Life Inside a Lancaster Heavy Bomber (Cross Section)

the Avro Lancaster bomber cross-section World War II flying low under the night sky the British Avro Lancaster bomber quietly crossed the English Channel in route to Germany taking the fight straight to the heart of the country for the final three years of World War II the Inception of the Lancaster the British Avro Lancaster was a heavy bomber that was primarily used as a nighttime bomber during World War II and spearheaded the Allied strategic bombing campaign devised by RAF commander-in-chief of bomber command Arthur bomber Harris against Nazi Germany intended as the answer to issues with the Avro Manchester the Lancaster was designed by Roy Chadwick in the Avro team with the first prototype deploying in January 1941 a year later in March 1942 it was used operationally for the first time in a production run that lasted until 1946. needing a seven-man crew over 7 377 lancasters were built requiring a massive 1.1 million men and women involved in its production across 920 companies only 3445 lancasters survived the war as they usually only manage 21 missions before being lost in action although its most instrumental and important period of use was during the war the Lancaster was refitted updated and improved after the war continuing its use by the RAF bomber command and Royal Canadian Air Force conducting among other things aerial surveys and long-distance flights by the time it was retired in 1954 and replaced by the better developed Avro Lincoln 15 variants on the original design had been created now only 17 lancasters remain with only two capable of flight one of them flies in formation with a Spitfire and hurricane in the Battle of Britain Memorial flight at air shows in Britain and special events all our simple histories under attack just last week we thought Bay Bell emailed us to update our information but it was actually an underhanded enemy trying to steal our details if we had not had our eagle-eyed sponsor or on hand they could have cut them before it 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screen now a Lancaster MK1 composition the Lancaster Bauer measured 69 feet 6 inches in length had a wingspan of 102 feet and stood at 20 feet 6 inches in height off the ground wait the Lancaster was heavier than the average plane and much heavier than the standard German bomber at the time weighing over two times as much when empty the plane was approximately 36 900 pounds or 16 738 kilos but was capable of carrying almost its whole weight again being able to haul 33 100 pounds or fifteen thousand one hundred and fourteen kilos in fuel and bombs this also meant that it was one of the only planes capable of carrying the raf's largest bombs including the deadly 12 000 pound bunker Busters these features also allow the Dam Busters raid codenamed operation chastised to take place which wouldn't have been possible without the Lancaster Superior bomb holding capacity modified to fit British engineer Barnes Wallace's bouncing bomb underneath the fuselage it was the only plane capable of carrying out the mission thanks to its elongated Bombay engines the Lancaster was powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlin xxv12 liquid cooled piston engines driving three bladed propeller units each could produce up to 1 280 horsepower and 954 kilowatts of power this meant that at 15 000 feet it could cruise at 200 miles per hour but also had a top speed of 275 miles per hour six fuel tanks were located in the wings and could hold 2154 gallons of fuel between them so this averaged out at nearly one gallon used per mile with a bomb load of seven thousand Pounds its range was a lengthy 2 530 miles and the Lancaster has a service ceiling of twenty four thousand five hundred feet a huge improvement over the Manchester's Avro engine but as the war went on engine production became more difficult due to a shortage of supplies and was forced to turn elsewhere to the British Hercules's variant of the Lancaster which used air-cooled radial engines instead however these were vastly inferior so the issue was finely resolved by importing brand new Merlin engines from the U.S after they had joined the war this popular variant of the Merlin engine was also used in several other RAF aircraft including the Hawker hurricane and spitfire fighter planes bomb sites initially lancasters used the mark 9 core setting bomb site also known as csbs this was a rudimentary design that had been in production since its creation by Harry whimperus in 1917. it involved squinting through wires that had to be manually set meaning they lacked flexibility and the ability to easily change and adapt but by 1943 this was replaced by the mark 14 vector-based bomb site now recognized as the first modern bomb site it allowed the bomb aimer to input information at the start of the flight and a computer to automatically and continuously calculate the trajectory of the bombs and adjust accordingly during missions this was instrumental in making the Lancaster a big time part of the nighttime bombing raids crew something that is often forgotten in the war films and the media is the actual age of the average Soldier although slightly older than those on foot bomber Crews were made up of seven barely adult men with an average age of just 22. they each had their own role in flying the plane the pilot of course flew the plane and assumed the leadership role while the engineer who looked after the engine sat next to him behind them sat the Navigator and wireless operator who plotted the plane's course and monitored radio messages respectively the other three crewmen operated the weapons there was the bomb aimer who sat at the front and doubled as the nose Gunner guiding the plane into position and the final two operated as the rear and mid-gunners of the crew the rear Gunner was the least likely to survive as he was physically separated from his parachute meaning that in the event of a bailout he needed to both access and correctly put his parachute on before exiting the Lancaster armament the Lancaster was armed with 8.303 inch caliber Browning machine guns across three hydraulically powered turrets two sat in the nose turret two in the dorsal spine and four in the powered tail turn unlike the American bombers the Lancaster excluded the addition of a ventral belly turret although a few variants did have one but these were phased out by 1942 as they were not very successful bomb load as already mentioned the Lancaster's true uniqueness lay in its bomb carrying abilities outstripping and the other plane in the World War II Aviation sphere and allowing for Superior nighttime raids and attacks over German soil total the Lancaster had a 33 foot long Bombay and was capable of carrying a 14 000 pound bomb load at a speed of 200 miles per hour this also meant it was able to carry some of the largest high-capacity cookie bombs weighing between one thousand and four thousand pounds alongside these the Lancaster would carry high explosive general purpose medium case or smaller incendiary bombs such as 24 30 pound or 236 four pound incendiary bombs later they started modifying the Lancaster Bombay doors to make them capable of carrying even larger eight thousand and twelve thousand pound HC cookies the drawback of the bomb load and the Bombay doors was the lack of an easy exit route for the crew with the hatch being smaller than those on other aircraft and far more difficult to get out of and almost impossible wearing a parachute it meant that the crews of stricken lanecasters only had a 15 successful bailout rate compared to as high as 25 in halifaxes and 50 percent in American bombers Communications with one of the Lancaster's primary occupations during the war being part of the Mast nighttime bomb rate in Germany Communications between the crew of the plane and other aircraft and even base was essential the wireless operator who sat behind the Navigator monitored radio and Communications as the plane had a radio receiver and separate transmitter that could be used for voice and Morse code messages part of his job would involve identifying Friend or Foe in the night sky and giving false signals to confuse or derail the enemy if they entered Act of combat part of his role would also be acting as a lookout for the Plexiglas canopy at the back of a cockpit in order to notify the pilot and Gunners of any enemy aircraft activity the rear Gunner was also instrumental here as the Germans often attacked from behind meaning it was he who would see them first and be tasked with alerting the rest of the crew the pilot would often then guide the plane into a corkscrew turn to avoid enemy fire during the late 1940s the RAF continued to use the Lancaster to carry out reconnaissance and aerial surveys of Central and East Africa it was finally superseded by the development of the Avro Lincoln which was essentially a refined version of the Lancaster but it wasn't until December 1953 that the final bomber command Lancaster was retired and the final reconnaissance Lancaster in service for the RAF also retired less than a year later in 1954. overhauled lancasters continued to be used by four squadrons in The French Naval Aviation for another 10 years on reconnaissance and search and rescue missions before finally being retired [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: Simple History

Views: 1,353,644

Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, lancaster bomber, ww2, cross section, cut away, Avro Lancaster, RAF, Arthur “Bomber” Harris, Avro Manchester, Roy Chadwick, 1942, royal airforce, Battle of Britain, spitfire, hurricane, Lancaster MK 1, bouncing bomb, Dambusters Raid, Rolls-Royce Merlin, Operation Chastise, Bombsight, Mark IX, Harry Wimperis, Bomb Load, bomb bay, aviation

Id: wG9iQKzLsV8

Length: 10min 47sec (647 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 01 2023