Avro Lancaster

by Richard Marks

  German radar. The aircraft flew on into the dawn towards the rendezvous point at Tornetrask Lake in the mountains of Sweden. The aircraft circled until Tait signalled that the attack should begin, despite two No. 9 Squadron Lancasters not making the rendezvous. The aircraft turned north and

  approached Tromsø, where despite a warning of increased Luftwaffe fighter presence in the area, no sign of defending fighters was seen. The Tirpitz was sighted when the attackers were still 20 miles away. The peace of the scene was broken when the aircraft were five miles away and the Tirpitz opened fire upon them with her main armament.

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  Wing Commander J. B. Tait at

  Woodhall Spa 12 November

  1944. Tait, who led the

  Catechism attack on Tirpitz, is

  seen here standing at the tail

  of a Lancaster. The turret is

  notable for having the centre

  glazing panel removed by the

  gunner to improve vision.

  The 18 aircraft of No. 617 Squadron approached from the south-east with the sun behind them, in a gaggle spread between 12,650ft and 16,000ft. Tait approached at 13,000ft, his bomb aimer, Flying Officer Danny Daniel, guiding him towards the target. Ten seconds before the drop point a red light lit up on Tait’s instrument panel, indicating that the auto-release mechanism was active, and as the Lancaster passed over Tirpitz the bomb swung away and went into a perfect descent. The bomb struck near the bow of the ship. The other aircraft released their bombs, one hitting the water close to the stern, two between ship and shore, others landing on the shore line. All 18 of 617’s bombs had been released by 8:44am; No. 9 Squadron also released their ten bombs within seconds. None of the crews could see whether their bombs had hit the Tirpitz within the inferno that was raging on and around the ship, but she began to list and turned over seven minutes after the attack began.

  The Lancaster proved itself extremely capable of delivering the Tallboy bomb on precision targets, but one more development would stretch the

  Lancaster to the limit. Barnes Wallis’s 22,000lb Grand Slam bomb could only be carried by the Lancaster, but even Avro’s mighty machine struggled to carry 57

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  the massive bomb. The specially modified Lancasters were issued to No. 617

  Squadron, who mounted the first mission with the new weapon on 13 March.

  Twenty aircraft took off from Woodhall Spa on route to the Bielefeld Viaduct, among which were two Lancaster B. Mark I Specials flown by Group Captain Johnnie Fauquier (PD119/YZ-J) and ‘Jock’ Calder (PD112/YZ-S) carrying the only pair of live Grand Slam bombs in existence. The viaduct was obscured by thick cloud and so the force had to turn back. Fauquier and Calder diverted to RAF Carnaby upon return, as its longer runway could cope with the

  increased roll-out on landing that the weight of the bomb added. The mission was rescheduled for 14 March, but during pre-flight checks Fauquier’s

  Lancaster developed technical faults and he tried to commandeer Calder’s aircraft, who saw Fauquier approaching and took off before Fauquier could get close.

  Calder reached the Bielefeld Viaduct without mishap and released his

  weapon from 12,000ft, becoming the first crew to drop the heaviest bomb in the world. The bomb undershot the viaduct by around 30 yards, but the shock waves generated by the explosion collapsed around 260ft of the viaduct.

  CONCLUSION

  The Lancaster holds a special place in aviation history. It gave Bomber Command a capable bomber that, alongside the Halifax, filled the need for a heavy bomber from its introduction to operations in March 1942. A career that started with just four aircraft would see the aircraft become a key part of Bomber Command’s inventory. The aircraft would perform an increasing large number of sorties in raids, increasing to a record of 796 Lancasters in a force of 805 aircraft that took part in the controversial raid on Dresden on the night of 13 February 1945.

  The Lancaster would see service post war with Bomber Command and the

  French Aeronavale, although the story did not end there. The Lincoln, which OPERATION CATECHISM, 12 NOVEMBER 1944

  F

  The German battleship Tirpitz had occupied the minds of the Admiralty and Winston Churchill for most of the time it had been holed up in Norway. The British high command was worried that the ship might venture out to attack the convoys to Russia. The Tirpitz had been attacked numerous times, but had not been sunk. It had been heavily damaged by the attack on 15 September carried out by 26 Lancasters of nos. 617 and 9 squadrons, which took off from Russia carrying Tallboy bombs. The damage was assessed by the Kriegsmarine as being so serious as to require nine months’ work just to make the Tirpitz seaworthy again. Despite this, the Tirpitz had not been sunk, and the RAF would try again.

  The Tirpitz was towed to Tromsø on 15 October, bringing the ship within range of Lancasters if they took off from Scotland. The slow pace of the Tirpitz’s journey, intelligence reports and photographic reconnaissance all seemed to indicate that the Tirpitz was out of the war. The Admiralty in London was not convinced and requested a second attack, which would be codenamed Operation Catechism.

  Catechism took place on 12 November 1944. The Lancasters of nos. 617 and 9 squadrons were once again allotted the task of dealing with the Tirpitz. At 0325hrs 29 Lancasters took off from Scotland, once again carrying Tallboy bombs, and set course for Tromsø. The aircraft reached the target and No. 617 Squadron attacked first. The first bomb was dropped at 0841hrs, and the last at 0844hrs, followed within seconds by all ten of No. 9 Squadron’s Tallboys. The Tirpitz appears to have been hit numerous times and damaged by a number of near misses. The ship began to list and then rolled over.

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  No. 463 Squadron RAAF was

  saw service with the Royal Air Force until 1963, was essentially still a one of the units involved in

  Lancaster, continuing the family’s service.

  transporting prisoners of war

  Roy Chadwick and the design team at A. V. Roe had been considering a

  home in May 1945. The

  design for a large airliner that would satisfy the post-war demand for regular ground crew are marking up

  RF270 (JO-V) with chalked

  crossings of the North Atlantic for fare paying passengers and freight.

  slogans to greet the POWs.

  Chadwick believed that it was vital that Britain should be able to play an important role in the post-war development of a network of air-routes.

  Chadwick began work on the design of his airliner in 1941, and based his new aircraft on the Lancaster. The project progressed on the basis that the aircraft should not only be suitable for civil aviation, but should also be capable of carrying troops. The mid-war period saw an urgent need for a transport

  aircraft that dovetailed with Chadwick’s vision. The Type 685 was born, which used existing Lancaster construction jigs to speed up production of the aircraft, and was soon named the Avro York. The first prototype (LV626) was fitted with a standard Lancaster tail unit, wings and undercarriage married to a redesigned fuselage capable of carrying 40 troops. The tail unit was amended due to directional stability issues with the addition of a central fin, although the first prototype had shown such promise that the Air Ministry ordered four prototypes. The third prototype (LV633) became probably the most famous York. It was named Ascalon and was converted for VIP duties with No. 24

  Squadron at Northolt. It was used by King George VI and Prime Minister

  Winston Churchill.

  A. V. Roe was awarded a contract for the production of 200 Yorks, which would equip both the RAF’s transport squadrons and, once the war ended, the civil airlines. Its potential as a civil airliner was recognized t
owards the end of the war when five aircraft were fitted to be capable of carrying 12

  passengers, and were registered as G-AJGA to G-AJGE and delivered to

  BOAC. The York proved an excellent stopgap until purpose-built airliners 60

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  could be produced, and more than 250 Yorks were built. The York’s greatest Avro Lancaster PD328 was moment was probably its role as a cargo carrying aircraft during the Berlin converted into a Lancastrian Airlift during 1948 and 1949.

  airliner and named ‘Aries’.

  The team at A. V. Roe had also been working on a project to adapt the

  Lancaster to be the first passenger carrying airliner produced by Britain after the war. The aircraft was based upon the first production Lancaster sent to Canada to assist Victory Aircraft. It was fitted with fuel tanks in the bomb bay and stripped of its armament, and flown from Prestwick to Canada in 1942.

  It went through a further modification programme in Canada, which resulted in the fitting of nose and tail fairings, additional fuel tanks in the bomb bay and ten passenger seats plus additional windows in the cabin. The conversion would result in the Lancastrian Mark I, of which 60 were ordered for the RAF, half of which would be transferred to BOAC.

  Avro Shackleton MR2

  (WL742). The last of the

  Lancaster line, the Shackleton

  served with the RAF in both

  maritime reconnaissance and

  Airborne Early Warning roles

  until 1990.

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  This Lancaster is being used

  The lack of a viable maritime reconnaissance aircraft resulted in the

  as a test aircraft for the

  creation of the Lancaster A. S. R. 3 as an interim measure to see the RAF

  Armstrong Siddeley Mamba

  through its immediate post-war needs. A longer term solution was clearly turboprop engine, seen here

  required by the mid-1940s for an aircraft capable of undertaking long-range mounted in the nose, during

  1947.

  maritime reconnaissance missions that might last up to 18 hours. The

  requirement led to Air Ministry specification R.5/46, issued in 1947. The initial design was to be based upon a modified Lincoln, but it was soon realized that a completely new aircraft was required, which resulted in development of the Avro Type 696 based upon the Lincoln. The Type 696 was christened

  Shackleton. It was powered by four Rolls-Royce Griffon 57 engines driving six-bladed, contra-rotating propellers, and was 87ft in length with a 120ft wingspan. The crew of ten consisted of two pilots, two navigators, a flight engineer and five crew members who were responsible for other tasks during flight. The bomb bay was designed to carry up to 20,000lb of bombs or

  maritime stores. The first prototype (WV126) flew on 9 March 1949 from

  Woodford, the first 29 Mark I production aircraft being delivered to the RAF

  during 1950–51. The first RAF unit equipped with Shackleton was No. 120

  Squadron at RAF Kinloss. The Shackleton would go on to perform Airborne Early Warning (AEW) duties with the conversion of some Mark II aircraft, which, due to problems with the RAF’s replacement land-based AEW aircraft, would see service until 1990. The withdrawal of the last Shackleton from service saw the end of the Lancaster family’s service with the RAF, apart from one solitary example, PA474, which still flies with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

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  FURTHER READING

  There have been numerous technical studies written on the Avro Lancaster, and this bibliography is by no means exhaustive. There are also a large number of accounts written by Lancaster crews, all of which deserve close examination. Recent reprints of the pilots’ notes also yield useful information on what the Lancaster was like to work with.

  Angelucci, Enzo, The World Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, Guild Publishing (1988).

  Bateman, Alex, No 617 ‘Dambuster’ Sqn, Osprey Publishing (2009).

  Bishop, Patrick, Target Tirpitz, Harper Press (2012).

  Bowyer, Chaz, Avro Manchester, Profile Publications (1974).

  Brown, Capt Eric, Wings of the Weird and Wonderful: Volume 1, Airlife (1983).

  Buttler, Tony, British Secret Projects: Fighters and Bombers 1935-1950, Ian Allen (2005).

  Chorlton, Martyn, Avro Lancaster Mk II, Aeroplane Monthly (December 2014).

  Cooper, Bryan, The Story of The Bomber: 1914-1945, Octopus Books (1974).

  Garbet, M. and Goulding, G., Lancaster, Bookmart (1992).

  Garbet, M. and Goulding, G., Lancaster at War, Ian Allen (1971).

  Hannah, Donald, The Avro York, Profile Publications (1967).

  Harris, Sir Arthur, Bomber Offensive, Pen & Sword Military Classics (2005).

  Jacobs, Peter, The Lancaster Story, Arms & Armour Press (1996).

  Lake, John, Lancaster Squadrons 1942-43, Osprey Publishing (2002).

  Lake, John, Lancaster Squadrons 1944-45, Osprey Publishing (2002).

  Mackay, R. S. G., Lancaster in Action, Squadron/Signal Publications (1982).

  Moyes, Philip, J. R., The Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, Profile Publications (1967).

  Overy, Richard, Bomber Command 1939-45, Harper Collins (1997).

  Streatly, Martin, The Aircraft of 100 Group, Robert Hale (1984).

  Sweatman, John, The Dambusters Raid, Arms & Armour Press (1990).

  Wixey, Ken, Forgotten Bombers of the Royal Air Force, Arms & Armour Press (1997).

  Yates, Harry, DFC, Luck and a Lancaster, Airlife Publishing (1999).

  Zaloga, Steven J., German V-Weapon Sites 1943-45, Osprey Publishing (2007).

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  INDEX

  Page numbers in bold refer to illustrations

  Coastal Command 5, 24, 37, 49

  Path Finder Force (PFF) 34, 49–50

  and their captions.

  cockpit 15, 16, 20

  Pauillac oil store 54

  Cologne 47–48

  precision bombing 55–58, 55

  Aeronavale (French Naval Air Arm) 38–39,

  crew 12, 18, 20, 43

  production orders 17–18, 24–25, 28

  38, 58

  Crossbow campaign 55–56

  prototypes 14, 15, 15–16, 17, 24, D2(30, 31)

  Aeroplane and Armament Experimental

  Crum, Warrant Officer ‘Bert’ 46

  Establishment, Boscombe 7–8

  radio countermeasures D1(30, 31)

  Airborne Cigar (ABC) 43

  Deverill, Flying Officer Ernest 47

  Rebecca 36

  Alliot Verdon Roe, Edwin 6

  Dobson, Roy 6, 15, 16

  Royal Australian Air Force 24, 60

  armament 5, 8, 11, 25

  Douglas, Sholto 14

  Royal Canadian Air Force 32

  Browning .303 machine gun 13

  Dresden 58

  Ruhr dams 4, 29–30, 45, 50, E(50, 51), 52–54, 52

  Browning .50 machine gun D1(30, 31), 33,

  Duisburg 49

  36, 40

  Düsseldorf 42, 49

  Sandford, Flight Lieutenant ‘Nick’ 44, 46

  Hispano 20mm cannon 40

  Shannon, Flight Lieutenant D. J. E(50, 51), 53

  Armstrong Whitworth 14, 17, 24–25, 26

  electronic warfare systems 42–43

  Sherwood, Squadron Leader John 45, 47

  Armstrong Whitworth Whitley 5, 7, 24

  engines 13, 29

  Short Stirling 5, 13, 48

  Astell, Flight Lieutenant Bill 53

  Bristol Hercules 13, 17, 23, 24, 25, 26

  Siddeley, J. D. 6

  ASV radar 38

  Packard Merlin 25, 28, 29, 32

  Specification B.1/39 14

  Augs
burg 45–47

  Rolls-Royce Merlin 13–14, 14, 16, 17, 23–24,

  Specification B.9/32 4

  Austin Motor Company (Austin Aero) 18

  25, 26, 28–29, 34, 39, 40

  squadrons

  A.V. Roe and Company 6, 15, 40

  Rolls-Royce Vulture 6–7, 7–8, 10, 10, 11, 12

  No. 7 Squadron 34, 49

  Avro 679 7

  Essen 44, 48

  No. 9 Squadron 50, 56–57, F(58, 59)

  Avro Lancaster A.S.R./G.R./MR. 3 37–38, 37

  No. 24 (Commonwealth) Squadron D4(30,

  Avro Lancaster B. Mark I A4(8, 9), 18, 20,

  Fairey Aviation Company 8, 17

  31)

  22–23, 28, 28–29, D1(30, 31), D3(30, 31), 43, Far East service 34–36, 36

  No. 35 Squadron D3(30, 31), 49

  44, 46

  Fauquier, Group Captain Johnnie 58

  No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron A2(8, 9), 11, 18,

  Avro Lancaster B. Mark I (FE) 34–36

  Flensburg 49

  22, 43, 44, 45–47, 49

  Avro Lancaster B. Mark I (modified) 38–39, 38

  Frankfurt 49–50

  No. 49 Squadron 50

  Avro Lancaster B. Mark I Special 32–34, 32,

  fuselage 20–21

  No. 50 Squadron A1(8, 9), 46, 48

  33, 55, 58

  No. 61 Squadron 12, 25, 48

  Avro Lancaster B. Mark II 14, B(18, 19), 25

  G suffix 30

  No. 75 Squadron A3(8, 9), 20

  Avro Lancaster B. Mark III A2-3(8, 9), 28, 28–29, Garwell, Flying Officer Ginger’ 47

  No. 83 Squadron 12, 47–48, 50

  42, 49

  Gee 36, 40, 41, 42, 45

  No. 97 Squadron 11, 44, 45–47

  Avro Lancaster B. Mark IV 39–41

  G-H 42

  No. 101 Squadron D1(30, 31), 43

  Avro Lancaster B. Mark V 39–41

  Gibson, Wing Commander Guy 48, E(50, 51),

  No. 106 Squadron 48

  Avro Lancaster B. Mark VI 34, 35

  52, 52, 53

  No. 109 Squadron 49

  Avro Lancaster B. Mark VII (FE) 36, 36

  No. 115 Squadron B(18, 19)

  Avro Lancaster B. Mark VII (interim) 36

  H2S 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 41–42, 50

  No. 156 Squadron 49