Entering service at the beginning of 1942, the Lancaster's design grew out of a failed predecessor, the Avro Manchester. While its' airframe offered a stable platform for heavy bombing assignments, the Manchester's twin engine design was inadequate to the task. By upgrading to four Merlins, the resulting aircraft met the nation's needs and 7,366 Avro Lancasters were built during the war, the most of any British bomber. Armament included eight to ten Browning machine guns for fighter defense (depending on model variant) mounted in the nose, upper dorsal turret and the tail. Experience with a variety of bomb loads eventually led to adoption of the 'Grand Slam' 22,000-pound bomb, the largest carried by any aircraft in the war.

The majority of Lancasters built during the war years were manufactured by Avro at their factory at Chadderton near Manchester and test flown from Woodford Aerodrome in Cheshire. Other Lancasters were built by Metropolitan-Vickers (1080, also tested at Woodford) and Armstrong Whitworth. The aircraft was also produced at the Austin Motor Company works in Longbridge, Birmingham later in the Second World War and postwar by Vickers-Armstrongs at Chester. Only 300 of the Lancaster B II fitted with Bristol Hercules engines were constructed; this was a stopgap modification caused by a shortage of Merlin engines as fighter production was of higher priority. Many BII's were lost after running out of fuel.

The Lancaster B III had Packard Merlin engines but was otherwise identical to contemporary B Is, with 3,030 B IIIs built, almost all at A.V. Roe's Newton Heath factory. The B I and B III were built concurrently, and minor modifications were made to both marks as new batches were ordered. Examples of these modifications were the relocation of the pitot head from the nose to the side of the cockpit, and the change from de Havilland "needle blade" propellers to Hamilton Standard or Nash Kelvinator made "paddle blade" propellers.

Of later variants, only the Canadian-built Lancaster B X, manufactured by Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario, was produced in significant numbers. A total of 430 of this type were built, earlier examples differing little from their British-built predecessors, except for using Packard-built Merlin engines and American-style instrumentation and electrics. Late-series models replaced the Frazer Nash mid-upper turret with a differently configured Martin turret, mounted slightly further forward for weight balance. A total of 7,377 Lancasters of all marks were built throughout the duration of the war, each at a 1943 cost of 45-50,000 (approximately equivalent to 1.3-1.5 million pounds in 2005 currency).

For the dam-busting strike in May 1943, the Lancaster dropped British designer Barnes Wallis's 'bouncing bombs' which skipped on the surface before impact. Wartime Lancaster sorties totaled about 156,000 during which roughly 608,000 tons of ordnance were dropped on the enemy.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a RAF Avro Lancaster 'Grand Slam' heavy bomber that was attached to 617 Squadron, then attacking the U-Boat pens at Farge, Germany, during March 1945. The raid was led by Group Captain Johnny Fauquier, a Canadian who assumed command of 617 Squadron in December 1944. He flew PD119, YZ-J, which was possibly the most distinctive of 617 Squadron, B.1 (Special) Lancasters. While the aircraft wore a daylight camouflage its port rear rudder was damaged, probably by flak on March 21st, and with no replacements readily available, one was 'borrowed' from another plane which wore a black night camouflage scheme, it remained this way until the end of the war. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 17-inches
Length: 11-3/4-inches

Release Date: October 2009

Historical Account: "Valentin" - The Valentin submarine pens were protective shelters built to house German U-boats during World War II at Farge, a small port on the Weser River in Bremen. The pens were built from 1943 to March 1945, and they were not finished before the end of the war. The Valentin U-boat pens were the largest fortified pens in Germany, and were second only to those built at Brest in France.

Bombing by the RAF and the USAAF dramatically reduced production of U-boats by the German shipyards, so a bomb proof shelter was built under the code name Valentin at Farge in Bremen. It was planned that they would be used for assembly of the submarines of the type XXI.

The pens were attacked by No.617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force on March 27th, 1945. The pens had ferrous concrete roofs up to 7 metres (23 feet) thick. Two Grand Slam bombs penetrated a section with a 4.5 m roof thick roof rendering the pens unusable.