Lancaster Bomber: The Incredible Ability of the Dambuster’s Heavy Bomber 

That's an amazingly rare thing to see since there are only two still in flying condition, I'm really very jealous

In 2016, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s Lancaster flew to England to do some flights with the BBMF. There’s a wonderful documentary about it called “Reunion of Giants”.

The beat of the engines not exactly running at the same speed. I recall them as a boy in the 1960s when they flew them on special days or took them out for a fly around. I could be wrong though on what the aircraft was?

Dad was a youngster in 1940. When I asked him what the best sound in the world is he said the Spitfire squadron turning up from RAF Hornchurch to intercept a bombing raid. Teacher and pupils would run out of class to watch history in live action.

One flew over my house so low once it felt like you could touch it. Absolutely incredible. Benefits of living under the path planes take for air shows.

The Mighty Eighth lost 26 000 dead. Lost of civilian lives, too many.

Of the 55,573, more than 10K were Canadian. To put this in US perspective it would be 100K of the men in service or proportional to the UK losses.

Beautifully written

Thank you the USA and the 8th Airforce. Gallantry in action. From a Brit.

@@ericpeters9476 don’t know what you mean.

My uncle was killed on his first mission in a Lancaster

May both these young crewmen rest in peace, and never be forgotten!! Respect. 👍

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined And though you died back in 1943 To that faithful heart you're forever nineteen Or are you just a stranger without even a name Forever enshrined behind some old glass pane In an old photograph torn, tattered, and stained And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame

@@christopherkennedy1807 Sad

@@hankhicks1108 Sad

Hear hear well said

"Visitor Engagement Coordinator"? So you're a tour guide? I remember when we had "Bin-men", until they became "Recycle and waste management technicians". I weep for the future. Great video.

dont forget your yankee ancestors did the same bud b17s and b25s so neither could we ask for a better ally pal best to u and yours

Just out of interest, what did you fly? Did you get sent to Britain?

My aunt Irene told me, her and her sister would watch the the planes do battle from their backyard. She said one day they saw two Hawker Hurricanes shoot down a Bf109. My Uncle Chuck was Canadian bomber crew and on his day off, he met Irene at a train station. He talked his way into her heart. The rest is history. God rest them both.

Thank you for sharing.

My uncle was a mid upper gunner lastly with 97 Sq flying 77 missions, surviving WW2 and suffering guilt for the rest of his life mainly for the unnecessary Dresden carpet bombing but also surviving when so many of his chums having lost their lives. I arranged via the Collingwood RAF museum to go over their lanc . My, what an emotional moment for him and also me . I have read so much about the bravery on both Luftwaffe and RAF sides but to see first hand the environment these guys operated at every OP, freezing, hostile and uncertain just reduced me to tears.

@John Wales RE: "The Lanc had only a single pilot, getting a plane full of bombs and high octane fuel off the ground, getting it to Germany dodging fighters and flak, finding the target, and getting back alive 36 times before he was 21 years old is a very sobering achievement and hard to imagine being achieved today." That's why they're called The Greatest Generation.

Amazing. I am truly in awe of the bravery of the young men like your uncle. So selfless. Thank you.

Awe inspiring. Can you imagine todays kids doing that?

#wewillrememberthem

You must have some truly amazing memories of those classes!! 👍

It's truly difficult to imagine today's 18-22 year olds risking their lives the way the WW II generation did, knowing that many would not survive.

When you look at the ages of those who died in WW2, on the sea, ground and in the air the ages would and do bring a tear to your eye.... 26-28 years of age was considered old and especially in the RAF

​@@petersmith7126 Like Eminem said Im 28 they gonna take you before they take me

*Pity your English Master did not pick up on **_astonishong_** correction **_Astonishing_** 3/10 in GCE in early 1970's*

Where I am from, it does.

What about the Christian women and children they murdered?

@@kevinhughes720 "Murdered?" That's a little disingenuous, don't you think?

I think murdered is a bit strong. That would suggest specific intention to kill those people which I'm not sure was the case. I think it is fair to recognise that there were a lot of civilian casualties due to the allied bombing campaign which is never a good thing however that doesn't diminish the bravery that those boys showed going up night after night. The other thing to remember is that for a long time, Bomber Command was the only allied outfit that was able to take the war to the Germans on their own turf which was so important in diverting resources away from front line combat and potentially lowering the morale of the German people which up until then, would presumably have been pretty good, as the German military had stamped all over Europe.

@@kevinhughes720 It was to stop the Nazi's who were the real murderers, 6.5 million Jew's alone, the amount of civilians Bomber Command killed pales in comparison to the number that the Germans outright murdered simply in the name of hate and trying to take over the world. Or are you suggesting that Bomber Command should have dropped leaflets nightly that said "Please oh pretty please stop invading other countries and rounding up people and putting them in death camp's, please." Was that what they should have done Buttercup?

Not only your country. All Europe should be thankful of his sacrifice and the bravery of his comrades that fought for the freedom. Greetings from Spain.

I had a great grandfather named jack( sometimes went by John) who served as a navigator on a Lancaster. He got shot down but managed to bail. He was one of the lucky ones.

Canadian women built those airplanes, the women were called the "bomb girls" one of which was my mom.

My thanks to your father, and all of our Canadian heroes. I’m very glad that his plane is being restored. We owe so much to these great Men.

Hi Gordon, Is it the same one which was taken from Windsor which I just commented on?

Restored in Trenton..Hamilton has one ...

Can never restore to many Lancaster's but it would be lovely to see a Haifax restored and even the likes of the Stirling, Wellington and Hampden to pay tribute to all our bomber boys

much kudos and respect for such fine sentiments mate....respect...

55 573 of the RAF'S finest killed during during the war. And to think it wasn't until 2012 that they finally got a memorial dedicated to to their sacrifice. Criminal absolutely Criminal.

🇬🇧🇺🇲

Kind sentiments. Mention must be made of our United States allies B17 crews who matched our boys' bravery, determination and true heroics during WWII. 🇺🇸🇬🇧

@@cycleSCUBA I couldn't agree more. Those lads had it rough as he'll over Germany. I used to chat with this old chap called Dennis at sainsbury's where I worked. He was just a young boy during the war. And he and his friends used to watch the Fortress's and Liberator's taking off in the morning before school. After school they would cycle to the airfields and watch the bombers come home. Many would come back riddled with bullet holes, wings shoot up, tails and vertical stabilisers shoot off, engines on fire. But for Dennis and his friends it was all good fun. One day Dennis was watching the ground crew hosing out the inside of a B-17. He asked a passing M.P what they were doing. The M.P explained that the top turret gunner, took a direct hit from a thirty millimetre cannon shell, which blew him to pieces. The largest peice they could find of him was his left foot. The rest of him was smeared all over aeroplane. Dennis said he never went back to that airfield. And I fully understand why. They were such brave, brave boys. And many of them were no older than 18. When I was 18 I was chasing girls at college and going out getting hammered with friends. These lads were fighting for their lives at 30 000 feet in -60°C temperatures. Words cannot express the respect, gratitude or admiration I have for them. 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇨🇦 🇦🇺 🇳🇿 🇫🇷 🇿🇦 🇮🇳 🇵🇱 🇳🇴 🇳🇱

I know, I think my rivets are suffering stress too.

Lucky some of us at least got to enjoy our youth and grow old, we should not complain.

A few years ago at the chiropractor's office, an elderly gentleman sat down very slowly and painfully near me. He saw me watching him and said "Don't ever get old!". I smiled sadly and said "I'm not sure I like the alternative...."

Never complain about growing old and free

You have a great point

101 Squadron?

@@wilburfinnigan2142 From Wiki - The first prototype made its maiden flight from Boeing Field, Seattle on 21 September 1942.

Watch a video on the channel Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles called "B17 vs the Lancaster, the truth!". You're really going to be surprised to find out that the Lancaster didn't have a higher bomb capacity than the B17, and it also didn't have a copilot to assist or take over if the pilot was killed or wounded, didn't have as many defensive guns as the B17 and it's things like that which are why it had a much higher loss rate than the B17, and wasn't nearly as accurate as the B17. Yea one of them was "hands down" better than the other, and it's not the one you think.

@@dukecraig2402 The Mosquito could carry what B17 could for goodness sake. What's your point?. The B17 could carry the load but wouldn't be able to reach it's target and would have to through out all those redundant guns. Guns that had to be augmented by specialist long range fighters. Humbug!

@@dukecraig2402Lets compare Apples with Apples and Pears with Pears. The Typical Bomb load on a B17 to Berlin. 6000lbs. Lancaster 14,000Lbs. With regards to losses, the RAF started bombing In 1939 with twin engined outdated slow bombers. The US started bombing in Europe in 1942 with the heavily armed B17.. The RAF. without escort fighters with the range to fly to Berlin or other German targets was eventually forced to bomb at night which was terribly inaccurate until, electronic aids came along and the pathfinders who marked and remarked the target then they could bomb at night through cloud also airborne radar on Mosquito Night Fighters although later on in the war with Germany losing so many of its fighters and crew daylight bombing was also resumed. US mainly bombed during daylight from high altitude. Early on the Eighth Airforce took huge losses at one point stopping long range missions for a while, the escort fighters with long range fuel tanks saved the day, especially after they adopted and modified for long range the American Built Mustang originally built by North American Aviation for the RAF. The Rolls Royce designed Merlin had replaced the Allison engine and transformed the aircraft at fighting altitudes and Packard was building Merlins under licence. Fighters could now fly all the way to Berlin and back and bomber losses fell and German fighter pilots losses went up. The most weight Lancaster’s carried was one bomb of 22.000lbs. The Grand Slam. This was spin stabilised and went supersonic when dropped. Lancaster carrying Grand Slams where modified as where the B17 flying short missions carrying 8000lbs with 6000lbs in bomb bay and the rest in bomb racks under wings. One of my favourite modified aircraft is the Catalina ( The Black Cats), originally a patrol plane was modified to carry bombs and torpedos by the US engineers out in the Pacific. They attacked at night Japanese shipping with very good successes.

Well, seems like He-177 was at least on par or exceeding with the Lanc regarding speed, bomb load and range. Of course there were far less 177 built and the Lanc was certainly more reliable.

Wow how sad . Its like the Mossies after the war they sat around left to rot and the wood rotted on them and they were scrapped . Makes me very sad all the scraping that went on and now these planes are so rare

Maybe you should still go. Given you both enjoyed so much I'm sure he would've wanted you to keep going. Remember the good times.

66 runs? Surviving just one thirty mission tour was hard enough, let alone just over _two_ of them.

I had a relative who was in the pathfinders too. We still have his campaign map of Germany with little yellow arrows pointing to mission objectives like cities. Each arrow has a number on top for the number of missions. He was a Lancaster pilot and never flew a plane ever again after the war. He became an accountant after the war. He apparently saw a Lancaster on display at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra later in life and cried to himself his son told me.

Respect brave men 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

❤️🇭🇲 Hero. Glad he survived the war.

At 26, I guess he'd have been one of the oldest...Crazy to think what those boys went through

Hi, Graham has read this. He says thanks so much and hope to see you soon ☺️

@@ryanbridgeman64 thanks Ryan for letting us know, that's so lovely of you 😊❤️

IMHO we owe everything to them, and moreover to those who never came back.

Absolutely right

G for George. My dad was a tail gunner on a Lancaster. G for George wasn't his plane - his was lost with all crew on the second mission after he received an honourable discharge because of ill health (mental). About 20 years ago I went into the museum and there on the floor, detached, was the little glass box tail gunners sat in. So small and cramped. I startled my teenage daughter by bursting into tears.

G For George.

I was blessed to hear EIGHT Merlins in 2014 when the Canadian Lancaster was visiting the UK and both it and the BBMF Lancaster flew within half a mile of my house. They flew west to east along the line of the Calder Valley where I live, then turned west south west roughly over junction 24 of the M62, and headed off toward the Derbyshire dams where The Dam Busters practiced for their legendary raid, so I could see and hear them for quite some time. That sight and sound is something I'll treasure forever.

@@wilburfinnigan2142 the British Lancaster has Packard built Merlins too.

@@larryjenkinson4789 I think you'll find the American and Canadian built Lancs had those

We saw them at Little Gransden and Duxford during that tour. An incredible sight unlikely to be repeated in my lifetime, the restoration of Just Jane not withstanding.

NICE

I live in Niagara Falls Ontario and That planes name is Vera , Registration # VRA

We saw the Lancaster flying at the Brantford (Ontario) airshow in 2019. They've flown it to the UK too. I saw it last year at the air museum at Hamilton airport, imagine the upkeep on those machines to keep them flyable. Lots of pans under the planes at the museum to catch the oil drips 😂

Me too!! Burlington here by the lake

@William Mulvaney Try a Fairy Swordfish sometime.

A friend of mine had a similar story of an airline pilot flying into Berlin in the 1950's. The German air traffic controller asked him have you ever flown to Berlin before he was about to land. He responded yes in 1942 and it was dark. There was some seconds of silence before air traffic control responded back.

: Yes, I've heard that story, but.... And just where were the RAF going to get that extra bomb from?

@@keithammleter3824 There was no 3rd bomb but was a contingency in case the B29 was a failure. The B17 wasn’t even considered because of its inadequate bomb load. The mission was either considered being flown from China or Iwo Jima.🇦🇺

@@keithammleter3824 The reason the Lanc was considered was that the B29 was still in development and having a few issues. Obviously, they sorted those issues

@@keithammleter3824 See the video The Black Lancasters.

The US high commend were insistent that the B29 was made ready in time to avoid using the Lanc, but they still had to use the Lanc bomb release system for both bombings.

I went there in the early 70's too. My dad was a former Lancaster rear gunner.

@@wilburfinnigan2142 Consider the difference in population.

@@wilburfinnigan2142 Alright, it's not a competition!

Breaks my heart to see what theyve been replaced with ✌✌🇬🇧🇬🇧

They were not men most were just boys, 19 yrs old doing mission after mission. And not even old enough too vote.... Brave is not the word

Childmurder are human trash.

How about the Mosquito and the B-29?

Lanc was probably the least effective four engine bomber in mass production in the entire war.

@@Poliss95 The B-29 was a technical wonder, but failed at it's primary mission: high altitude bombing. The air currents over Japan were just too unpredictable. Also, many, many aircrew were killed by the B-29 because the engines liked to fail on take off. The Mosquito is a wonderful plane, but when you factor in bomb load it just doesn't compare. I'm one of them there 'Mericans and even I have to give the nod to the Lancaster!

The best British heavy bomber anyway.

@@johnnycab8986 totally incorrect comment. Well done.

To me, the Lancaster looks in flight as if it wants to stay in its element, riding the currents easily, and never wanting to land. 👍

And sounded even better! Four Merlins!

I have a nice big 1:48 scale model of it to build sometime. I can't decide whether to do a regular camo version or the dambuster version.

That didn't exactly make the Halifax successful, at least not as successful as it was with 4 Bristol Hercules engines.

I love seeing the flying Lanc out at Hamilton ON, just hearing those Merlins roar makes the hair stand up on my arms...

Good range, merlins, and more bomb load than a b17.. 🙂

Well trained crews had a lot to do with the Lancaster's success.

@@wilburfinnigan2142 With all the crap going on in 1939, ‘40, ‘41, ‘42*, ‘43, ‘44, ‘45, the Brits. we’re pushed to even bring into the country ‘bananas’. They were very grateful for vital a/c parts(where ever they could find them). Luck would have it the ‘yanks’ finally joined in (note the asterisk). I think most viewers of this post, are tired of your negative comments!

He survived the war and went home to New Zealand when it was won

For some reason, that name and the context rings a bell. What part of NZ was he from?

Christchurch

@@MrT67 Chritchurch

@@michaelharman9421 Thought so I'm from Christchurch. Pretty sure that I've heard my father refer to him on more than one occasion. My dad was too young for the war, but had a couple of uncle's serve. One in North Africa and one in the RAF flying hurricanes and P47's.

Well sir, i'd say your father probably had his own 'definition' of war.

We're going on 'Just Jane' - the privately owned Lancaster you had a taxy run in - next month. We've seen her multiple times. She's at East Kirkby, Lincs. There is another Lancaster at Coningsby, in Lincs. Part of the BBMF (the memorial flight which also includes Spitfires, Hurricanes and a Dakota amongst others). She is the one of two flying Lancasters in the World (the other one being the Canadian Heritage Lancaster, Vera). My favourite aircraft. I utterly adore the Lancaster. Over 7,000 built and only a handful surviving and two airborne.

@@susangamble6038 That's the one. Its some experience.

@@buonafortuna8928 can't wait. It was a retirement present in December 19 from my consultants and colleagues at the NHS. Been postponed twice! But it's now next month so... After that we're hoping to get to Coningsby to see 'Leader', the BBMF Lancaster (once she's home from Duxford, where she has been undergoing some maintenance on her tail fin). Haven't seen her for 2 years! :)

No thoughts for their victims!

@@alexspareonetoo8755 perhaps after

And the slaughtered.

@@alexspareonetoo8755 the victims who’s nation bombed almost every nation in Europe,

@@crickcrot I dont say they didnt have to do it. Albert Speer said it seriously affected German war fighting ability. But I merely mean we should not be proud of what had to be done, however justified and we should hear what it was like on the ground.

Shut up wilbur with your spam. The americans built the engine, the british designed it. The americans didnt even modify it. Strange that you dont even mention that the mustang was a poor fighter till the british designed merlin was put in it.....

@@lancsladgaming7146 The Mustangs the British ordered and flew was a poor fighter before the Americans put a Merlin in it....

Would this also be the reason why the Lancaster doesn't seem to have a ball gunner on its under side or any waist gunners or the majority of them didn't unlike the B17 and b24?

There was a BAOR sailing club on the Möhne See in the 1960s. We used to look at the patch in the dam and wonder if it was going to fail.

My grandfather was a tail gunner on a B17. I can only imagine how scary it must have been.

@@wildrose2748 you reap what you sow

@@wildrose2748 He wasn't pointing blame to anyone in particular. I'm sure neither side would relish targeting civilians but those people fighting the war and obeying orders would not have the luxury of choice. Anyone flying a bomber in that war must have been brave to have been sitting ducks for intercepting aircraft and ground fire.

my respects mate

@@wildrose2748 Churchill only gave the go ahead to bomb civilian targets and cities after Hitler started bombing English cities

@@henrywalker8287 I hope you are aware that nearly 1000 forced laborers died while the impact of operation chastise is thought to have been negligible. It doesn't take away from the incredible courage the pilots must've had but your comment is very ignorant.

I totally agree! But look how long it took the Brits to build a memorial to those incredibly brave men. MsG

Thanks. Sounds interesting.

My great aunt was a riveter on Lancs. She turned 100 about five weeks ago

Seen a spitfire in the air the other day at Holymoorside Chesterfield Derbyshire

Another Lancaster is being restored to flying condition in the UK at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage centre so there will soon be 3 Lancasters flying.

4 Tours???? Talk about trying your luck to the fullest!

I thought they were only supposed to do two tours. Most didn't get through one.

Noone did 4 tours in bombers?!

@@lancsladgaming7146 Group Captain Leonard Cheshire flew 4 tours, 100 missions.