The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engine heavy bomber designed under Roy Chadwick at Avro and built by Avro and five other companies across Britain and Canada, first flying on January 9, 1941, and entering Royal Air Force service in February 1942. Powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, it carried an unobstructed 33-foot bomb bay that could hold the largest ordnance in the RAF's arsenal, and a total of 7,377 Lancasters were built. Lancaster crews dropped 608,612 long tons of bombs across 156,000 sorties during the Second World War, and the aircraft became famous for Operation Chastise in May 1943, the raid on Germany's Ruhr Valley dams using specially designed bouncing bombs, and later for carrying the 22,000-pound Grand Slam earthquake bomb, the largest payload carried by any bomber of the war.
Facts
Weapon Class Introduced Year Classification
Service Status Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category) Connections
Associated With
The Avro Lancaster was the Royal Air Force's primary heavy bomber for its night bombing campaign against Germany in World War II
World War II, Wars The Avro Lancaster carried out the majority of RAF Bomber Command night raids over Germany during World War II
Used In
Source Wikipedia: Avro Lancaster
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Business Atlas: Avro, manufactured by there.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Avro Lancaster
WikipediaLead section, first sentence
The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British World War II heavy bomber.
Lead section, second paragraph, sentence on 1942 RAF Bomber Command service entry
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.
service status
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 Merlin engines and in one of the versions, Bristol Hercules engines
- Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
Used In: World War II, Wikipedia article text
The "Lanc", as it was known colloquially, became one of the most heavily used of the Second World War night bombers, delivering of bombs in 156,000 sorties.
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