On January 9, 1941, the Avro Lancaster took off for the first time, becoming the most massive British heavy bomber during the Second World War, and indeed in the entire history of British aircraft construction. Before the termination of serial production in January 1946, British and Canadian aircraft factories produced 7377 of these aircraft in several modifications. By early 1945, they were fully or partially armed with five of the six strategic bomber groups of the RAF.
Since February 1942, when the first Lancaster squadrons reached combat readiness, they flew 156 thousand sorties, dropping 619 thousand tons of bombs on Germany and the countries occupied by the Germans. This accounted for more than two-thirds of the total bomb load dropped by British bomber aircraft in 1942-45. 3345 Lancasters were shot down by German fighters and anti-aircraft guns or crashed in accidents and disasters. In this case, more than 10 thousand British and Canadian pilots were killed.
As you know, during the war, more precisely, from about the middle of 1943, between the American and British long-range bomber aircraft, aimed at Germany, there was a kind of "division of labor." American "Liberators" and "Flying Fortresses", which possessed powerful defensive weapons, operated mainly during the day and delivered targeted precision strikes against industrial, transport and military targets. And the British worked at night, carrying out carpet bombing of German cities in order to undermine the demographic potential (that is, to destroy the civilian population) and provide a psychological impact on the survivors.
The main role in this was played by the crews of the Lancaster, which is why most of the 600,000 German civilians should be attributed to them, including 70,000 children who died as a result of the air strikes. Thus, "Lancaster" can be called the deadliest aircraft in world history. However, the American B-29 "Superfortress", marked by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as by the burning of Tokyo and many other Japanese cities, can compete with him for this honorary title.
Top down:
Lancaster Mk. X with open bomb bay.
Lancaster Mk. III "Uncle Joe". Combat missions are marked with asterisks.
Lancaster Mk. VII equipped with a bombsight radar.
Lancaster is preparing for the next flight.
The 10-ton Grand Slam high-explosive bombs are Lancaster's most destructive weapons.
One bomb raid - one city.
Something went wrong.
One of those who did not return.
