How long is a lancaster bomber

The proven Rolls Royce Merlin engines were much in demand for many types of aircraft. For this reason a version of the aircraft was produced which made use of Bristol Hercules radial engines. The Lanc had speed, ceiling, and lifting power that no other aircraft of the day could match. Weighing 36, pounds empty, the Lancaster was capable of taking off with an additional 33, pounds of fuel and bombs; in other words it could almost carry its own weight again.

Lancasters were built to accomplish their specific purpose and crew comfort and security was clearly a secondary consideration. Generally flying under the cover of darkness, the Lancaster had virtually no defensive armour.

The front, mid-upper, and rear gun turrets were hydraulically powered and carried a total of eight. The crew worked in cramped conditions, particularly the air gunners who remained at their posts for the entire flight. Some had to place their flight boots into the turrets before climbing in, and then put their boots on.

At night and at 20, feet the temperature in the turrets frequently fell to minus forty degrees and frostbite was not uncommon. Air gunners manned the rear and mid-upper gun turrets. Partly for this reason, the Lanc had the versatility to undertake raids with large, specialized weapons.

These included fitting of 20 mm cannon or a. Three types of bulged bomb bay were used on the B. II, the prototype having a narrow bulge running from just aft of the cockpit to the end of the bomb bay, while early production examples had a full width bulge that ran the same length and on late production examples the bomb bay doors were prominently bulged throughout their length.

This variant, which was built concurrently with the B. I and was indistinguishable externally apart from being fitted with Packard-built Merlin engines. The Packard Merlin used Bendix-Stromberg pressure-injection carburettors requiring the addition of slow-running cut-off switches in the cockpit. The bomb bay doors were removed and Vickers-built struts to carry the bomb were fitted in their place at Woodford Aerodrome. Lamps were fitted in the bomb bay and nose for the simple height measurement system which enabled the accurate control of low-flying altitude at night.

The mid-upper turret was removed to save weight and the gunner moved to the front turret so that he could assist with map reading. These were modified air-sea rescue aircraft with three dipole ventral antennas fitted aft of the radome and carrying an airborne lifeboat within the adapted bomb bay. The armament was often removed and the mid-upper turret faired-over, especially in post-war use. Observation windows were added to both sides of the rear fuselage with a port window just forward of the tail-plane and a starboard window into the rear access door.

A number of ASR 3 conversions were fitted with Lincoln-style rudders. Featured an increased wingspan and lengthened fuselage and new Boulton Paul F turret two X 0. Because of the major redesign, the aircraft was quickly renamed Lincoln B 1. V - Increased wingspan and lengthened fuselage, two-stage Merlin 85s. Renamed Lincoln B 2B. VI - Nine aircraft converted from B. Climb to 28, ft 8, m at 65, lb 29, kg take-off weight was accomplished in These aircraft were only used by Pathfinder units; by No.

Their dorsal and nose turrets were removed and faired-over. The more powerful engines proved troublesome in service and were disliked by ground maintenance staff for their rough running and propensity to 'surge and hunt', making synchronisation impossible. Final production version of the Avro Lancaster. The Martin turret carried two 0. However, these Martin turrets arrived too late for inclusion in the first 50 aircraft built by Austin and these were therefore referred to as Mark VII Interim.

Canadian-built B. For the Lancaster this is RPM and plus 7 or plus 9 inches of boost depending on the length of runway. This power setting is not for continuous operation and the Lancaster is quickly throttled back to RPM and 4 inches of boost. She was in standard operational configuration.

The dual controls are actually a training set up with two control wheels feeding into the single control column. It has nothing to do with it being delivered too late for the war in Europe or modification for the Pacific theatre, the BBMF have simply re-rigged it in the training configuration — presumably because they want to fly it with two pilots for safety reasons.

This is correct. The only person to land the Lancaster is the captain in the left-hand seat. The dual controls for the co-pilot work fully but the seat is not considered sturdy enough to fly the aircraft in critical stages of flight, i. We expose new pilots to this seat to learn the procedures and how a display sequence works etc. Very nice to fly. Perfectly balanced and straightforward. Given its vintage, it is very stable the point of a bomber! We fly it nowhere near the weights used during the war approx lb.

We rarely get above lb, so it is quite nimble. However, as with all tail-draggers it is difficult to taxi and land. You can argue that all great aircraft want to be in the air and not the ground. This is certainly true of the Lancaster. It is very difficult to taxi as the huge rudder will want to turn the aircraft in any crosswind. You are not able to lock the tailwheel as you are with the Dakota, so you are constantly using differential breaking to keep straight.

Easier than it sounds!!! The controls get very sloppy and the control inputs get bigger. It is very easy to ground-loop a tail-dragger, which is why our cross wind limits are so low.