The Lancaster
For the last three years of the Second World War the
Avro Lancaster was the major heavy bomber used by Bomber
Command to take the war to the heart-land of Nazi Germany.
It resulted from design work undertaken by Roy Chadwick
and his Avro team to overcome the problems experienced
with the twin-engined Manchester bomber.
The prototype made its first flight in January 1941.
With an impressive performance and excellent flying
characteristics it soon established its superiority
over other allied four-engined bombers operating in
Europe. The industrial and military organisation needed
to build and operate the Lancaster was huge. Six major
companies built 7377 aircraft at ten factories on two
continents; at the height of production over 1,100,000
men and women were employed working for over 920 companies.
More service personnel were involved in flying and
maintaining it than any other British aircraft in history.
The Lancaster’s operational career is littered
with impressive statistics, some are set out below,
but it is worth remembering that the average age of
the seven-man crew was only 22 years. They endured
danger and discomfort and many showed great courage
in continuing to fly knowing the odds against survival
were high. Bomber Command suffered the highest casualty
rate of any branch of the British services in the Second
World War.
On average Lancasters completed twenty-one missions
before being lost. |
