The British Avro Lancaster bomber was the primary aircraft for Bomber Command during World War II. The aircraft performed its first flight in January 1941 and entered service in February 1942. The Royal Air Force (RAF) of the United Kingdom adopted the four-engined heavy bomber.

The Avro Lancaster’s extraordinary combat performance, flying characteristics, and agility made it superior to many heavy bombers at the time. The manufacturer produced over 7,000 examples of the type, most of which took part in strategic bombing missions over Europe.

Powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 engines and with a 102 wingspan, the Lancaster was the Royal Air Force (RAF) go-to heavy bomber. The RAF used the Lancaster to bomb German military installations and factories that supported the Nazi war effort.

The RAF was desperate for as many Lancaster bombers as it could get

The Air Ministry liked what they saw and placed an order with Avro for 1,070 planes. Now at war with Germany, the RAF desperately needed as many examples as possible. To aid with the supply, the government enlisted the help of Vickers, Armstrong, and Short Brothers.

“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.”

In 1942, a Lancaster was sent to Canada so that Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario, could help supply aircraft for the war effort. At the height of its production, thousands of men and women worked around the clock to build these aircraft. In total, 7,377 examples of the Avro Lancaster were built in Britain and Canada during wartime.

The RAF lost one Lancaster every 21 missions

Pilots spoke of the plane’s handling and ease of flying, and it had a seven-man crew. The Air Ministry calculated that they would lose one aircraft after it had flown 21 missions. During WWII, RAF Bomber Command suffered the highest casualty rate of any service in the British military.

“The Avro Avro Lancaster also took on a role as a long range anti-submarine patrol aircraft although it was later supplanted by the Avro Shackleton, especially in air-sea rescue operations. It also performed roles as diverse as photo-reconnaissance and aerial mapping. It served as a flying tanker for aerial refuelling whilst in its later jet powered Avro Lancastrian configuration, it was operated by the likes of BOAC as a long-range, high-speed transatlantic VIP passenger and postal delivery airliner.”

Because the Avro Lancaster could carry a 4,800-pound bomb in its 33-foot-long bomb bay, it was selected for a special mission in the Ruhr Valley. Wing Commander Guy P. Gibson, a pilot awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross when he was 24, was in charge of the raid. Headquartered at an airfield near Lincoln in England, Gibson helped select the 700 pilots, navigators, and bombardiers needed for the mission.

The Dam Busters

General characteristics

Length:

•  69 ft 4 in (21.13 m)

Wingspan: 102 ft 0 in (31.09 m)

Height: 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)

Wing area: 1,297 sq ft (120.5 m2)

Empty weight: 36,900 lb (16,738 kg)

Gross weight: 55,000 lb (24,948 kg)

Max takeoff weight: 68,000 lb (30,844 kg)

Powerplant: 4 × Rolls-Royce Merlin liquid-cooled piston engines

Thrust per engine: 1,280 hp (950 kW) each

Propellers: 3-bladed

They trained with a new type of bomb developed secretly by British engineer Barnes Wallis. What made the bomb unique was that it was designed to skip over water and detonate like a depth charge when it arrived at its target.

To test the bomb and prepare for the mission, Lancaster crews ran practice raids of the Derwent Reservoir ten miles from Sheffield in the Peak District. Fearing that if the Germans caught wind of what they were doing, all surprise would be lost. Because of this, even the bomber crews were not told of their targets until hours before the mission. The British believed that if they could find a way to blow up the dams on the Ruhr River, it would help to shorten the war.

On Sunday, May 16th, 1943, 18 Avro Lancaster bombers took off from Scampton Airfield and flew low over the North Sea until crossing the Dutch coast. After crossing the beach, two planes were shot down by anti-aircraft fire, and two had to return to Scampton for mechanical reasons.

The remaining aircraft continued the mission. In the end, the RAF only managed to destroy two of the four Ruhr River dams, but it is today remembered as one of the most critical missions of the war.