Author(s): Peter C. Smith

Aircraft

The Avro Lancaster is one of the most well known and revered aircraft in aviation history. The RAF's heavy bomber was developed during the early years of World War 2 when Britain's only means of taking the offensive to Germany was through the RAF's strategic night bombing campaign. The first Lancaster mission was in 1942 and the aircraft was an instant success. Powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines its performance outstripped its rivals. By the end of the war the aircraft had carried out 156,000 missions and dropped over 600,000 tons of high explosive bombs and more than 51 million incendiary bombs. Its versatility was such that it excelled also in many other roles including daylight precision bombing. Some of its raids have passed into folklore - the 1943 'Dambusters' raid on dams in the Ruhr area of Germany delivering the unique bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallace is probably the most famous.
Nineteen Lancasters took part in this raid in May 1943, and eight planes were lost.