.] On 2 March 1942, the first operational mission of the Lancaster, deploying naval mines in the vicinity of Heligoland Bight, was performed by aircraft of No. 44 Sqn; a planned mission against the had been rescheduled due to poor weather conditions.
[Robertson 1964, p. 15.] On 10 March 1942, the type's first bombing mission was conducted over the German city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, pp. 6–7.]
All Lancasters were temporarily grounded after a crash on 20 March in Boston, Lincolnshire; this was lifted after each aircraft had been inspected for signs of buckling on the upper wing surface.
[Robertson 1964, p. 15.] The first recorded casualties amongst Lancaster crews were recorded on 24 March 1942 with the loss of ''R5493'' to anti-aircraft fire over Lorient.
[Robertson 1964, p. 16.] Due to the high loss rates typically involved in such operations, daytime bombing missions were performed sparingly until the Allies had achieved a level of Air supremacy, aerial supremacy over the Axis powers.
On 17 April 1942, 12 Lancasters of No. 44 and No. 99 Squadrons undertook a bombing raid on the MAN SE, Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg A.G., Ausberg engine manufacturing plant in Southern Germany; despite flying at low altitude, three bombers were shot down by Luftwaffe Bf 109s over France, and at least two more were lost to anti-aircraft fire at the factory itself. Nonetheless, the factory was successfully bombed, a feat that was personally hailed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the aftermath.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 16-17.] The attack revealed the existence of the Lancaster to both Germany and the British public alike. On 27 April, an unsuccessful small-scale attack on Tirpitz was performed by Lancasters of both No. 44 and No. 99 Squadrons.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 17-18.]
On the night of 30/31 May 1942, the Lancaster participated in Bombing of Cologne in World War II, Operation Millenium, the first 1,000 bomber raid against the German city of Cologne.
By this point, the number of Lancasters in operational service had surpassed those of the preceding Manchester. On 12 June, the first use of the type by RAF Coastal Command, having loaned aircraft from
RAF Bomber Command, commenced; it was used to conduct long range anti-U-boat operations, reportedly attacking two on 15 June.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 19-20.]
Additional large-scale raids were performed against Emden between 19 and 23 June, and against Bremen between 25 and 29 June, the latter reportedly dealing considerable damage to the Focke-Wulf aircraft works.
40 Lancasters also flew an ineffective long-range raid upon Danzig, arriving after dusk and thus unable to effectively bomb its port to disrupt U-boat construction. On 31 July, 20% of Bomber Command's strength was directed against Dusseldorf, focused on Schiess A.G.'s machine tool manufacturing plant.
[Robertson 1964, p. 20.] 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. An emphasis was placed upon aiding the Battle of the Atlantic by hindering the German Navy. Often, when the weather was deemed to be unsuitable for bombing missions, night-time mine-laying operations were flown instead.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 20-21.]
A major improvement to night-time bombing came with the implementation of the Pathfinder (RAF), Pathfinder Force (PFF) in August 1942, multiple squadrons were transferred from Bomber Command groups to constitute the new unit. These pathfinders were tasked with flying ahead of bomber formations to locate and mark targets using Target indicator, Target Indicator flares to improve the accuracy of strikes by the following aircraft. 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.
That same night, 12 Lancasters of No. 106 Squadron flew to Gdynia, armed with newly-developed anti-capital ship bombs, intending to hit the battleships German battleship Scharnhorst, ''Scharnhorst'' and ''German battleship Gneisenau, Gneisenau,'' as well as the aircraft carrier German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, ''Graf Zeppelin'', but did not manage to hit any ships due to a persistent haze.
[Robertson 1964, p. 21.]
While the Lancaster had been designed to conduct night-time operations, daylight raids were occasionally performed by the type as well.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, p. 7.] Occasionally, lone Lancasters would be dispatched to perform decoy raids on key manufacturing sites, such as munitions factories, with the intention of being spotted to cause workers to go to air raid shelters, thus disrupting production.
On 17 October 1942, an audacious daytime raid was performed by 90 Lancasters of No. 5 Group RAF, No. 5 Group, the bombing of the Schneider Kreuznach, Schneider Works at Le Creusot, France; only a single aircraft, ''W4774'', was lost during the course of the mission.
Losses were avoided by measures such as flying beneath German radar cover, aerial reconnaissance along the intended route, and the strict observation of secrecy.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 21-22.]
In late October 1942, the first Lancaster bombing missions over Italy were performed; on 22 and 23, the cities of Genoa and Turin were struck at night-time.
[Robertson 1964, p. 22.] On 24 October, the Italian city of Milan was raided by roughly 60 Lancasters during the daytime; railway infrastructure was a priority target for these attacks. These bombers had been escorted across the Channel by Spitfires before breaking formation to individually fly at low altitude to reach and fly over the Alps; a total of three were reportedly shot down by enemy fighters.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 22-23.] During November, targets in Italy and Germany were alternatively attacked by Lancasters, striking the city of Osnabrück multiple times, conducting a heavy raid against Turin, and destroying supplies for the Afrika Korps in Genoa. Only eight bombing missions were conducted during all of December, the most prominent of which being against Duisburg, due to poor prevailing weather conditions.
[Robertson 1964, p. 23.]
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.
[Robertson 1964, p. 19.] Furthermore, each Lancaster had its own ground crew early on; centralised servicing was introduced later.
[Robertson 1964, p. 59.] By the end of the year, a total of 16 operational squadrons had been stood up while around 200 Lancasters were under Bomber Command.
On 16 January 1943, the German capital city of Berlin was raided for the first time in over a year; conducted by an all-Lancaster force, the Berlin raid was fairly inconsequential beyond its psychological impact, not causing meaningful damage to either side.
[Robertson 1964, p. 26.] The first radial engined Lancasters were also introduced to service during January, alongside some new bombing aids. On 4 February, 198 Lancasters raided the city of Turin; days later, 466 Lancasters attacked Lorient, and an all-Lancaster force of 142 aircraft attacked Milan on 14 February.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 26-27.] On 28 February, 86 Lancasters attacked the occupied French city of Saint-Nazaire; the next day, 79 Lancasters bombed Berlin. On 5 March, the Battle of the Ruhr strategic bombing campaign was launched by Bomber Command. The initial attack on Essen comprised 412 bombers, 140 of which were Lancasters. In order to cope with the higher attrition rate from these operations, a three-fold increase in production was enacted.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 27-28.]
On 15 April, Stuttgart was raided by a large force of Lancasters; on the following day, Plzeň was similarly struck, although much of the intended attack upon the Škoda Works was unintentionally directed towards a large asylum instead; other targets that month included Stettin, Duisburg, and the Ruhr. The majority of strategic bombing missions flown during May were also directed towards the Ruhr region.
[Robertson 1964, p. 29.]
Perhaps the most famous single mission performed by the Lancaster was flown on 16–17 May 1943, codenamed
Operation Chastise
Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on Nazi Germany, German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by No. 617 Squadron RAF, 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using sp ...
, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Area, Ruhr Valley.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 29-32.] The operation was carried out by No. 617 Squadron RAF, No. 617 Squadron, which had been formed less than two months prior. They flew modified Lancaster Mk IIIs that were armed with special drum-shaped bouncing bombs; these had been specially designed by the British engineer
Barnes Wallis; the Lancaster was the only bomber at the time capable of bearing the weapon.
A total of 19 aircraft were dispatched on the operation, setting off in the evening and flying at very low altitudes most of the way to avoid detection. Initial attacks targeted the Mohne Dam until it was breached, then moved on to the Eder Dam, and then the Sorpe Dam and Ennepe Dam.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 31-32.] The story of the operation was later made into The Dam Busters (book), a book, and subsequently a film, ''The Dam Busters (movie), The Dam Busters''.
[Robertson 1964, p. 30.]
The Ruhr continued to be intensely raided by Bomber Command for months following Operation Chastise with the aim of suppressing the region's industrial output.
[Robertson 1964, p. 34.] In June, Lancasters begun operating in North Africa using the tactic of shuttle bombing from airfields in Blida and Dar El Beïda, Maison Blanche. This was a key element of Operation Bellicose, the bombing of a German
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
factory in the former Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, Zeppelin Works at Friedrichshafen and the Italian naval base at La Spezia.
On 12 July, an all-Lancaster force performed the biggest-yet bombing raid on Turin in support of the recently-launched Italian campaign (World War II), Italian Campaign. Further missions across the country were flown throughout this month, often focusing on electrical and railway infrastructure.
[Robertson 1964, p. 35.]
![Lancaster over Hamburg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Lancaster_over_Hamburg.jpg)
During late July and early August 1943, large numbers of Lancasters participated in the devastating round-the-clock raids on the city of Hamburg during Air Chief Marshal Harris's Bombing of Hamburg in World War II, Operation Gomorrah.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 35-36.] On the night of 27 July, 787 RAF aircraft, comprising 74
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...
s, 116
Short Stirlings, 244
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.
The Halifax has its orig ...
es and 353 Avro Lancasters, bombed the city. An estimated 18,474 people died on this night alone, despite many of victims being within air raid shelters and cellars, as the widespread fires across the city led to carbon monoxide poisoning. Altogether, 8,621 tons of bombs were dropped on Hamburg by the end of the operation.
[Robertson 1964, p. 36.]
On the night of 17/18 August, Operation Hydra (1943), Operation Hydra was conducted against the Peenemünde Army Research Center, the site of the V-2 rocket and other List of German guided weapons of World War II, German guided missiles and munitions; 17 Lancasters were lost in the costly but successful attack, mainly to German night fighters.
Five days later, Lancasters struck numerous chemical works across Germany, including those in Leverkusen and Düsseldorf. 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. Numerous strikes on the German capital occurred over the following weeks, sometimes by an all-Lancaster force.
[Robertson 1964, p. 37.]
In September, Hanover was subjected to the most concentrated bombing raid of the war so far.
[Robertson 1964, p. 38.] In October, the widespread bombing of numerous German cities took place, targeting Munich, Kassel, Frankfurt, Offenbach, Ludwigshafen, Stuttgart, Friedrichshafen, and Leipzig, along with other targets. By this point, the
Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
had stood up its own operational squadrons equipped with Lancasters, and proceeded with offensive action over Germany in this same month.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 38-39.]
In late 1943, Air Chief Marshal Harris advocated to Churchill for the persistent bombing of Berlin in preference to earlier targets such as the Ruhr.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 39, 50.] Between 15 November 1943 and 24 November 1944, sixteen major bombing operations were conducted against the German capital in the Battle of Berlin (RAF campaign), Battle of Berlin; of the 9,111 sorties flown, 7,256 had been performed by Lancasters. These raids, while often incurring in costly losses, were typically deemed to have been 'most satisfactory' by senior officials.
[Robertson 1964, p. 50.] In March 1944, the Berlin raids were somewhat lessened as a compromise, Bomber Command having been directed to destroy enemy communications and other targets around France and the Low Countries ahead of the Normandy landings on D-Day (military term), D-Day.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 50-54.]
During April 1944, key targets in France included railway hubs in Villeneuve, Rouen, and Juvisy.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 53-54.] Special operations were flown against specific ammunition depots, munitions factories, and coastal batteries in advance of the Allied invasion. Around this time, Lancasters would also provide direct support to the local operations of field forces.
[Robertson 1964, p. 54.] By May, Bomber Command had a daily average operating strength of roughly 1,100 aircraft, 616 of which were Lancasters, 354 were Halifaxes, 72 Mosquitos, and 58 Stirlings; between 300 and 400 bombers were being deployed every night, dependent on weather conditions.
[Robertson 1964, p. 63.] In May and June, extensive operations were flown against the fortifications of the Atlantic Wall. The first combat use of Barnes Wallis' Tallboy (bomb), 'Tallboy' bombs occurred around this time.
[Robertson 1964, p. 64.]
On 14 June, the first large-scale daylight bombing raid since 1942 was conducted using Lancasters against enemy shipping at the harbours of Le Harve and Boulogne.
[Robertson 1964, p. 65.] 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. In conjunction, low-level nighttime bombing raids continued, but the emphasis shifted away from the strategic bombing of German industry in favour of directly attacking military concentrations, such as U-boat pens and V-1 flying bomb launch sites.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 65-66.]
During July, in the days following the Normandy landings, Lancasters heavily bombed the city of Caen repeatedly.
[Robertson 1964, p. 66.] On 24 August, eight Tallboys were dropped in a daylight attack on the U-boat pens at IJmuiden, two direct hits were recorded. Multiple raids on V-1 launch sites and enemy shipping were also performed during August; the partially constructed battleship Richelieu-class_battleship#Clemenceau_and_Gascogne, ''Clemenceau'' was one of the targets that were struck around this time.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 66-67.] September saw a heavy focus on airfields in Holland, as well as repeated raids on German-held Le Harve and oil targets in the Ruhr. On 17 September, precision strikes were performed on Boulogne only 200 yards from the Allied lines.
[Robertson 1964, p. 66.]
In October, Lancasters repeatedly struck the sea wall at Westkapelle, Netherlands, Westkapelle, seeing to prevent the Germans from intentionally flooding neighbouring lands to delay Allied ground forces.
[Robertson 1964, p. 68.] Extensive daylight raids were performed during the month; cities such as Cologne, Walcheren, and Bergen were targeted by hundreds of Lancasters. Bomber operations proceeded in both day and nighttime against industrial towns, airfields, communications, and troop concentrations into December; one such operation was flown against the E-boat pens at Rotterdam on 29 December.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 69-70.]
Throughout the latter half of 1944, a series of high-profile bombing missions were performed by the Lancaster against the .
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, pp. 7, 10.][Robertson 1964, p. 74.] Executed by Nos. 617 and 9 Sqns, a combination of Lancaster B.I and B.III bombers were armed with Tallboy bombs and were adapted with enlarged bomb bay doors in order to accommodate their special payloads and additional fuel tanks to provide the necessary endurance. A total of three attacks, individually codenamed Operation Paravane, Operation Obviate and Operation Catechism, were conducted against ''Tirpitz'', which was anchored in a fjord in German occupation of Norway, Occupied Norway.
The first of these attacks disabled the vessel while the third mission was responsible for sinking the ship. Due to actions such as Operation Chastise and the sinking of ''Tirpitz'', No. 617 Squadron RAF, No. 617 Sqn was perhaps the most famous of all Lancaster squadrons.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 75-77.]
On 1 January 1945, the Dortmund–Ems Canal was attacked by Lancasters, hitting it at a vulnerable section near Ladbergen.
[Robertson 1964, p. 82.] An attack on Pforzheim on 23 February was described by aviation author Bruce Robertson as amongst the most concentrated and successful flown in the conflict. In the final months of the war, Lancasters were encountering the newly-developed
Messerschmitt Me 262
The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed ''Schwalbe'' (German: "Swallow") in fighter versions, or ''Sturmvogel'' (German: "Storm Bird") in fighter-bomber versions, is a fighter aircraft and fighter-bomber that was designed and produced by the Germ ...
, the first jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft, sometimes flying in formations of up to 40 aircraft.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 83-84.]
During early 1945, a total of 33 Lancaster B.Is were modified so that they could deploy the Grand Slam (bomb), Grand Slam bomb, the heaviest conventional bomb to be used during the conflict.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, p. 10.] On 13 March 1945, the first operational use of the Grand Slam was performed by a Lancaster of No. 617 Sqn against the Hamm–Minden railway#Schildesche viaduct, Bielefeld viaduct in North Rhine-Westphalia; this target had not yet been rendered inoperable despite being damaged by prior conventional bombing. 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.
[Robertson 1964, p. 84.]
By April 1945, there were in excess of 1,000 Lancasters in frontline service, dwarfing the numbers of Halifaxes and Mosquitos operated by Bomber Command at that time.
[Robertson 1964, p. 85.] Key industrial sites, such as the Auguste Viktoria Benzole, 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. Amongst the final wartime operations performed by the Lancaster was the Bombing of Obersalzberg, aimed at the destruction of Kehlsteinhaus, ''Eagle's Nest'', the extensive holiday home complex used by German leader Adolf Hitler.
Unusually, the BBC were permitted to announce the raid before it was completed.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 85-86.]
![The Royal Air Force during the Second World War CH13151](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/The_Royal_Air_Force_during_the_Second_World_War_CH13151.jpg)
RAF Lancasters dropped food into the Holland region of the occupied Netherlands, with the acquiescence of the occupying German Army (Wehrmacht), German forces, to feed people who were in danger of starvation.
[Robertson 1964, pp. 86-87.] The mission was named 'Operations Manna and Chowhound, Operation Manna' after the food manna which is said to have miraculously appeared for the Israelites in the Book of Exodus. The aircraft involved were from 1, 3, and 8 Groups, and consisted of 145 de Havilland Mosquito, Mosquitos and 3,156 Lancasters, flying between them a total of 3,298 sorties. The first of the two RAF Lancasters chosen for the test flight was nicknamed "Bad Penny (aircraft), Bad Penny" from the old expression: "a bad penny always turns up." This bomber, with a crew of seven men (five Canadians including pilot Robert Upcott of Windsor, Ontario), took off in bad weather on the morning of 29 April 1945 without a ceasefire agreement from the German forces, and successfully dropped its cargo.
Assessment
The Lancaster conducted a total of 156,000 sorties and dropped of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Only 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations and was ultimately retired from service and scrapped in 1947. From 1942 onwards, the Lancaster became the mainstay of the British heavy bomber fleet; by the end of the war in Europe, there were roughly 50 squadrons equipped with the Lancaster, the majority of these being the Lancaster B.I model.
From its entry into service, the original model of the Lancaster was operated in almost every major bombing raid of the European conflict.
Adolf Galland (commander of the Luftwaffe fighters) considered the Lancaster to be "the best night bomber of the war", as did his adversary, Arthur "Bomber" Harris, who referred to it as Bomber Command's "shining sword". Goulding and Garbett wrote that: "The achievements of the Lancaster and the men who flew it have been widely acclaimed, and the aircraft has been described as the greatest single factor in winning WWII, an exaggeration but a pardonable one".
Lancasters from Bomber Command were to have formed the main strength of Tiger Force (air), Tiger Force, the Commonwealth bomber contingent scheduled to take part in Operation Downfall, the codename for the planned invasion of Japan in late 1945.
Aircraft allocated to the Tiger Force were painted in white with black undersides and outfitted with additional radio units and navigational aids to facilitate their use in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific theatre. The addition of large saddle-type external fuel tanks was considered and trialled in Australia and India, but this was discontinued due to their perceived vulnerability to attack.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, pp. 11–12.] Together with the new
Avro Lincoln and Liberators, the bombers would have operated from bases on Okinawa; the envisioned invasion did not happen when such action was made unnecessary by the surrender of Japan.
Prior to the decision to carry out extensive modifications under Silverplate to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress to allow it to deliver atomic bombs over Japan, serious consideration was given to using the Lancaster with its cavernous bomb bay instead. Using the Lancaster would have required much less modification to the aircraft itself, but would have necessitated additional crew training for the USAAF crews. Major general (United States), Major General Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project, and General (United States), General Henry H. Arnold, the Chief of United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), wished to use an American plane if this was at all possible.
As a byproduct of its sound design and operational success, various developments and derivatives of the Lancaster were produced for both military and civilian purposes. 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. A civilian airliner was converted from the Lancaster with the addition of nose and tail fairings and seats, as the Avro Lancastrian, Lancastrian and a similar aircraft was derived from the Lincoln as the Avro Lincolnian, Lincolnian. Other developments included the Avro York, York, a transport with a much larger square section fuselage, and via the Lincoln, the Avro Shackleton, Shackleton maritime patrol aircraft which continued in RAF service in that role until replaced by the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod in the early 1970s, but saw further service as an airborne early warning (AEW) system until finally retired in 1991. The Avro Tudor, Tudor airliner also used the Lincoln wings, but with a new tubular fuselage.
After the war
Royal Air Force
The Lancaster remained in use for several years after the end of the war, during which a number of high-profile operations were conducted.
During the summer of 1946, No. 35 Squadron RAF, No. 35 Squadron Lancasters toured the United States and were autographed by various American movie stars, and retained these until their retirements.
A pair of Lancasters, ''PD328'' and ''PB873'', performed several long-distance flights, including round-the-world and trans-polar trips.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, p. 12.]
The Lancaster remained at the forefront of RAF Bomber Command while the Lancaster B.I was gradually replaced by the improved Lancaster B.I (F/E) and B.VII (F/E) models.
During 1947–1948, No. 82 Squadron RAF, No. 82 Squadron received new PR.1 dedicated photo-reconnaissance model derived from the Lancaster B.1 which was painted silver and lacked defensive turrets. These carried out aerial surveys of Central and East Africa and at least one was operated by the Ministry of Aviation.
RAF Coastal Command received a small number of grey-painted Lancaster MR.1s, which were normally based at RAF Kinloss, Moray Firth.
The Lancaster continued to be operated in significant numbers until the introduction of the
Avro Lincoln, a development of the Lancaster. The Lincoln was not available in quantity for several years following the end of the conflict,
[Mantelli, Brown, Kittel and Graf 2017, pp. 59–60.] and it took until December 1953 for the final Bomber Command Lancaster to be retired.
The last Lancaster in active service with the RAF, a reconnaissance aircraft, is believed to have been retired in late 1954.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, pp. 12–13.]
French Aéronavale
Avro overhauled 59 Lancaster B.Is and B.VIIs at Woodford and Langar which were delivered to the French ''Aéronavale'' during 1952/53,
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, p. 14.] which were flown until the mid-1960s by four squadrons stationed in France and New Caledonia in the maritime reconnaissance and search-and-rescue roles.
Argentine Air Force
Between 1948 and 1949, 15 former RAF Lancasters were overhauled at Langar for use by the Argentine Air Force.
During its Argentine service, Lancasters were used offensively in suppressing and supporting military coup d'état, coups.
Royal Canadian Air Force
![Lancaster10MP 405Sqn RCAF NAS Jax Feb1953](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Lancaster10MP_405Sqn_RCAF_NAS_Jax_Feb1953.jpg)
Beginning in 1946, Lancaster Mk Xs were modified for service with the
Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
(RCAF). Fourteen were modified to perform aerial and photo-reconnaissance missions; these would go on to perform much of the mapping of northern Canada until as late as 1962. Throughout the 1950s, the RCAF operated seventy modified Lancasters, designated ''Lancaster 10MR/MPs'', as Maritime Reconnaissance and Patrol aircraft in an anti-submarine role. Modifications involved the installation of radar and sonobuoy operators' positions, removal of the rear and mid-upper gun turrets, installation of a 400-gallon fuel tank in the bomb bay to increase the patrol range, upgraded electronics, radar, and instrumentation, and a cooking stove in the centre section. They served throughout the 1950s, when they were supplemented by the Lockheed Neptune and finally replaced by the Canadair Argus.
["The Canadian Lancasters."](_blank)
''Bomber Command Museum.'' Retrieved 3 October 2011.
Transport
Immediately following the end of hostilities, the Lancaster was used without any major modifications as a transport aircraft, being used to ferry thousands of prisoner of war, prisoners of war (POWs) back to the British Isles from across the continent.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, pp. 10–11.] Repatriation flights returning POWs and ordinary troops continued until November 1945.
[Goulding and Garbett 1966, p. 11.]
Civil conversions of the type continued during the initial postwar years. In 1946, four Lancasters were converted by Avro at Bracebridge Heath, Lincolnshire as freighters for use by British South American Airways, but proved to be uneconomical, and were withdrawn after a year in service. In addition, four Lancaster IIIs were converted by Cobham plc, Flight Refuelling Limited as two pairs of tanker and receiver aircraft for the development of Aerial refueling , in-flight refuelling. In 1947, one aircraft was flown non-stop from London to Bermuda. Later on, these two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster; these saw use during the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties.
From 1943 to 1947, the Canadian Government Trans-Atlantic Air Service (CGTAS) provided a trans-Atlantic military passenger and postal delivery service using a modified long-distance transport version of the Lancaster Mark X. Nine of these aircraft were produced, referred to as Lancaster XPPs (for Lancaster Mk.X Passenger Planes), and each was equipped with rudimentary passenger facilities. The inaugural flight from Dorval (Montreal) to Prestwick, Scotland on 22 July 1943, was completed non-stop in a record 12:26 hours; the average crossing time was about 13:25 hours. By the end of the war, these aircraft had completed hundreds of trips across the Atlantic. CGTAS ushered in the era of commercial air travel across the North Atlantic, and in 1947 the service became part of Trans-Canada Air Lines, which carried paying civilian passengers in the Lancaster XPPs until they were replaced by Douglas DC-4s in 1947.
Variants
; B.I
: The original Lancasters were produced with Rolls-Royce Merlin, Rolls-Royce Merlin XX engines and SU carburetor, SU carburettors. Minor details were changed throughout the production series – for example, the Pitot tube, pitot head design was changed from being on a long mast at the front of the nose to a short fairing mounted on the side of the fuselage under the cockpit. Later production Lancasters had Merlin 22 and 24 engines.
No designation change was made to denote these alterations.
; B.I Special
: 32 Aircraft were adapted to take first the super-heavy "Tallboy bomb, Tallboy" and then "Grand Slam bomb, Grand Slam" bombs. Up-rated engines with paddle-bladed propellers gave more power, and the removal of gun turrets reduced weight and gave smoother lines. For the Tallboy, the bomb bay doors were bulged; for the Grand Slam, they were removed completely and the area faired over. For some Tallboy raids, the mid-upper turret was removed. This modification was retained for the Grand Slam aircraft, and in addition, the nose turret was later removed. Two airframes (''HK541'' and ''SW244'') were modified to carry a dorsal "saddle tank" with mounted aft of a modified canopy for increasing range. No. 1577 SD Flight tested the aircraft in India and Australia in 1945 for possible use in the Pacific,
but the tank adversely affected handling characteristics when full and an early type of Aerial refuelling, in-flight refuelling designed in the late 1930s for commercial flying boats was later used instead.
![Lancasters](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Lancasters.jpg)
; PR.1
: B 1 modified for photographic reconnaissance, operated by RAF No. 82 and No. 541 Squadrons, wartime. All armament and turrets were removed with a reconfigured nose and a camera carried in the bomb bay. The type was also operated by 683(PR) Squadron when it was re-formed in November 1950 to undertake photographic reconnaissance and mapping activities, initially based at RAF Fayid, Egypt, before moving to RAF Kabrit in February 1951, and subsequently RAF Habbaniya, Habbaniya in Iraq until the squadron was disbanded on 30 November 1953.
;B.I (FE)
:In anticipation of the needs of the Tiger Force (air), Tiger Force operations against the Japanese in the Far East (FE), a tropicalised variant was based on late production aircraft. The B.I (FE) had modified radio, radar, nav-aids, and a tank installed in the bomb bay. Most were painted with white upper surfaces to reduce internal temperatures in the tropical sun, and black undersides with a low demarcation between the colours, Royal Air Force roundels#SEAC and RAAF, completely omitting any red colours on the national insignia in all cases to avoid confusion with the ''hinomaru'' insignia of the Japanese.
; B.II
![Lancaster B Mark II of 115 Squadron RAF 1943 IWM CH 19792](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Lancaster_B_Mark_II_of_115_Squadron_RAF_1943_IWM_CH_19792.jpg)
:
Bristol Hercules (Hercules VI or XVI engines) powered variant, of which 300 were produced by
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and ...
. One difference between the two engine versions was that the VI had manual mixture control, requiring an extra lever on the throttle pedestal. Very early examples were fitted with an FN.64 ventral turret; however, these were quickly removed due to problems with aiming the turret through its periscope (which prevented the gunner from seeing a target he was not already aiming at), and inadequate traverse speed.
:Due to the Luftwaffe ''Schräge Musik'' attacks, a variety of unofficial field modifications were made, including the fitting of cannon or a machine gun in the open hole where the FN.64 had been installed, before an official modification (Mod 925) fitted with a machine gun was authorised for the same location, though not used in all aircraft. These were rarely installed on other variants as the H2S radar was usually installed, however the B.II's bulged bomb bay interfered with its installation, leaving the opening free. Three types of bulged bomb bay were used on the B.II, the prototype having a narrow bulge running from just aft of the cockpit to the turret location, while early production examples had a full-width bulge that ran the same length and on late production examples, the bomb bay doors prominently bulged throughout their length.
;B.III
:This variant, which was built concurrently with the B.I and was indistinguishable externally from that variant, was fitted with
Packard-built Merlin engines. The Packard Merlins used Bendix Corporation, Bendix – Stromberg pressure-injection carburettors, requiring the addition of slow-running cut-off switches in the cockpit.
;B.III (Special)
![Upkeep in Lancaster](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Upkeep_in_Lancaster.jpg)
:Known at the time of modification as the "Type 464 Provisioning" Lancaster, 23 aircraft of this type were built to carry the "Upkeep" bouncing bomb for the dam busting raids. The bomb bay doors were removed and Vickers-built struts to carry the bomb were fitted in their place at Woodford Aerodrome near Stockport where the workers worked day and night. A hydraulic motor, driven by the pump previously used for the mid-upper turret was fitted to spin the bomb. Lamps were fitted in the bomb bay and nose for the simple height measurement system which enabled the accurate control of low-flying altitude at night. The mid-upper turret was removed to save weight and the gunner moved to the front turret to relieve the bomb aimer from having to man the front guns so that he could assist with map reading.
;ASR.III/ASR.3
:B.III modified for air-sea rescue, with three dipole ventral antennas fitted aft of the radome and carrying an airborne lifeboat in an adapted bomb bay. The armament was often removed and the mid-upper turret faired-over, especially in postwar use. Observation windows were added to both sides of the rear fuselage, a port window just forward of the tailplane and a starboard window into the rear access door. A number of ASR 3 conversions were fitted with Lincoln-style rudders.
![Avro Lancaster](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Avro_Lancaster_3-view_line_drawings.png)
;GR.3/MR.3
:B.III modified for maritime reconnaissance.
;B.IV
:The B.IV featured an increased wingspan and lengthened fuselage and new Boulton Paul F turret (two X Browning M2, 0.5in Browning machine guns) with framed "bay window" nose glazing. The prototypes (''PW925'', ''PW929'' and ''PW932'') were powered by two-stage Merlin 85s inboard and later, Merlin 68s on the outboard mounts. Because of the major redesign, the aircraft was quickly renamed Avro Lincoln, Lincoln B 1.
;B.V
:Increased wingspan and lengthened fuselage, two-stage Merlin 85s. Renamed Avro Lincoln, Lincoln B 2.
[Mantelli, Brown, Kittel and Graf 2017, p. 59.]
;B.VI
:Nine aircraft converted from B.IIIs. Fitted with Merlin 85/87 which had two-stage superchargers, giving much improved high-altitude performance. The B VI could achieve a maximum speed of at at a takeoff weight and a service ceiling of at the same weight. Climb to at takeoff weight was accomplished in 44.8 minutes with a maximum climb rate of 1,080 ft/min (5.5 m/s) at .
[Mason 1998, p. 302.] A Lancaster B VI was dived to a maximum indicated speed of , or Mach 0.72 at in June 1944. The Merlin 85/87 series engines were fitted with annular cowlings similar to the
Avro Lincoln and three-bladed paddle-type propellers were fitted. These aircraft were used by only Pathfinder (RAF), Pathfinder units; by No. 7 Squadron RAF, No. 83 Squadron RAF, No. 405 Squadron RCAF and by No. 635 Squadron RAF. Often used as a "Master Bomber" the B VIs were allocated to
RAF Bomber Command apart from two that were retained by Rolls-Royce Limited, Rolls-Royce for installation and flight testing. Their dorsal and nose turrets were removed and faired over. The more powerful engines proved troublesome in service and were disliked by ground maintenance staff for their rough running and propensity to 'surge and hunt', making synchronisation impossible. This was caused by variations in the fuel/air mixture and over time would damage the engine. The B VI was withdrawn from operational service in November 1944 and surviving aircraft were used by Rolls-Royce Limited, Rolls-Royce, the Royal Aircraft Establishment and the Bomb Ballistics Unit (BBU) for various testing and experimental duties.
;B.VII
:The B.VII was the final production version of the Lancaster. The Glenn L. Martin Company, Martin 250CE mid-upper turret was moved slightly further forward than on previous Marks and the Nash & Thomson FN-82 tail turret with twin Browning machine guns replaced the FN.20 turret with four
Browning .303 Mark IIs. The Martin turret carried two 0.5-inch Browning Mark II machine guns which packed much more punch than the .303s of the older turret. However, these Martin turrets arrived too late for inclusion in the first 50 aircraft built by Austin and these were therefore referred to as Mark VII (Interim). Another 180 true Mark VIIs were built at Longbridge. Two sub-variants of the VII existed, the "Far East" (B VII FE) for use in tropical climates and the B VII "Western Union", which went to France.
;B.X
![Aircrew & Groundcrew of a No](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Aircrew_%26_Groundcrew_of_a_No._428_Squadron_RCAF%2C_Avro_Lancaster.jpg)
:The B.X was a Canadian-built B.III with Canadian- and US-made instruments and electrics. In later batches, the heavier Martin 250CE was substituted for the Nash & Thomson FN-50 mid-upper turret, mounted further forward to maintain centre of gravity balance. Canada was a long-term operator of the Lancaster, using modified aircraft after the war for maritime patrol, search and rescue and photo-reconnaissance until 1964.
The last flight by the RCAF was by F/L Lynn Garrison in KB-976, on 4 July 1964 at the Calgary International Air Show.
:During the Second World War, Canada's
Victory Aircraft
Victory Aircraft Limited was a Canadian manufacturing company that, during the Second World War, built mainly British-designed aircraft under licence. It acted as a shadow factory, safe from the reach of German bombers.
Initially the major wa ...
(what later became Avro Canada) was responsible for the development of the Lancastrian, which was duly designated the XPP for ''Mark 10 Passenger Plane''.
Six were built for Trans Canada Airlines.
:Postwar the RCAF modified the B X (as the Lancaster Mk 10) to fill a variety of roles, with specific designations for each role. These included:
:* 10AR: ''Area Reconnaissance'' – three aircraft modified for surveillance operations over the Arctic. Fitted with the lengthened nose ( longer) and carrying cameras and ELINT equipment. Remained in service until 1964.
[Lyzun ''Air Enthusiast'' March/April 2000, pp. 25–26.]
:* 10BR: ''Bomber Reconnaissance''. Minimally modified variant with additional windows for observers in the rear fuselage. 13 converted.
[Lyzun ''Air Enthusiast'' March/April 2000, pp. 20–21.]
:* 10DC: ''Drone controller'' with Ryan Firebee drones – two modified in 1957 and operational until 1961.
[Lyzun ''Air Enthusiast'' March/April 2000, p. 25.]
:* 10MR (later 10MP): ''Maritime Reconnaissance'' or ''Maritime Patrol'' anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft, based on BR with the mid-upper turret removed. 70–75 converted. In service from 1950 to 1955.
[Lyzun ''Air Enthusiast'' March/April 2000, pp. 21, 24.]
:* 10N: ''Navigational trainer''. Five converted.
[Lyzun ''Air Enthusiast'' March/April 2000, pp. 19–20.]
:* 10O: ''Avro Canada Orenda, Orenda jet engine testbed'' for the engine used in the Avro CF-100.
:* 10P: ''Photo reconnaissance'' mapping duties. 11 converted 1948–1950. Retired 1964.
[Lyzun ''Air Enthusiast'' March/April 2000, pp. 17–19.]
:* 10S&R: Interim search-and-rescue aircraft, minimally modified 10S. Replaced by disarmed 10BR and 10MRs.
[Lyzun ''Air Enthusiast'' March/April 2000, pp. 24–25.]
:* 10S : ''Standard'' – designation applied to baseline standard, with Merlin 224 engines, Martin mid-upper turret and H2S radar, for aircraft retained postwar for future use.
[Lyzun ''Air Enthusiast'' March/April 2000, p. 16.] Sometimes referred to by unofficial designation 10U.
[Lyzun ''Air Enthusiast'' March/April 2000, p. 26.]
;B.XV
![Avro Lincoln ExCC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Avro_Lincoln_ExCC.jpg)
:As per Lancaster B.IV/Lincoln B.1 but built in Canada and renamed
Avro Lincoln XV. One example was built before the order was cancelled when the war ended.
Operators
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Surviving aircraft
![Lancaster VR-A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Lancaster_VR-A.jpg)
Of the 17 surviving and largely intact Lancasters known to exist, two are airworthy; one, Avro Lancaster PA474, PA474, based at Coningsby (in Lincolnshire, UK), is operated by The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and the other, named ''Vera'' (coded VR-A, Avro Lancaster FM213, FM213), is in Canada, operated by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, a suburb of Hamilton, Ontario. Another Lancaster, ''Just Jane'', NX611, a B MkVII, based in East Kirkby Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre is able to taxi but is not currently airworthy, though there are plans to return it to flight in the future. The fourth Lancaster with working engines and able to taxi is Bazalgette FM159 based at the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta. It has been carefully restored from a vandalised state and is now a main tourist attraction.
In 2014, the Canadian aircraft toured the UK in a series of joint displays with the BBMF aircraft.
In 2017, formally retired after its Cold War service and more than 50 years on display in Edmundston, New Brunswick, Lancaster KB 882 moved to its new home at the National Air Force Museum of Canada in Trenton, Ontario, where it is to be restored and placed alongside the museum's restored RAF
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.
The Halifax has its orig ...
heavy bomber
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...
. NA 337
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.
Specifications (Lancaster I)
Notable pilots and crew members
Victoria Cross awards
Many Lancaster crew members were highly decorated for their actions while flying the aircraft. Amongst those who received the Victoria Cross were:
* Squadron Leader Ian Willoughby Bazalgette
[Richards 1995, p. 319.]
* Wing commander (rank), Wing Commander Guy Gibson
[Falconer 2003, p. 170.]
* Warrant Officer Norman Cyril Jackson
[Richards 1995, pp. 304–305.]
* Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski
[Richards 1995, p. 310.]
* Squadron Leader John Dering Nettleton
[Richards 1995, pp. 157–160.]
* Squadron Leader Robert Anthony Maurice Palmer
[Richards 1995, pp. 346–347.]
* Flight Lieutenant William Reid (VC), William Reid
* Flight Sergeant George Thompson (VC), George Thompson
* Group Captain Leonard Cheshire – for conduct on more than 100 missions in aircraft including the Lancaster,
Mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
and North American P-51 Mustang, Mustang
* Captain (acting Major) Edwin Swales
Notable appearances in media
![Avro 683 Lancaster B](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Avro_683_Lancaster_B.VII_NX671_Baginton_19.06.54.jpg)
The Avro Lancaster featured prominently in the 1955 film ''The Dam Busters (film), The Dam Busters'', and a number of B VII Lancasters in storage were modified to the original configuration of the B.III (Special) for use on screen. Lancasters play a prominent part in ''Appointment in London'' with Dirk Bogarde.
See also
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
* ''A.P. 22062A-P.N.: Pilot's and Flight Engineer's Notes for Lancaster. Mark I – Four Merlin XX, 22 or 24 Engines. Mark III – Four Merlin 28 or 38 Engines''. London:
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
, May 1944. No ISBN
*
* Brickhill, Paul, ''The Dam Busters''. Evans, 1951.
* Bridgman, Leonard, ''Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II''. New York: Crescent Books, 1988. .
* Brown, Eric, ''Wings on my Sleeve''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016. .
* Buttler, Tony, ''British Secret Projects: Fighters & Bombers 1935–1950''. Hinckley: Midland Publishing, 2004. .
* Chant, Christopher, ''Lancaster: The History of Britain's Most Famous World War II Bomber''. Bath, UK: Parragon, 2003. .
* Chorlton, Martyn, ''Avro Lancaster Mk I and Mk III: Database''. Cudham, Kent, UK: Kelsey Publishing, 2011.
*
* Cotter, Jarrod, ''Living Lancasters: Keeping the Legend Alive''. Thrupp, Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing, 2005. .
* Falconer, Jonathan, ''Bomber Command Handbook 1939–1945''. Thrupp, Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing, 2003, .
*
* Franks, Norman, ''Claims to Fame: The Lancaster''. London: Arms & Armour Press, 1995. .
* Franks, Richard A., ''The Avro Lancaster, Manchester and Lincoln: A Comprehensive Guide for the Modeller''. London: SAM Publications, 2000. .
* Galland, Adolf, ''The First and the Last: Germany's Fighter Force in WWII'' (Fortunes of War). Black Hawk, Colorado: Cerberus Press, 2005. .
*
* Goulding, Brian, and Garbett, M., ''The Avro Lancaster I: Aircraft in Profile Number 65''. Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications, 1966.
* Bill Gunston, Gunston, Bill, ''World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines'' (fifth edition). Sutton Publishing, 2006. .
*
* Max Hastings, Hastings, Sir Max, ''Bomber Command'' (Pan Grand Strategy Series). London: Pan Books, 1999. .
* Holmes, Harry, ''Avro Lancaster (Combat Legend series)''. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 2002. .
* Holmes, Harry, ''Avro Lancaster. The Definitive Record 2nd Edition.'' Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd, 2001. .
* "The Immortal Lanc". ''Wings'' Volume 1, Part 8, 1977. London: Orbis Publishing Ltd.
* Iveson, Tony, ''Lancaster: The Biography''. London: Andre Deutsch Ltd, 2009. .
* Jackson, A.J., ''Avro Aircraft since 1908, 2nd edition''. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1990. .
* Jacobs, Peter, ''The Lancaster Story''. London: Arms & Armour Press, 1996. .
* Lyzun, Jim, "From Warhorse to Workhorse: Lancaster Mk.10 Variants in Canada". ''Air Enthusiast'', No. 86, March/April 2000, pp. 16–26. .
* Knott, Richard, ''Black Night for Bomber Command – The Tragedy of 16 December 1943''. Pen & Sword, 2007. .
* Mackay, R.S.G., ''Lancaster in action''. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications Inc., 1982. .
* Mantelli, Brown, Kittel, Graf, ''Avro Lancaster – Handley Page Halifax – Short S.29 Stirling''. Edizioni R.E.I., 2017. .
*
*
* Mason, Francis K., ''The British Bomber since 1914''. London: Putnam, 1994. .
* Mason, Tim, ''The Secret Years: Flight Testing at Boscombe Down 1939–1945''. Manchester, UK: Hikoki, 1998. .
* McKinstry, Leo, ''Lancaster: the Second World War's Greatest Bomber''. London: John Murray, 2009. .
* Moyes, Philip J.R., ''Avro Lancaster I & II''. Kidlington, Oxford, UK: Vintage Aviation Publications Ltd., 1979. .
* Moyes, Philip J.R., ''The Handley Page Halifax B.III, VI, VII''. Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications, 1966.
* Neillands, Robin, ''The Conquest of the Reich: D-Day to VE Day—A Soldiers' History''. New York: NYU Press, 1995. .
* Norris, Geoffrey, ''The Short Stirling, Aircraft in Profile Number 142''. Windsor, Berkshire, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1966.
*
* Page, Bette, ''Mynarski's Lanc: The Story of Two Famous Canadian Lancaster Bombers KB726 & FM213''. Erin, Ontario, Canada: Boston Mills Press, 1989. .
*
* Richards, Denis, ''The Hardest Victory: RAF Bomber Command in the Second World War''. London: Coronet, 1995. .
* Robertson, Bruce, ''Lancaster: The Story of a Famous Bomber''. Watford, Hertfordshire, UK: Argus Books, Fifth impression 1977, First impression 1964. .
* Sweetman, Bill, ''Avro Lancaster''. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1982. .
* Tarring, Trevor, and Joseland, Mark, ''Archie Frazer-Nash ... Engineer''. London: The Frazer Nash Archives, 2011. .
* Taylor, John W.R., "Avro Lancaster" in ''Combat Aircraft of the World from 1909 to the present''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. .
* Winchester, Jim, "Avro Lancaster" in ''Aircraft of World War II: The Aviation Factfile''. Kent, UK: Grange Books plc, 2004. .
Further reading
*
*
External links
The Lancaster Archivea 1942 ''Flight'' article
Lancaster at the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive
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