Monica was a system fitted to main force Lancasters that consisted of a radar set facing aft of the aircraft to detect approaching night fighters.
Lancasters fitted with Monica can be identified by an aerial located under the rear turret. Monica was removed when it was discovered that the German
night fighter force had been equipped with Flensburg sets, which homed in on the Monica set’s emissions.
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Lastly, Airborne Cigar (ABC) was fitted to No. 101 Squadron aircraft only.
It consisted of three transmitters and a receiver, and involved the addition of an eighth ‘Special Duties’ operator to the crew to operate the ABC set, who was a fluent German speaker. The operator listened to German night fighter force radio traffic and transmitted conflicting instructions to those given by the ground stations to the night fighter crews, although the German operators eventually got wise to Bomber Command’s efforts. The ABC set was used later to broadcast a warbling note on frequencies on which the operator had
observed night fighter radio traffic, making it impossible for the ground station and night fighter crews to talk to each other. Airborne Cigar-equipped Avro Lancaster B. Mark I of Lancasters are easy to identify, the set requiring the fitting of three aerials, two No. 44 Squadron, 1942. 44
Squadron was the first to
on the top of the fuselage and one under the nose.
receive Lancasters. The
condition of the paintwork on
this aircraft suggests that it is
OPERATIONAL HISTORY
new. The fuselage windows
have not been painted over,
which is another clue that this
Unfortunately it is not possible in this book to give a detailed account of every is an early aircraft. The crew
operation that the Lancaster was involved in during World War II. Limitations of seven are lined up below
on space preclude anything other than a selective account; however, there are the nose of the aircraft; the small white boxes carried by
many excellent accounts of the Lancaster’s career, individual raids and crews’ two of the crew are carrier accounts of their experiences, all of which have much to recommend them.
pigeon containers.
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The Lancaster goes to war
The first squadron to receive the Lancaster was No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron based at RAF Waddington. The squadron received the Manchester Mark
III prototype, BT308, on 9 September 1941 for air and ground crew
training. The first three production Lancaster B. Mark Is, L5737, L5738
and L5741, arrived in December 1941. The squadron continued to receive
new aircraft and undertook a thorough training programme to ready the
crews for operations.
The Lancaster undertook its first operational raid when No. 44
Squadron despatched four aircraft, L7546, L7547, L7566 and L7549, on a
gardening sortie (minelaying) off Heligoland on the north-west coast of Germany on the night of 3 March 1942. The raid was led by Squadron
Leader John Nettleton (flying L7546), who laid his mines in the ‘Yams’
area, with Flight Lieutenant ‘Nick’ Sandford in L7568. The other pair
(L7547 flown by Warrant Officer Lamb and L7549 flown by Warrant
Officer Crum) laid their mines in the ‘Rosemary’ area. Each aircraft
dropped four ‘vegetables’ (mines) from 600ft. All four aircraft returned safely to Waddington.
The first operation against a ground target undertaken by the Lancaster was on the night of 10 March, when No. 44 Squadron sent two aircraft as part of a 126 aircraft raid on Essen. The two pilots were Flying Officer Ball and Flying Officer Wilkins. Flying Officer Ball flew the first Lancaster over the target (L7536), arriving at 21:48 and bombing the target from 18,000ft.
The load consisted of four small bomb containers (SBC) containing 94lb
bombs, and 16 bundles of ‘Nickles’ G1 (incendiary bombs). Both Lancasters returned safely to Waddington, although four other aircraft on the raid were lost. The Lancaster had bared its teeth for the first time.
The second squadron to receive the Lancaster was No. 97 Squadron based
at RAF Coningsby, which moved to RAF Woodhall Spa before commencing
operations. The squadron took delivery of its first Lancasters in January 1942
and sent six Lancaster B. Mark Is to join 13 Manchesters detailed for a gardening sortie to the ‘Willow’ area. ‘Willow’ was an area stretching from Arcona to the River Dievenow in the Baltic. The Lancasters took off from Woodhall Spa in daylight, flying over the North Sea and Denmark to reach the target area at dusk, where they dropped their mines and returned to Woodhall Spa under the cover of darkness. All six returned safely, completing the Lancaster’s first daylight operation.
The first loss of a Lancaster occurred on the night of 24 March 1942,
when one of No. 44 Squadron’s aircraft failed to return from a minelaying operation. The South African pilot, Flight Sergeant Lyster Warren, and all of his crew were killed.
The first joint effort by Lancaster squadrons occurred on the night of 25
March, when No. 44 Squadron and No. 97 Squadron despatched seven
aircraft between them as part of a raid on Essen, which consisted of 254
bombers, a record number at the time. One of the Lancasters had to abort the raid and return home with technical issues, but the other six completed the mission and returned safely to base. Nine other aircraft were lost on the raid, including five out of 20 Manchesters taking part.
Seven Lancasters from the two squadrons took part in the next record-
breaking raid, this time to Hamburg on the night of 8 April. It consisted of 272
aircraft, all returning safely.
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Some of the early Lancasters were Gee equipped, and since targets in the Ruhr Valley were within the range of Gee, these aircraft were used as much as possible.
Augsburg, 17 April 1942
With the entry of the Lancaster into service, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, now commander in chief of Bomber Command, realized the potential of the new aircraft. It could fly higher than the Stirling, which was also limited in the offensive load it could carry due to the cellular design of parts of its bomb bay.
It was as capable in many ways as the Halifax, which, like the Hawker
Hurricane, would always remain in the shadow of its more famous cousin. The Lancaster and Halifax would see Bomber Command through the war, meeting most of the demands placed upon them, although the large bomb bay of the Lancaster – inherited from the Manchester’s ability to carry a pair of torpedoes
– gave more flexibility to the type of load it could carry.
The Lancaster gave Bomber Command an aircraft that Harris believed was
capable of attacking any target in Germany at any time. By April 1942 the two squadrons equipped with the Lancaster were often flying together at low level, and rumours abounded that a special mission was on the horizon. The rumour gained strength when No. 44 Squadron, led by Squadron Leader John
Nettleton, and No. 97 Squadron, led by Squadron Leader John Sherwood, A Lancaster taking off for undertook a special training flight, in which both squadrons independently Berlin. The port outer engine flew to the south coast where they joined up to transit north and carry out a appears stopped due to the simulated ‘attack’ on Inverness. The crews began to believe that they were shutter speed used to capture this image at night.
going to be detailed to attack German warships. The crews were briefed at Noteworthy is the wear to the their own bases on 17 April that they were to undertake a special raid, but not tips of the propeller spinners.
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Lancaster B. Mark I R5689
on German warships. The raid was to be an attack on the Maschinenfabrik (VN-N) of No. 50 Squadron
Augsburg-Nurnburg Aktiengesellschaft factory at Augsburg, in southern
showing the faired-in
Germany, which was producing diesel engines for U-boats. Augsburg would mid-upper turret and the
present a target 1,000 miles away, deep in occupied Europe, and one that unpainted fuselage windows.
The pilot has the sliding
would be the deepest that Bomber Command had penetrated into Germany at canopy window open.
that time.
The plan called for six aircraft from each squadron to cross the Channel west of Le Havre and transit at low level south before turning east to pass south of Paris. They would then head towards Munich, as if the raid was targeted there, before turning north to attack Augsburg. The target called for precision bombing as it was a particularly small site, so it was decided that the attack would take place at low level in the last minutes of daylight, allowing the bombers to return under the cover of darkness, but that the trip outbound would be in full daylight. Each Lancaster was to carry only four 1,000lb general-purpose bombs with delayed fuses. Diversionary bombing raids and fighter sweeps were scheduled for the same afternoon to divert the Luftwaffe fighters from the Augsburg flight.
At 15:00 hours the 12 Lancasters took off from their bases and formed into four flights of three aircraft each. As they crossed the French coast, the diversionary raids had already brought up the Luftwaffe to intercept, but resulted in disaster when a group of fighters returning from an interception spotted the last section of Lancasters and gave chase. The fighters caught the rear flight of No. 44 Squadron, and immediately shot down the Lancaster flown by Warrant Officer ‘Joe’ Beckett DFM. The fighters turned on the second Lancaster, flown by Warrant Officer ‘Bert’ Crum DFM, which was attacked by six Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. Both port engines were soon hit and caught fire, and the Lancaster crashed into a wheat field. The last Lancaster in the section, flown by Flight Lieutenant ‘Nick’ Sandford DFC, was also shot down.
The destruction of the section had only taken a few minutes, with all three Lancasters crashing within two miles of each other. (In fact Beckett’s and Crum’s planes crashed only 500 yards apart.)
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The fighters turned on the lead section led by Squadron Leader Nettleton.
Nettleton’s number three, flown by Sergeant ‘Dusty’ Rhodes, was shot down.
Both Nettleton’s Lancaster and the number two, flown by Flying Officer
‘Ginger’ Garwell DFM, came under repeated attack and were hit a number of times by the fighters. Running short of fuel, the fighters were forced to turn for home before they could deliver the coup de grâce. The two flights of No. 97
Squadron remained completely unmolested, despite being only two miles
away. The two surviving Lancasters of No. 44 Squadron continued to
Augsburg without further incident.
The formations reached Augsburg, and Nettleton pressed home a
determined attack. Garwell’s aircraft was hit by flak on the run in to the target and crashed moments after releasing its bombs. No. 97 Squadron reached the target after Nettleton, by which time the defences were fully alerted. Sherwood led the first flight in to be met by a thick barrage of anti-aircraft fire. The flight all released their bombs, but Sherwood’s aircraft was seen by the other two aircraft in the flight to explode on impact with the ground. The rear section, led by Flight Lieutenant ‘Jock’ Penman, began its attack, but the German gunners had by then established the exact line and altitude of the run in. The number two aircraft, flown by Flying Officer Ernest Deverill DFC, was hit repeatedly, putting the gun turrets out of action and causing the hydraulic oil in the mid-upper turret to catch fire and set fire to the starboard inner engine.
The third aircraft also caught fire on the run in, although Warrant Officer Tommy Mycock DFC managed to keep his aircraft steady for long enough for the bombs to be released before the aircraft exploded.
The five remaining aircraft turned for the long journey home. They reached England without further incident, although Nettleton landed at Squire’s Gate airfield near Blackpool after running short of fuel. The only survivor from the six No. 44 Squadron aircraft had returned safely. The four remaining No. 97
Squadron aircraft had all landed safely by midnight. Deverill’s aircraft was written off immediately because of the amount of damage it had received.
The raid had been successful. The damage inflicted on the factory disrupted production for several weeks, but at a cost. Of the 85 men who had set out that afternoon, 49 were missing, although 12 survived to become prisoners of war. John Nettleton was awarded the Victoria Cross for his outstanding
leadership of the raid; the rest of his crew were awarded DFCs and DFMs.
Despite its success, the raid illustrated a point that the Luftwaffe had learnt during the Battle of Britain. The bomber was vulnerable to the modern
monoplane fighter in daylight, and whilst formations of bombers would
‘always get through’, it would be at enormous cost. The USAAF (United States Army Air Force) would experience the same when it operated over occupied Europe in daylight, despite the greater defensive armament that its B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators had in comparison to the Lancaster.
The ‘Thousand Bomber’ Raids, May and June 1942
By May 1942, Harris believed that a demonstration of the devastating power of a large bomber force would prove his reasoning for how the bombing war should be won. He planned a ‘Thousand Bomber’ raid against Cologne to take place on the night of 30 May.
The Lancaster equipped five squadrons by the time of the Cologne raid.
No. 207 Squadron had re-equipped with the Lancaster and No. 83 Squadron had equipped with the aircraft at RAF Scampton. A fifth unit, No. 106
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Squadron, had only just re-equipped with the Lancaster at RAF Coningsby under the command of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, so the Cologne raid
was its first mission.
The plan was to send a stream of bombers to Cologne, all flying the same route at the same speed, to reduce the effect of the German night fighters by saturating the defences. It was also intended that the entire raid would be completed in 90 minutes. In order to mount the raid all available aircraft were called upon, including aircraft and crews from training units.
The raid eventually consisted of 1,047 aircraft, of which No. 5 Group
provided 73 Lancasters, a record for the Lancaster at this point in the war (the previous Lancaster record being 21 aircraft sent as part of a raid on
Warnemunde on the night of 8 May 1942). The raid turned Cologne into a sea of fire, with approximately 900 aircraft claiming to have bombed the city. The record number of aircraft in the raid also produced the greatest losses that Bomber Command had experienced in one night at that point. Forty-one
aircraft were lost, only one of which was a Lancaster.
Harris ordered another ‘Thousand Bomber’ raid just two nights later, when 956 aircraft, including 74 Lancasters, attacked Essen. The city continued its reputation as a jinx on Bomber Command as it was difficult to find under thick ground haze, and results were below expectations. Bomber Command
lost 31 aircraft, including four Lancasters.
The full force of Bomber Command was called into action once more on
the night of 25 June when a force of 1,067 aircraft (including 100 from Coastal Command) attacked Bremen. The Lancaster force was now beginning to
expand rapidly. A further two squadrons had been equipped with Lancasters since the previous all-out effort, No. 50 Squadron at RAF Skellingthorpe and No. 61 Squadron at RAF Syerston, both of whi
ch belonged to No. 5 Group.
The Bremen raid saw a new record for the Lancaster, as 96 were available.
Forty-eight aircraft were lost during the Bremen raid, but only one Lancaster failed to return from the 96 despatched.
The Lancaster force’s efforts for Bomber Command were now increasing
exponentially. The Bremen raid involving 96 Lancasters took place just three and a half months after four Lancasters had undertaken the first operation for the type.
The Pathfinders
Despite the increasing numbers of aircraft taking part in Bomber Command’s operations, there was still work to be done. The RAF’s heavy bombers, with the exception of the Lancaster, were showing faults. The Manchester was proving to be the most flawed, suffering a loss rate on average of 4.4 per cent (double that of the Short Stirling), and it appeared to be vulnerable to flak.
The introduction of the Handley Page Halifax into service was costly, with the aircraft experiencing a 5 per cent loss rate up to June 1942, mainly due to night fighter activity. The Halifax suffered from unsatisfactory exhaust shrouds that made its engines stand out at night, making it easier for the night fighters to find it. The Stirling was suffering from its low operational ceiling and its inability to carry the larger bombs that Bomber Command was beginning to use.
The RAF had withdrawn its older and less-capable medium bombers, the
Manchester, Whitley and Hampden, by July 1942. At the same time, the
availability of Lancasters was increasing, an average of 50 being available each 48
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night, despite Harris being forced to transfer one Lancaster squadron to A Lancaster B. Mark III PA995, Coastal Command to help combat increasing U-boat activity in the Atlantic.
with the personnel of No. 550
No. 44 Squadron was the first to move to assist Coastal Command, but Squadron, after completing 100 sorties. PA995 was an
Avro Lancaster Page 7