Walk Around an Avro Lancaster that took part in over 130 Raids in World War Two

Have you ever looked around a Lancaster that actually took part in bombing raids over Nazi-occupied Europe?

Given the high loss rate suffered by Bomber Command, it’s remarkable that this aircraft survived over 130 bombing sorties. This particular Lancaster was built at the Metropolitain-Vickers works on Mosley Road, which for anybody from Manchester is about a 3 minute drive from the Trafford Centre. The aircraft was transported by road to Woodford Aerodrome in south Manchester and was ready for service in June 1942. The aircraft was delivered to 83 squadron at RAF Scampton and saw its first operational sortie on the night of 8th July 1942, flying in a raid against Wilhelmshaven in the north of Germany. The aircraft would attack a long list of targets throughout the war including Essen, Vegesack, Bordeaux, Danzig, Duisburg, Hamburg, Gironde River, Osnabruck, Mainz before joining the pathfinder force at RAF Wyton. The aircraft flew its first Pathfinder mission in August 1942 against Flensburg and would carry-out further pathfinding missions to Frankfurt, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven, Krefeld, Kiel, Genoa, Turin, Berlin, Lorient, Milan, Nuremberg, Cologne, St Nazaire, Stuttgart, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, Munster, Bochum, Montchanin, Mulheim, Elberfeld, Turin.

Returning from a raid over the Bay of Biscay, in July 1943 the aircraft spotted and reported a surfaced German U-Boat, which was later sunk by a Bristol Beaufighter.

The aircraft would fly 68 sorties with 83 squadron, before being transferred to 467 squadron at RAF Bottesford in Leicestershire. The aircraft had completed 100 missions by November 1943 and had a near miss on her 96th mission, when it collided with another Lancaster over the target area at 20,000 feet. Following the collision, full right rudder was required for the 4 hour flight back and the engineer had to hold the rudder in the place with a strap, to help rest the pilot’s leg! The pilot was able to make an emergency landing into RAF Linton on Ouse in Yorkshire and the aircraft entered into a ground loop at the end of the runway. When safely on the ground it was revealed that about 5 feet of the wingtip was missing!

The aircraft returned to active duty in February 1944 and took part in a raid on Berlin. Its last and 137th bombing raid was on 23rd April 1945 when a force of 59 Lancaster attacked shipping in Flensburg. It would then take part in repatriation flights to return POWs home.