This year is the 85th anniversary of the launch of one of Britain’s most important aircraft of the Second World War. The Avro Lancaster, a heavy bomber, was the brainchild of Lancastrian Roy Chadwick, Chief Designer of A.V Roe & Company Limited. Test pilot Captain Harry ‘Sam’ Brown made the first flight of Prototype Avro Lancaster, BT308, from RAF Ringway, near Manchester, on 9 January 1941. Powered by four Rolls Royce Merlin engines, over 7,000 of the aircraft were built between 1942 and 1946. With a crew of up to eight, Lancasters saw service with the RAF, Commonwealth and Soviet airforces.
The bomber took part in operations across the globe, perhaps most famously in Operation Chastise, the Dambusters’ Raids, against the mighty dams of the Ruhr Valley in May 1943. It’s thought that 17 Lancasters remain intact. One is on display at the RAF Museum in Colindale. The front section of another is at the Imperial War Museum. Two Lancasters remain airworthy. One of them is operated by the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. It’s sometimes seen over the skies of London during commemorative flypasts. The RAF Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park was unveiled by the Queen in 2012. It commemorates 55,573 allied aviators who died on bombing missions throughout the Second World War, as well as civilians of all nations killed during air raids.
About the Author
Mr Londoner is Antony Robbins, broadcaster, writer and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. You can find Mr Londoner on Instagram @meetmrlondoner and here.
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