Through much of the early part of the 20th century, military doctrine viewed the bomber aircraft much like we view the nuclear bomb today; it was the war-winning weapon, and a nation with a strong bomber force would crush opposing powers by sheer tonnage of explosives. Through the late-1930s, the Royal Air Force sought to build up its bomber force with a series of twin-engine medium bombers. Among the likes of the Wellington, the Beaufort, and the Blenheim, there was also the Avro Manchester, with an initial prototype built in 1937 and entering into RAF service in November 1940. By then, however, the UK’s situation had changed rapidly: now on the backfoot in a total war against Nazi Germany, the RAF needed a bomber that could reach deep into German territory. Enter the Avro Lancaster, designed by Avro’s chief design engineer Roy Chadwick, with an extra two engines - and all four swapping out the Rolls-Royce Vulture for the more powerful Merlin – and a much larger bomb bay, which could many thousands of pounds of conventional bombs at a time. It was also large enough to carry experimental weapons, such as the bouncing bomb and the earthquake bomb, famously used in Operation Chastise and against the Tirpitz battleship, respectively. Between 1941 and 1946, almost 7,400 of the type would be built, with their rapidly being phased out of RAF service after the end of the war. Only 2 airworthy Lancasters survive today: one in Canada, and one belonging to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight in the United Kingdom.

I’ll never get tired of the sound nor the sight of the Lancaster during an aerial display. Rather like watching a bumblebee, one marvels at how the heck the thing can hang in the air in exactly the same way that bricks don’t. Thankfully, I have plenty of time to test whether or not I’ll get tired of seeing her: thanks to her maintenance schedule at RAF Coningsby, PA474 should be airworthy until at least 2065, by which time the aircraft will be 120 years old. Even then, she’ll likely look better than I will, at that time. :P

Hope you enjoy!