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Avro Lancaster - $$20.00

The Avro Lancaster was a British WWII heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the RAF. It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF and squadrons from other Commonwealth and European countries. 22 Sheets. SEVERAL Derek Carter cartoons

Avro Lancaster WWII Dam Buster Bomber

Avro Lancaster British Dam Buster Bomber

Avro Lacaster
Faced with a dire situation during the summer of 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill threw his support behind the defensive power of the Royal Air Force's Fighter Command and the development of Bomber Command with the words: The Fighters are our salvation, but the Bombers alone provide the means of victory." This is a downloadable cardmodel of the legendary Avro Lancaster

(See the bomb drop)


Model Updates:
May 8: Added scales and WSAM/ Added cutout of Sir Barnes Wallace
May 12: Reduced the size of the lower fuselage shroud beneath Tail Gunner. SHEET 7 on large -(sheet-2 reg) also, SHEET 4 LARGE minor spelling error.
Better bookmark this page and check back before downloading & building
May 12: Sheet 11 (starboard wing) had a little canvas size issue and that shouldn't matter. Fixed anyway
May 28: minor graphic changes to fuselage-Large and reg

Avro Lancaster WWII Dam Buster

Barnes-Wallace-Paper Cartoon CutoutThe Avro Lancaster became Great Britain's most famous four-engine bomber during World War II. It was developed from the ill-fated Manchester that suffered from unreliable Rolls-Royce Vulture engines. Even while the Manchester was being produced, the Avro design team, led by Chief Designer Roy Chadwick, investigated a possible four-engine replacement. The proposed four-engine Manchester Mk III, powered by Rolls Royce Merlin XX engines, was discussed with the Air Ministry on February 20, 1940. At first the proposal created little interest because most of the Merlin engine production was needed for Hurricane and Spitfire fighter aircraft. However in July 1940 the Air Ministry requested Avro to go ahead with their project and use as many Manchester components as possible in the new design.

Manchester airframe BT308 was designated project No.683 and fitted with four Rolls-Royce Merlin X engines on extended wings. This prototype model first flew on January 9, 1941 with the Manchester's triple tail fins but without ventral and dorsal turrets.

While the early handling trials were successful, a change in the tail configuration was recommended, and the original type of vertical tail surfaces were replaced by larger endplate surfaces on a wider-span tail-plane with the large central fin deleted. Exhaustive flying tests followed, and the now renamed Lancaster soon revealed its potential with excellent performances. The first production model prototype DG595 flew on May 13,1941, and was later flown to Boscombe Down for service trials.

On June 6, 1941 , Avro received a contract for 454 Lancaster Mk 1's powered by four Merlin XX engines, plus two Avro Lancasterprototype Lancaster Mk IIs fitted with four Bristol Hercules VI engines.

On Christmas Eve, 1941, No.44 (Rhodesia) Squadron based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire received the first three production Lancaster Mk 1's. The first operation with the Lancaster was carried out on March 3, 1942, when four aircraft of No.44 Squadron were detailed to lay mines in the Heligoland Bight. The Lancasters took off from Waddington at 18:15 hours and all returned safely five hours later.

The early-production Lancasters had a maximum gross take-off weight of 63,000 lb and carried a variable bomb load up to a maximum of 14,000 lb. The bomb load mix depended upon the type of target to be attacked. For example, the bomb load for the demolition of industrial sites by blast and fire was code named "Cookie Plumduff" and this consisted of 1 x 4000 lb, 3 x 1000 lb, plus up to six small bomb carriers loaded with 4 lb or 30 lb incendiaries. Later, heavier bomb loads would be carried, such as the 8000 lb Cookie, the 12,000 lb Tallboy and finally the 22,000 lb Grand Slam. The defensive armament consisted of a two-gun power turret fitted in the nose and mid-upper position plus a four-gun turret in the tai

Avre-Lancaster Bomber flying byIn February 1942 Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris became head of Bomber Command and prioritized the production of four-engine aircraft for his bomber force. Manufacturing capacity was increased by Avro but Rolls-Royce became concerned that they would not be able to satisfy the ever- increasing demand for the Merlin engines. This situation had been foreseen, and one alternative was to use a different engine - the Lancaster Mk II using the Bristol Hercules was already in the pipeline with an order for 300 placed with Armstrong Whitworth. The second solution was for the Packard Motor Corporation to manufacture the Merlin engine in the USA.

The first Lancaster Mk III powered by the Packard Merlin 28s came off the Avro production lines in August 1942. Although the Packard Merlin-powered Lancaster had almost identical performance to the Mk I, it was given the new designation because of different servicing requirements. The Packard Corporation also shipped Merlins over the Canadian border where the Victory Aircraft Company built 430 Lancaster Mk X aircraft.

With the deployment of the Mk III, a total of 7377 Lancasters were built between October 1941 and October 1945, equipping 57 RAF Bomber Command Squadrons by the end of World War ll.


The DamBusters

Guy Gibson and Crew
Guy Gibson, and crew who bombed Mohne Dam.

No. 617 Squadron, the most famous squadron in the Royal Air Force, was formed at Scampton on March 21, 1943, under the command of Wing Commander Guy Gibson. An outstanding pilot and leader, Gibson was allowed to have his pick of crews from Spinning BOMB construction detailsother squadrons to fly Lancasters on a special, highly-secret operation. Gibson himself was not told for some weeks that Operation Chastise, codename for the dams raids, involved breaching the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe Dams which held back more than 300 million tons of water vitally important to German industry.

This secret mission required a special bomb which had to be delivered in a highly unusual manner. The bomb had to be spun in the bomb bay of the aircraft at 500 rpm so that when it hit the water it would "skip" across the surface rather than sink. The crew had to release the bomb while flying exactly 60ft above the water at a speed of exactly 220 mph. The bomb also had to impact the water at exactly 425 yd from the dam wall and only a 6 per cent deviation was permissible. The targets under attack were heavily defended, and the raids had to take place at night.

The first Lancaster took off from Scampton shortly before 21:30 hours on May 16, 1943, and Wing Commander Gibson's aircraft, the first to attack the Mohne Dam, released its mine at 28 minutes past midnight. Half an hour later, just after the fifth Lancaster had attacked, Gibson radioed England with the news that the dam had been breached. The remaining aircraft of the Mohne formation then flew on to the Eder Dam. The first two mines failed to breach the dam, but shortly before 2am, when the third Lancaster had attacked, Gibson signaled the codeword "Dinghy", indicating success with the second part of the operation. Other aircraft attacked the Sorpe and Scheme Dams but did not succeed in breaching them. Just how low the Lancasters flew during the attack is shown by the fact that one had to turn back as it had hit the sea and lost its bomb on the journey to mainland Europe.

Avro Lancaster Dambuster Bomb Run
Watch the bomb drop and skip to the dam.
Note that if the Lancs flew any lower, the impact spray would have hit the bomber in the tail



Of the 19 Lancasters which took off for the dams raid with their 133 crew, eight planes and 56 men did not return. Five planes crashed or were shot down en route to their Avro Lancaster Paintingtargets. Two were destroyed while delivering their attacks and another was shot down on the way home. Two more were so badly damaged that they had to abandon their missions. No.617 Squadron, known from this time onwards as the "Dambusters", had become famous.

The attack had huge propaganda value and made Gibson a national hero. Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross for bringing round his Lancaster to give covering fire to the Lancasters that were following up his attack on the Mohne Dam. Thirty-one other members of 617 Squadron were also decorated. Severe flooding occurred where the Mohne Dam was breached.

Six small electricity works were damaged and rail lines passing through the Mohne Valley were disrupted. But industrial production was not affected in the long term. When the Eder Dam broke, there were similar results. Kassel, an important arms-producing town, was breached by the flood- water, but little actual damage was done. Had the Sorpe Dam been breached, the damage would have been much greater' The potential for a major disaster was recognized by Albert Speer who commented, "Ruhr production would have suffered the heaviest possible blow."

In the short and long term, the damage done by 617 Squadron was repaired quite quickly. But the most important impact of the raid was that 20,000 men working on the Atlantic Wall had to be moved to the Ruhr to carry out repairs to the damaged and breached dams. This work was completed before the rains of the autumn appeared.



Mohne Dam Before Bombing
Mohne Dam After
Mohne Dam before the bombing.
Mohne Dam after the bombing.

Sir Barnes Wallis Dam Buster Bomb

Sir Barnes Wallis, the man who designed the "Damn Buster" bomb, is pictured here demonstrating his Finger Phone invention

A close up of one of the spherical bombs prototypes.

Dambuster Bomb Sketch How the Barnes Wallis bomb worked
A sketch of the Dambuster Bomb.
THIS is how the bomb worked.

Avro Lancaster Cockpit
Avro Lancaster Bomber Cockpit.
Avro Lancaster Bomber Factory
Avro Lancaster Bomber factory.
In Canada they were making one per day in the final days of the war. Many were flown to England and then back to be sold as surplus at about $500 each !! FYI,,This cardmodel cost FG over $3500

There's a full page file of this exploded view of the Lancaster in with the kit
Avro Lancaster In Flight


Lancaster Card model nose
Lancaster Card model Fuselage

October 23, 2012:
Well, I got the nose done on the Lanc and it was a b---h! Must've gone through at least 5 try-outs. You'll see from the pic that this is just one piece, done in the grand FG tradition of simplicity, and when folded up comes out just peachy (IMHO) Oh, those formers won't be on the finished model, but they sure came in handy getting the shape right.

One of the biggest headaches (which I am trying to resolve without resorting to fuselage formers) is that, as you can see from the pic, the bottom of the fuselage (the bomb doors) is missing.... so it's kinda hard for the fuse to keep it's shape as the curves are really tight on the bottom (pardon my French) and without that lower section it tends to round out.

But there are some fairings to go in the bomb bay area, which I'm confident will resolve this. Hand-drawn glasshouse sitting on that nose there; will be off and flattened out for scanning shortly, to do the linework. Tail pieces going great at the moment, so it's all moving along (albeit at a steady pace :) nicely.


Oct-26
Now nearly finished up the tail pieces; I'll send along some pics when I've got that end built, possibly with a tail gun as well, as I feel like a challenge! Besides, it's good for me to balance the work between tricksy bits like them, and much easier parts like wings and tail (which should be done in two hits as opposed to the 4 or 5 for the nose!) I'm very pleased with how this is turning out; happy that you seem to be, as well :D More updates soon. Gandalf

Avro Lancaster WWIIbomber early design frame fiddlersgreen.net
Avro Lancaster WWII early design bomber nose Fiddlersgreen.net
Derek tells us designing the Avro Lancaster took most of 2011 and a good chunk of 2012. Three other designers helped
Avro Lancaster WWII Bobmber early design fuselage Fiddlersgreen.net
NOTE: Those formers you see were used to help shape the Lancaster's skin during the design stage.
Avro Lancaster bomber early design WWII Fiddlersgreen.net
Avro Lancaster WWII bomber early design guns Fiddlersgreen.net
Avro Lancaster WWII bomber early design rear gun & turret Fiddlersgreen.net
Avro LAncaster cardmodel designs fiddlersgreen.net
Avro Lancaster rear view twin fins cardmodel
Avro Lancaster British WWII dam bomber spar glimpse pre engines downloadable cardmodel Fiddlersgreen.net
Avro Lancaster bouncing bomb fiddlersgreen.net
Avro Lancaster Panel Detail
Landcaster(sic) landing gearLancaster model parts
Lancaster nacellesBW Lancaster wing and spar
Lancaster markings
Lancasters over Niagra Falls
Surplus Lancs looking for a little trouble..Thanks to Bob Martin

 

IMHO..About the funniest ad ever !! must see

Avro Lancaster Specifications

3 view of the Avro Lancaster
Crew: 7: pilot, flight engineer,
navigator, bomb aimer,
wireless operator, mid-upper & rear gunners
Length: 69 ft 5 in
Wingspan: 102 ft
Height: 19 ft 7 in
Wing area: 1,300 ft²
Empty weight: 36 828 lb
Loaded weight: 63,000 lb
Powerplant: 4× Rolls-Royce
Merlin XX V12 engines, 1,280 hp each

Performance

Maximum speed: 280 mph at 15,000 ft
Range: 3,000 mi with min bomb load
Service ceiling: 23,500 ft
Wing loading: 48 lb/ft²
Power/mass: 0.082 hp/lb

Armament
8× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in 3 turrets, with variations
Bombs: Maximum normal
bomb load of 14,000 lb or 22,000 lb
Grand Slam with modifications to bomb bay.

Avro Lancaster Cutaway
This wonderful Lancaster cutaway comes in full size 8.5x11 PDF for FREE included in your MyModels folder!

Trains and his Lancs
Modeln'Pal 'Trains' showing off HIS Avro Lancs Bomber



YouTube Videos from Neil Paper Models


Introduction and Plan to Construct the Avro Lancaster

This video is part of a longer series for building the model.





Step-By-Step Tutorial

This video is a Step-By-Step tutorial





Avro Lancaster Crash