The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the same wartime era.

A long, unobstructed bomb bay meant that the Lancaster could take the largest bombs used by the RAF, including the 4,000 lb (1,800 kg), 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) and 12,000 lb (5,400 kg) blockbusters, loads often supplemented with smaller bombs or incendiaries. The "Lanc", as it was known colloquially,[3] became one of the most heavily used of the Second World War night bombers, "delivering 608,612 long tons of bombs in 156,000 sorties".[4] The versatility of the Lancaster was such that it was chosen to equip 617 Squadron and was modified to carry the Upkeep "Bouncing bomb" designed by Barnes Wallis for Operation Chastise, the attack on German Ruhr valley dams. Although the Lancaster was primarily a night bomber, it excelled in many other roles, including daylight precision bombing, for which some Lancasters were adapted to carry the 12,000 lb (5,400 kg) Tallboy and then the 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) Grand Slam earthquake bombs

General characteristics

Crew: 7: pilot, flight engineer, navigator, bomb aimer/nose gunner, wireless operator, mid-upper and rear gunners
Length: 69 ft 4 in (21.11 m)
Wingspan: 102 ft 0 in (31.09 m)
Height: 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Wing area: 1,297 sq ft (120.5 m²)
Empty weight: 36,900 lb (16,738 kg)
Loaded weight: 55,000 lb (24,948 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 68,000 lb (30,844 kg)
Powerplant: 4 × Rolls-Royce Merlin XX liquid-cooled V12 engines, 1,280 hp (954 kW) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 282 mph (246 knots, 454 km/h) at 63,000 lb (29,000 kg) and 13,000 ft (4,000 m) altitude
Cruise speed: 200 mph (174 knots, 322 km/h)
Range: 2,530 mi (2,200 nmi, 4,073 km)
Service ceiling: 21,400 ft (6,500 m) at 63,000 lb (29,000 kg)[68] ()
Rate of climb: 720 ft/min (3.7 m/s) at 63,000 lb (29,000 kg) and 9,200 ft (2,800 m) altitude

Armament

Guns: Two 0.303 inch (7.62 mm) Browning Mark II machine guns in nose turret, two 0.303 inch Browning Mark II machine guns in upper turret, and four 0.303 inch Browning Mark II machine guns in the rear turret.
Bombs: Maximum normal bomb load of 14,000 lb (6,400 kg) of bombs or single 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) Grand Slam (with modifications to bomb bay).