AVRO Lancaster Mk I

AVRO Lancaster Mk I

 

Lancaster of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, May 2007 at Rotterdam air port 'Zestienhoven' (c) 2007 ZAPP

Lancaster of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, May 2007 at Rotterdam air port 'Zestienhoven' (c) 2007 ZAPP

 

 

Developing Nation:

United Kingdom

Manufacturer/designer:

AVRO

Task:

Heavy Bomber

First Flight:

January 9th 1941: Prototype

May 13 th 1941: First production model prototype.

First Delivery:

December 24 th 1941 (at xmas eve) to No. 44 squadron (3x Mk I’s)

First Mission:

March 3 rd 1942. On this day 4 Lancaster’s of No. 44 squadron  left at 6:15 pm to drop sea-mines at Helgoland. They returned at their base five hours later without problems.

Crew:

7:

1x nose gunner/bomber, 1x pilots, 1x flight engineer, 1x navigator, 1x wireless operator, 1x mid-upper gunner, 1x tail gunner

Wing Span:

31,1 m

Wing Area:

120,45 m²

Length:

21,1 m

Height:

5,97 m

Engine (s):

4x Rolls Royce of Packard Merlin XX (1460 hp)

Weight empty:

16344 kg

Max. Take off weight:

30872 kg

Max. Speed:

443 Kph at 4572 meters

Cruise Speed:

322 Kph at 4572 meters

Max. Range:

4072 km

Service ceiling:

6706 meters

Rate of climb:

6096 m in 41 minutes and 36 seconds.

Centerline hard point(‘s):

Only with Dam busters 1x

Weapons:

2x 7,7 mm Browning machine-gun in Nose

2x 7,7 mm Browning machine-gun at mid-upper

4x 7,7 mm Browning machine-gun in tail

 

Normal Bomb-load: 6356 Kg.

Dam buster bomb-load: 9988 kg.

Extra:

3544 Mk I’s were built, the largest number of this aircrafts types.

 

 

Lancaster Short Fact’s

Totally built:

7377

Total operational sorties:

156308

Total bombs dropped:

608612 tons

Lancaster’s lost in action:

3249

Number of Lancaster’s to complete more than 100 sorties:

35

Most sorties by one Lancaster:

139 (survived the war, scrapped in 1947)

Surviving:

Only 13 of every 100 aircrew was likely to survive a complete tour of 50 missions

Lancaster’s in present time:

There are 16 Lancaster’s remaining worldwide, only 2 are in flying condition.

Lancaster served in 9 nations:

Argentina

Australia

Canada

Egypt

France (Navy Reconnaissance)

New Zealand

Poland

Sweden

United Kingdom

Lancaster served The RAF:

From: December 24 th 1941

Until:  December 1953.

 

Research : M. van Leeuwen