From An Unreliable Mess To A War Winner: Avro Lancaster

Video Description

In this video, we take a look at the Avro Lancaster, a British Heavy Bomber from World War II that was, arguably, their best heavy bomber in the war and, inarguably, their most used heavy bomber. We first talk about odd aircraft design choices, that look odd in some fashion, before talking about Britain's push for a new, twin-engine heavy bomber. We talk about the engine candidates for such a design, and how the unreliable Rolls Royce Vulture was the most popular engine in this endeavor. We talk about how this led to the Avro Manchester. We then talk about the Manchester's troubled career, plagued by engine failures, and how the failure of the Vulture engine led to the Manchester being altered to fit four Rolls Royce Merlin engines. We talk about how (to me), the four in-line engines looked quite weird on the design, and also how it significantly boosted overall performance. We talk about the design's evolution into the Lancaster, and how the simple engine change created one of the most valuable bombers in all of WW2. We end by talking about an interesting use of the Lancaster in Operation Chastise, with the bouncing "Upkeep" bombs.