Avro Lancaster Bomber B 111 exhibited at the Imperial War Museum London, IWM London, England, UK
AVRO LANCASTER BOMBER B 111 The Avro Lancaster, a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber, was designed and built by Avro for the Royal Air Force (RAF). It first saw active service with RAF Bomber Command in 1942 and, as the strategic bombing offensive over Europe gathered momentum, it became the main heavy bomber used by the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other Commonwealth and European countries serving within the RAF. It overshadowed its close contemporaries the Handley Page Halifax and Short Stirling. The 'Lanc', as it was affectionately known, became the most famous and most successful of the Second World War night bombers, 'delivering 608,612 long tons of bombs in 156,000 sorties'. The Lancaster, an evolution of the troublesome twin engined Avro Manchester, was designed by Roy Chadwick and was powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins, or, in one version, Bristol Hercules engines. In addition to the many area bombing missions conducted by the RAF, Lancaster's were used for various special missions, including the 'Dam Busters' raid in 1943, the bombing of the battleship Tirpitz, and the delivery of the 20,000 pounder 'Grand Slam' bombs. After the war the airframe was again redesigned and the plane, renamed the 'Shackleton', served into the 1960's. The Lancaster B III DV732 'Old Fred' (above) served with No. 467 Sqn RAAF as 'PO-F'. Only the forward fuselage is preserved.
Size: 5760px × 3840px
Location: Imperial War Museum London, IWM London, Lambeth Road, London, England, UK
Photo credit: © Jeff Gilbert / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: bomber, fuselage avro, imperial, imperial war museum london, imperial war museum london lancaster bomber fuselage, lancaster, london imperial, london lancaster, london world, museum, war
