Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

Long-range heavy bomber

Power Plant:

Four 1,089 kw (1,460 hp) Rolls Royce Merlin 20 or 22 twelve-cylinder VEE liquid-cooled engines

Specifications:

Armament:

Two 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine guns in each of nose, dorsal, and ventral turrets (latter usually deleted); four 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine guns in tail turret; bomb load consisting of one 9,979 kg (22,000 lb) bomb, or 6,350 kg (14,000 lb) of bombs

History:n

The Avro Lancaster was perhaps the most famous, and certainly the most successful, heavy bomber used by the Royal Air Force in World War II. It was developed from the twin-engine Avro Manchester, which had been powered by two 24-cylinder Rolls Royce Vulture engines, each delivering 1,376 kw (1,845 hp) in the Manchester Mk 1A. Considerable teething troubles were experienced with the Vulture and, in order to get the heavy bomber into service, it was decided to fit four Rolls Royce Merlins to the Manchester airframe.

The first Lancaster (BT308) was initially known as the Manchester III but, after flying for the first time on 9 January 1941, it was renamed Lancaster I. Apart from a new wing section to take the four Merlins, the Lancaster was basically the Manchester, initially even using the single fin. As development continued throughout its life, twin fins were fitted and progressive refinements led to little of the Manchester’s features remaining.

Trials with the Lancaster prototype commenced at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire on 22 January 1941. Manchester production ceased soon after in favour of the new type, and the first production Lancaster flew on 31 October 1941. Whereas the prototypes had Merlin X engines of 843 kw (1,130 hp), production aircraft had the 955 kw (1,280 hp) Merlin XX, and power increases continued to the Merlin 22s with 1,105 kw (1,480 hp) and the Merlin 24s with 1,209 kw (1,620 hp).

Provision was made for dorsal, ventral, tail and nose turrets, but usually the ventral turret was not installed. Generally, armament was installed in three Frazer Nash turrets, two 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Browning machine guns in each of the nose and dorsal turrets, and the ventral turret when installed, and four in the tail turret.

A total of 7,374 Lancasters was built by the parent Company, A V Roe and Co, by Vickers Armstrong at two facilities (Castle Bromwich and Chester), Austin Motors, Metropolitan Vickers, and Armstrong Whitworth. The type was also built as the Lancaster X in Canada by Victory Aircraft Ltd, where 430 were completed, most being fitted with Merlin 28 engines, the first Canadian aircraft being delivered on 6 August 1943.

The role of the Lancaster in World War II is well known. The aircraft served with bomber and pathfinder groups, carrying bombs up to the 5,443 kg (12,000 lb) ‘Tallboy’ and 9,979 kg (22,000 lb) ‘Grand Slam’, and the ‘spinning bomb’ used to breach the Moehne, Eder and Sorp dams in the Ruhr in Germany.

At one stage it was thought there might be some difficulty obtaining enough Merlin engines for the Lancaster, as this engine was also employed in many other types, including the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, Fairey Battle, variants of the Bristol Beaufighter, de Havilland Mosquito, etc. To solve this perceived problem a Lancaster variant known as the Mk II was fitted with four Bristol Hercules VI or XVI radial engines of 1,294 kw (1,735 hp) by Armstrong Whitworth. However, only 300 were built, as Merlins built by Packard Motors in the United States ensured an adequate supply.

Lancasters in World War II made some 156,000 sorties, dropped 608,612 tons (618,400,000 kg) of bombs, dropped 51,513,106 incendiary bombs, and consumed 1,036,000,000 litres (228,000,000 Imp gals) of fuel. A total of 3,249 Lancasters was lost in action, 35 completed more than 100 successful operations, and the largest number of operations completed by one aircraft was 139.

Three squadrons were dedicated as RAAF units in the European Theatre, and these comprised No 463, which was formed from “C” Flight of No 467 Squadron at Waddington in Lincolnshire on 25 November 1943, which in 17 months flew 2,525 sorties and lost 78 aircraft.

No 467 Squadron was formed at Scampton, also in Lincolnshire, on 7 November 1942, the majority of its personnel initially being British. It later operated from Bottesford in Leicestershire from 23 November 1942, and Waddington, and was part of No 5 Group of RAF Bomber Command. It flew 3,833 sorties and lost 118 aircraft.

No 460 Squadron was originally equipped with Wellingtons in the UK in November 1941, converting to the Handley Page Halifax for a short period before being equipped with the Avro Lancaster in October 1942. Operations began in November that year. The unit’s last operation was to Hitler’s mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden in Bavaria in April 1945. The Squadron flew 6,264 operational sorties and lost 188 aircraft.

One RAF squadron was dedicated as an RNZAF squadron, this being No 75. This unit was formed and commenced to be equipped with the Vickers Wellington, the aircraft to be flown to New Zealand when all were delivered.  However, following the commencement of hostilities these aircraft remained in the United Kingdom and the unit was later equipped with the Short Stirling, then the Avro Lancaster, and saw service over France, Norway and Germany. It was later to equip with the Avro Lincoln and was preparing to take the aircraft to the Far East when Japan surrendered. In March 1945 a Lancaster of this unit flown by Flt Lt H W Hooper flew at high altitude over The Hague dropping leaflets apologising to the city for the earlier Allied bombing of the city in error.

Although flown by Australian and New Zealand crews in large numbers in the European Theatre of operations, only two Lancasters came to this region during the war and on RAAF charge in Australia. These (A66-1 and A66-2) were both flown to Australia for War-Bond tours. After the war one (A66-2) reverted to its European markings (W4783 AR-G) of No 460 Squadron. For many years it was displayed in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, ACT. In 1999 it was dismantled and moved to the Memorial’s Treloar Centre for restoration, this being completed in 2003 and the aircraft being placed again on display in the Memorial.

The other Lancaster A66-1 (ex ED930) was scrapped. This Lancaster was flown to Australia by Flt Lt Peter Isaacson and his crew in May 1943 in a time of 72 hrs 12 mins, arriving on 4 June 1943. On 26 October 1943, as part of the fourth Liberty Loan Tour, A66-1 left Tamworth, NSW to make a flight over a number of towns on the NSW north coast, including Lismore. It then flew to Evans Head, arriving after 3 hrs and 20 mins in the air. As the north-south runway was said to not be able to take the weight of the Lancaster’s 27,216 kg (60,000 lb), it was ordered to land on the shorter east-west runway. As the aircraft was about to land the wind changed to a tailwind and the aircraft ran through the aerodrome perimeter fence, through a creek and ended up stuck in a swamp.

The Lancaster was lifted, damaged parts removed, and repaired at Evans Head by a team led by Donald Delaney. The engines were taken to RAAF Laverton, VIC for overhaul and repair, and crates of parts were obtained from Canada. A road was built to the aircraft by the Department of Public Works and repairs were carried out in situ, sometimes work being carried out from a boat. Following completion of repairs, the aircraft was taxied back to the hangar area on 2 April 1944 and two days later a test flight was made by Flt Lt Peter Isaacson. On 12 October 1944 it was flown under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

During its RAAF service the aircraft A66-1 visited New Zealand. Again flown by Flt Lt P S Isaacson DFC, DFM and named ‘Queenie VI’ it flew from Laverton, to Auckland and on to Ohakea on 11 June 1943 in a time of 7 hrs 39 mins. On 13 June it flew to Wigram in the south island, where it overflew Dunedin, Invercargill and Nelson, before returning to Ohakea via Wellington dropping leaflets which could be exchanged for War Bonds. It returned to Australia on 20 June 1943.

Other Lancasters which visited New Zealand were PD328 ‘Aries’ in November 1944 whilst attached to the Empire Air Navigation School at Shawbury; and PB873 ‘Thor’ in May 1946, which was from the Empire Air Armament School in Lincolnshire.

After the war the French Navy operated 54 Lancasters (32 B.Is and 22 B.VIIs) in the maritime role. Six operated with Escadrille de Servitude 9 in Noumea, these regularly visiting New Zealand and other islands in the Pacific, including Norfolk Island.

In the 1960s a further two Lancasters U-15 and U-16 arrived in Australia. They had been retired from service with France’s Aeronavale in the Pacific area. U-15 was refurbished at Bankstown, NSW and, as G-ASXX, was flown to the United Kingdom. It has been restored at Kirkby in Lancashire as NX611 and has been regularly taxied for public display. Work is proceeding towards making it airworthy.

Lancaster U-16 was deliverd to Perth, WA where it was on display for a period at Jandakot airport. In later years it has been displayed in its wartime markings NX622 in the RAAF Association Museum at Bull Creek in Perth.

A further ex French aircraft WU-13 (ex NX665) was presented to the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland, New Zealand in 1964. This was restored in 1944 RAF Bomber Command colours and coded with two different aircraft identities, ND752 AA-O of No 75 (NZ) Squadron on one side and PB457 SR-V of No 101 Squadron on the other, to commemorate those New Zealanders who served on Lancasters in the European Theatre.

In 2006 an Australian organization located and obtained a disassembled Lincoln and the major components of an Avro Lancaster and imported them to Australia for restoration to static display condition.

Two Lancasters are airworthy. One (PA474) is regularly operated in the United Kingdom by the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, being based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire and a B.X (KB726/Fm²13 – C-GVRA) is operated by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum from Hamilton, Ontario. In 2014 it was flown across the Atlantic to RAF Coningsby where it (as callsign ‘Memorial 2′) attended a number of aviation events and flew in formation with the Battle of Britain aircraft (as call sign ‘Memorial 1′) before again flying across the Atlantic Ocean back to Canada.

A Lancaster B.X (G-BCOH /KB976/CF-AMD/CF-TQC) is in storage with the Fantasy of Flight Museum at Polk City in Florida, USA awaiting restoration to airworthiness. Other than the two airworthy Lancasters, a further 15 survive in museums around the world.

New Zealand film maker, Sir Peter Jackson, from about 2010 has been reported to have commenced production of a new film on the famous Dam Busters raid by Avro Lancasters during World War II. As part of the production for the film ten non-flying full scale replica Avro Lancasters were said to have been built from wood in China, and a similarly built Vickers Wellington and de Havilland Mosquito were constructed for use in the film. One was noted at Masterton in 2011. It is known one of these Lancasters was fitted with the turrets from the Lancaster held in storage at the Fantasy of Flight Museum at Polk City in Florida.