Avro Lancaster

The words

1. Aircraft

   The Lancaster entered Bomber Command service in 1942. Its wings and fuselage were built in separate sections, equipped before being transported for final assembly.

   Design and wartime production · BAE Heritage: Lancaster design and engines (opens a new tab)

2. Aircrew

   A Lancaster normally carried seven: pilot, flight engineer, navigator, bomb aimer, wireless operator, mid-upper gunner and rear gunner. Each position served a different flying or combat task.

   Did you know?

   G for George flew with 27 different crews during its operational service.

   Description, normal crew complement · War Memorial: G for George (opens a new tab)

3. Avro

   A.V. Roe and Company designed the Lancaster, but other firms also built it. Production spread across factories in Britain and Canada.

   Manufacturer and production network · BAE Heritage: Lancaster design and engines (opens a new tab)

4. Dam Raid

   Operation Chastise breached the Möhne and Eder dams in May 1943. The flooding killed civilians, foreign prisoners of war and forced labourers downstream.

   MOD: the Dams Raid and its human cost (opens a new tab) · RAF Museum: casualties below the dams (opens a new tab)

5. Dambusters

   The Dambusters name became associated with 617 Squadron after its dams attack. Eight Lancasters were lost; 53 airmen died and three became prisoners of war.

   Squadron name and aircrew losses · MOD: the Dams Raid and its human cost (opens a new tab)

6. Four Engine

   Four engines distinguished the Lancaster from its twin-engine Manchester predecessor. Most used Merlins, but the Lancaster B.II had Bristol Hercules radial engines.

   Manchester development and B.II variant · BAE Heritage: Lancaster design and engines (opens a new tab)

7. Gunner

   Rear and mid-upper gunners watched for enemy fighters, nearby aircraft and falling bombs. Their warning role complemented their defensive machine guns.

   Rear and mid-upper gunners · War Memorial: bomber crew roles (opens a new tab)

8. Heavy Bomber

   The Lancaster’s long bomb bay accommodated large bomb loads. Special adaptations enabled some aircraft to carry Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs.

   Bomb bay and special bomb adaptations · BAE Heritage: Lancaster design and engines (opens a new tab)

9. Lancaster

   The Lancaster grew out of efforts to improve the Manchester bomber. Its prototype first flew in January 1941, before it became Bomber Command’s principal heavy bomber.

   Development and operational role · RAF Museum: the Lancaster’s development (opens a new tab)

10. Merlin

    The Merlin was a liquid-cooled, twelve-cylinder piston engine. Four Merlin XX engines originally powered G for George; Merlin 22 engines were fitted later in Australia.

    Description, original and replacement engines · War Memorial: G for George (opens a new tab)

11. Pilot

    The pilot flew the Lancaster and captained its crew. The navigator guided the route, the engineer monitored the engines, and the bomb aimer directed the final bombing run.

    Pilot, navigator, flight engineer and bomb aimer · War Memorial: bomber crew roles (opens a new tab)

12. Rolls-Royce

    Rolls-Royce developed the Merlin engines used in the Lancaster. The four-engine design replaced the Manchester’s troublesome Vulture installation with more reliable powerplants.

    Manchester and Lancaster engine installations · BAE Heritage: Lancaster design and engines (opens a new tab)

13. Roy Chadwick

    Roy Chadwick led Avro’s team in redesigning the Manchester bomber. Fitting four Merlin engines on larger wings produced the aircraft that became the Lancaster.

    Chief designer and the larger-wing redesign · BAE Heritage: Lancaster design and engines (opens a new tab)

14. Scampton

    RAF Scampton was 617 Squadron’s home station for the Dams Raid. Nineteen Lancasters departed on May 16, 1943; eleven returned after the operation.

    Departure and surviving aircraft returning to Scampton · MOD: the Dams Raid and its human cost (opens a new tab)

15. Upkeep

    Upkeep was Barnes Wallis’s cylindrical bouncing mine. Released at low level with backspin, it skipped over defensive netting toward the dam wall before exploding underwater.

    Transcript p. 3, mine shape and delivery · RAF Museum: how Upkeep worked (opens a new tab)