Avro Lancaster
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Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the same wartime era.
The Lancaster has its origins in the twin-engine Avro Manchester which had been developed during the late 1930s in response to the Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use". Originally developed as an evolution of the Manchester (which had proved troublesome in service and was retired in 1942), the Lancaster was designed by Roy Chadwick and powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins and in one version, Bristol Hercules engines. It first saw service with RAF Bomber Command in 1942 and as the strategic bombing offensive over Europe gathered momentum, it was the main aircraft for the night-time bombing campaigns that followed. As increasing numbers of the type were produced, it became the principal heavy bomber used by the RAF, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and squadrons from other Commonwealth and European countries serving within the RAF, overshadowing the Halifax and Stirling. Wikipedia
CASPIR Aircraft Groups:
RCAF Owned (236) RCAF 6 Group (555) RCAF 400 Squadrons (561) Canadian Crewed (2032) Canadian Manufactured (430) Canadian Museum (3) Prototype (2) Template (1) Cold Weather Testing (1)Lancaster Mk.II DS688
EQ-R;OW-CServed with No. 410 (B) Squadron, RCAF, coded OW-C, flew 8 operations, including Peenemunde on 17/18 August 1943 and Mannheim on 23/24 September 1943.
Then used at No. 1679 Conversion unit
On 1944-02-15, Squadron Leader A. Ross Dawson, the Chief Technical Officer at Wombleton with HU1679, wrote in his diary:
"One of our Lancs DS688 has been on the ground for weeks waiting for AOG parts so I got mad and raised a big stink with Group equipment office & jumped in a van with Howie Walker and drove down to East Moor and Linton myself to see what I could do. Everyone else had tried & hadn't got anywhere. I called on various friends at East Moor & found they had given up their Lancs & were converting to Hal III's. This was my chance so I whipped into their stores, backed up the van & filled it full of all the Lanc spares we could find. It was a real haul for a scrounge trip . . . I'm afraid Linton are going to be awfully mad . . . Finally caught up with Wilf Klassen, another 13th Entry boy . . . & traced down the missing AOG parts. Took them off one of their [cat] AC kites of all things & went up for dinner with him."
Then passed to No. 408 (B) Squadron, RCAF, coded EQ-R. Flew 23 missions with this unit; including Nuremburg on 30/31 March 1944.
Failed to return from operation over Cambrai on 12/13 June 1944. Shot down by night fighter, near Tilloy-les-Cambrai (Nord), 3 kilometres north-north-west of Cambri. All 8 crew killed.
1944-06-13 Failed to Return Failed to return from operation over Cambrai. Shot down by night fighter, no survivors. 2019-08-20