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Lancaster The WIIs Greatest Bomber

Bernard67Arnold

Bernard67Arnold

master brummie
Have just read a review in yesterdays Daily Express of a new book by Leo
McKinstry published by John Murray (£20). This is a subject covered at great
length recently on our furum. The Express also tells the "Dam Busters"
story, and carries a photo of Guy Gibson. I understand there a new film
being made at the present time in New Zealand of the raid, in my own
view not many remakes are half as good as the original, they have renamed Guys dog Digger, that should go down well in that part of the
world! I might just spend my pocket money on this book. Bernard:cool:
 
Hi

The beast of all beasts. The Bomber that won the War.
Great aircraft and thanks to all those who fought for us.

Mike Jenks
 
Hi Mike, I didnt realize that the Lancaster was powered by four Rolls Royce
Merlin engines, isnt that the one they used for the Spitfire? They were made in Derby so they must have sent by road to Castle Bromwich to be
put in the Spits; Birmingham was at the heart of MOAP , the only good thing about the war it provided plenty of work for our factories.
My wife and I went to the Derwent Dam a few years ago to see the fly/past
the noise they make down at low level is deafening! bye Bernard :cool:
 
Hi Bernard,

The Avro Lancaster was manufactured at Avro's works at Woodford near Manchester, in Canada, and in Australia. The RR Merlin was used in a large number of British aircraft, and was also manufactured by Packard Motors in the USA.

The Lanc was capable of lifting a bomb-load of 22000 lbs (nearly 10 tons), far more than any other WW2 aircraft including the Boeing B29.

If you fancy a virtual tour of a Lanc, go to the Yorkshire Air Museum website. Worth a visit.

Big Gee

PS: whoops - forgot to mention Lanc manufacture at Austin Works, Longbridge
 
Bernard67Arnold said:
Hi Mike, I didnt realize that the Lancaster was powered by four Rolls Royce
Merlin engines, isnt that the one they used for the Spitfire? They were made in Derby so they must have sent by road to Castle Bromwich to be
put in the Spits;
! bye Bernard :cool:
Click to expand...

Hi Bernard,

Possibly the engines would have come to Castle Bromwich by train.
Castle Bromwich station and aerodrome were facing the Spitfire Works
which is now part of Jaguar.
Perhaps someone can answer a question for me. Propellors are part of the design of the iron fence which surrounds the corner of the factory
facing the Spitfire Island, and I know they have been there for many years. Does anyone know if the fence was put up when the factory
produced Spitfires, or after the war in Commemoration.

Kind regards

Dave
 
Big G, it also had a long range as well, in 1950 I was aboard a flight lasting 12 hours 35 minutes from RAF Eastleigh in Nairobi to Takoradi on the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Eric
 
Last edited:
mike jenks said:
Hi

The beast of all beasts. The Bomber that won the War.
Great aircraft and thanks to all those who fought for us.

Mike Jenks
Click to expand...
I read "Tailgun Charlies" and found it very interesting. Once the tailgunner was "In", he couldn't be released from his position till thet landed. The Yanks were amazed that we could fly in a plane without upholstered seats. There was no heating in the rear gunner position so they had to put on loads of clothes.
my dad was at Fradley in ground crew. he loved the and and said the same as Mike jenks.
I still don't know what they did at Fradley.
 
PS: whoops - forgot to mention Lanc manufacture at Austin Works, Longbridge[/quote]

And the 300 built at Castle Bromwich of which one was rolled by Alex Henshaw.
 
Hi Leonardjob,

The airfield at Fradley was, in fact, RAF Lichfield. If you google RAF Lichfield you will come up with all there is to know about that station. By the way I cannot understand what you say it was your father loved. Was it the Lancaster?

Old Boy
 
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