Avro Lancaster
The aircraft that carried Bomber Command to Berlin — and beyond.
Born from the failure of the twin-engine Manchester, the four-engined Lancaster became the backbone of RAF Bomber Command's night offensive against Germany. Its cavernous bomb bay was uniquely adaptable, eventually accepting ordnance no other aircraft in the world could lift — including the 12,000 lb Tallboy and 22,000 lb Grand Slam earthquake bombs.
01First operational sortie on 3 March 1942. Over the course of the war, Lancasters flew some 156,000 operational sorties and delivered more than 608,000 tonnes of bombs.
02Famous for 617 Squadron's "Dambusters" raid of May 1943, using Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb to breach the Möhne and Eder dams. The same squadron later used Tallboy to sink the battleship Tirpitz and to destroy heavily-buried U-boat pens.
03A brutal occupation: of the 7,377 Lancasters built, over 3,500 were lost on operations. Of Bomber Command's 125,000 aircrew, more than 55,000 were killed — a casualty rate unmatched among Allied forces.
Theatres of operation
- ·Western Europe — strategic bombing
Principal operators
- ·RAF Bomber Command
- ·Royal Canadian Air Force
- ·Royal Australian Air Force
Others in the same fight.
Supermarine Spitfire
Mk.I — Mk.24
Hawker Hurricane
Mk.I — Mk.IV
de Havilland Mosquito
Mk.I — Mk.41
Hawker Typhoon
Mk.IB