Avro Lancaster B. Mk.I nose section
The Avro Lancaster was the most successful British bomber aircraft of World War II. Operating mostly at night, Lancasters delivered 608,612 tons of bombs in 156,000 sorties against occupied Europe. The bomber is perhaps most famous for its role in the breaching of the Möhne and Eder dams by No. 617 Squadron (“The Dambusters”). Of the 7,377 aircraft built, 3,249 were lost in action.
Not all its exploits were destructive in their nature. In April 1945, RAF Lancasters took part in Operation Manna to bring food to the starving peoples of occupied Holland. A total of 3,298 sorties were flown. After the war, the Lancaster and a civilian version, the Lancastrian, were used in the Berlin Airlift.
History of the Artifact
Lancaster TW911 was built to serve with the RAF’s Tiger Force in the Far East, but it was completed too late for combat service. The aircraft was converted for use as a flying test bed and used to test the Armstrong Siddeley Python engine. Later, the nose section of TW911 was grafted on to the body of an Avro Lincoln.
That aircraft carried out extensive test flying with the Napier & Son engine company before it was retired to the British Historic Aircraft Museum, around 1968. After the closure of the museum, the aircraft was sold and the nose section was acquired by the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum in 2001.
Did you know?
The Lancaster dropped the heaviest conventional bomb of World War II—the 22,000-pound Grand Slam.