American Reacts Lancaster Bomber: The Incredible Ability of the Dambuster’s Heavy Bomber

Original Video: • Lancaster Bomber: The ...
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#lancaster
#bomber
#airplane
#uk
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#americanreacts
#reaction
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[@Diamondmine212]

I had Three uncles on the Lancaster bombers,Two were Navigation bomb aimers and one was a Rear gunner. One of them limped back home from a raid and crashed landed near to base,all saved ,just wounded.

[@Belzediel]

11:00 Yeah, dropping ten tonnes off an aircraft does things to the aeroplane. They usually decide to go up very quickly, which is not a bad thing when the thing that fell off is about to do some interesting chemistry inside an enclosed space.

[@TheHitmann069]

My Grandfather was a rear gunner (tail end Charlie) on Lancaster bombers with 1 Group, Bomber Command from RAF Kelstern and later RAF Elsham. Thank you for posting this reaction. Per Ardua Ad Astra. 🙏🏻

[@catherinewilkins2760]

Roy Chadwick the designer of the Avro Lancaster, also designed the Avro Vulcan.

[@doctorsocrates4413]

and stuart davies.

[@stirlingmoss4621]

You're basically correct, Connor. Those engines powered the Spitfire, too.

[@martintabony611]

And the American P51 Mustage, built under licence

[@paultaylor781]

Hurricane and Mosquito as well

[@aussie6910]

The p-40F too.

[@cellevangiel5973]

And don't forget the American Mustang as well which made him from scrap to the best.

[@harryjohnson9215]

I believe the RAF put merlins in the PBY Catalina as well as The hawker tempest and typhoon. And of course the FAA seafire had merlins (modified spitfire for the fleet-air-arm of the royal navy) The Griffin is a modified version of the merlin with more power and was Primary put in the latter versions of the spitfires.

[@harryjohnson9215]

My ex's grate grandad was an RAF engineer he was did the last check on 2 of the Lancasters of 6 1 7 SQUADRON before thay left for to hit the dams.

[@chrisjohnson4165]

RIP Sgt. Bob Hudson, my uncle who was a tail gunner on a Lancaster lost in a mid-air collision over France. His Lancaster was one of the very few with radial engines.

[@woooster17]

I was lucky enough to take a taxy ride in the cockpit of NX611, Just Jane at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre a few years ago. Amazing experience. You really get an idea of how cramped it is inside. Baling out at night, whilst in a spin with G must have been terrifying! My great uncle was a Lancaster pilot flying with 100 squadron. He was KIA in February 1943 aged only 23. I have his logbook which I cherish.

[@johnp8131]

Thanks for that, really interesting. I used to work pretty much daily with 'Tatty Ton' on the 'seats' whilst at Wyton in the eighties and nineties.

[@jeffward9174]

My ex wife's grandfather was a rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber. His name was Ron Byde. He died 30 years ago weeks after my daughter was born. He at least got to see his great granddaughter before he died.

[@pugle1]

We're lucky here in Ontario to have one of only two flying examples of this amazing bird. The other is in Britain. The one we have is based in Hamilton ant the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. My daughters live in Hamilton, and when I visit in the summer months, you often hear and see it flying. The sound is unmistakable with those four Merlins. I don't even need to see the plane when I hear it to know what it is. I absolutely love it.

[@montyzumazoom1337]

My uncle Fred was a rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber during the war. He did 27 ops and survived the war settling in Peterborough for the rest of his life.

[@LAGoodz]

You’re correct mate. Those 4 RR Merlin engines were in the same family as the Spitfire. Come to the UK, I’ll show you around Duxford. It’s got a fantastic USAF hanger museum too.

[@LewisVinyl]

Love Duxford, fantastic airfield with unbridled volumes of history

[@topcat4759]

Agreed. The B52 is an amazing sight in the US airforce museum. The Land war fare building also worth a visit.

[@simonrichards6739]

The industrial estate next to my primary school built the wings for the Lanc before transport to Woodford for assembly, they still had the air raid siren and used to test it out, it wasn’t nice in the playground in the 80’s thinking we were 4:07 under attack. The sign to the estate still has the picture of a Lancaster as a header!

[@joefoster8839]

My uncle was a bomb aimer with 514 Sqdn at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire. Their Lancaster was Mk2 with Bristol Hercules air cooled engines, one of only 400 mk2s. In July 1944, they were badly damaged and finished their ops in a Mk3 with Merlins. Very fortunately, a lucky crew!.

[@johnp8131]

Know it well and from before the time the Army took it over. Loads of old RAF Stations around here, especially 'Satelite Stations' where the aircraft were dispersed to, normally wouldn't know are there? Then or now.

[@wrorchestra1]

My grandfather was a tail gunner with 550 squadron out of North Killingholme. 29 sortees in the tail, last flight he was mid-upper turret and he got shot down. Successful bailout but was captured. My great grandparents were told he was dead, they got the shock of their lives when he walked up the garden path after the War!

[@topcat4759]

An amazing aircraft. Merlin engines were built in the same factory that my dad worked in the early '70s. Barnes Wallis born about 10 miles away from where I live. Stood underneath the bomb bay of the example on display at Duxford shown in the video. A truly mind blowing experience, and 617 squadron practiced for the dam raid also not far away from where I live. The Grand Slam and Tall Boy conventional bombs were perhaps two of the most impressive aerial weapons of the war. Guys that flew these certainly had some guts and brave to the last. How they were never given a campaign medal is a disgrace.

[@paladin5163]

Did you know when the atomic bombs were made to attack Japan, the Lancaster was the only aircraft that could carry them and they trained to drop them. B29s had to be changed in the bomb bay area because they had two sets of bomb bay doors where the Lancaster had full length doors.

[@PedroConejo1939]

Lancaster were prepped and ready to go with the A bomb but Japan surrendered before they were used. Mark Felton has video on it called "Hiroshima 1945 - The British Atomic Attack".

[@McJibbin]

I do remember hearing about this thanks for reminding me 😄

[@billyp4850]

​@@PedroConejo1939unfortunately Mark Felton, as usual, is full of it. No Lancaster was ready to go, in fact none were even in the Pacific.

[@Volcano-Man]

The proposal to use Lancaster's was vetoed by senior officials in the US. Hence the B29's, but the Lancaster's were modified - removal of the mid-upper turret, a massive fuel tank on top of the fuselage. There are official photographs of them with the mods on Wiki.

[@harryjohnson9215]

​@@Volcano-Mani heard 2 was sent to australia in crates.

[@barrynichols2846]

My Great Uncle Stan flew Lancaster Bombers in WW2. He was a top dressing pilot before the war here in New Zealand. He later flew cargo planes in Burma.

[@HaurakiVet]

Les Munroe was a member of our officers' club here in New Zealand. A real gentleman who contributed much to his community after the war. His funeral was a major event held most aptly at an air history museum in Tauranga with a huge turn out of ex service personnel.

[@85parrot]

I've been lucky to see the Lancaster flying a good few times. Sometimes at an air show I'm actually at, but most times just out and about and realising what that noise is! It is such a distinctive sound, as soon as you hear it you're looking for the plane.

[@paganphil100]

85parrot: I've seen one in flight once.....it was near Burnley, Lancashire and it was flying North-West. I found out later that it was going to an air-show in Northern Ireland.

[@85parrot]

@@paganphil100 yes, I'm in West lancs, it used to come to the Southport air show and fly over Liverpool.

[@rogerjenkinson7979]

I grew up in west Manchester near (as the crow flies) to the Manchester Ship Canal on the other side of which is Barton airfield which is still a small grass field. On their airshow days nothing of any size could land but they all overflew the field a couple of times & to do so they had to fly in a huge circle which brought them over my house. Jets were impressive but gone quickly. The single Lancaster flying low with its 4 merlin engines was hugely impressive, noisy & scary. It made me wonder about the poor german civilians suffering 1000 bomber raids day&night. Reap the Whirlwind indeed, Mr Harris. War is a terrible thing and the even more terrible thing is that those who start them don't give a damn about intentionally killing their own people to get more glory & territory for themselves. The board' game' called Risk using real people. Flanders & Swann were right- the planet's warring leaders should all meet naked face-to-face In The Bath!

[@85parrot]

@@rogerjenkinson7979 yes, despite how small it is in comparison to modern airliners, it still has an amazing presence in the air. I find the Vulcan similarly impressive but somehow much more menacing than the Lancaster. It's whining noise is also very distinctive

[@24327355]

MY Grandfather was a Rear Gunner on an Ice cream van on one of the estates in Glasgow....a very brave man..wounded many times...had nightmares up untill he died.

[@lynnejamieson2063]

My Dad’s cousin was an RAF Flying Officer who piloted Lancaster Bombers. He was killed in action during a night mission over Brunswick in January 1944 and is buried in Hanover. He was 20 years old when he died. There was only one survivor from his plane and he was taken prisoner.

[@paulthomas-hh2kv]

After dambuster raid guy gibson went on a tour of usa. He was asked how many missions he had flown as usa crews did 25 he said 174.. the room fell silent

[@KevinPugh-hq8rc]

My old man who as 14 years old at the time, would watch the Lancasters low flying up the river Wye to the Welsh dams to practice low flying for the dam buster raid. They were so low and he was up on the top of a hill, he was looking down on the top gunner - and hills are not that high in that area. No wonder he took an apprenticeship with the RAF as an electronic engineer. Usually, once a year they fly a Lancaster up the valley to Builth Wells over the Royal Welsh agricultural show, to commemorate that history.

[@defizr]

When the Manhattan Project were looking around for an aircraft to carry the first atomic bomb the only one that was able to carry it without extensive modification was the Avro Lancaster but General Leslie Groves wanted an American plane to carry it so Project Silverplate was born.

[@nessa8389]

I live in sheffield South yorkshire UK my favourite film is the dam busters and the Lancaster was the plane that dripped the bouncing bomb that Barnes Wallace designed, they practiced for the raid on ladybower dam just outside sheffield and I remember seeing the Lancaster and 2 spitfire planes do a flypast over the dam to commemorate the anniversary of the raid, think it was in the 90s it flew over the wall and down the valley, the sound of the Lancaster is amazing , it is my favourite plane of all time!

[@topcat4759]

I live in Derby and quite often travel up to the Peak District and have seen Lady Bower and the Derwent dams. I think they normally do a tribute flight there every year. The one in the '90's would most likely have been the 50th anniversary one, obviously a special one, more so than any other. Just hope they get chance to do a centenary one with the same aircraft.Barnes Wallis was born in Ripley, Derbyshire, not far away.

[@josefschiltz2192]

An old friend of mine was in the Lancasters. He was held as a POW after actually surviving being shot down and he was 'tail end Charlie as well! I first met him when he was working for an engineering firm, Biggs Wall, that had one of it's bases in my home village. He spent his latter days, which, considering his position in the bomber - not great at all for the survival rate - he probably didn't expect he'd reach, making weathervanes and plant holders in his garden shed, some of which I designed for him. Imagine Picasso, but with a white moustache and a Lancashire accent. Now passed. A good and lucky man. Bless you Bill. I always remember his voice saying to me, and pondering over one of my designs, "No, no, no! Too complicated! Remember . . . look . . I've got to cut that out. That'll take me ages!" I learnt quickly to simplify my somewhat baroque ideas! The house I have now has one of his own designs. Appropriately enough, a steam train. A 'Puffing Billy'!

[@tobytaylor2154]

Yes, as you drop the bombs the weight falling away from the aircraft makes the aircraft rise up in altitude, the heavier the bomb load the more you climb.

[@waynec3563]

Yes, pilots reported the aircraft leaping in altitude when the Grand Slam was released. The maximum take-off weight of the Lancaster was around 70,000lb. The Grand Slam bomb was 22,000lb, or about 1/3 of the aircraft's weight at take-off. Tallboy was 12,000lb. Tallboy and Grand Slam were so expensive to make that the crews were ordered to return to base with them if they were unable to attack the target. The 4,000lb "Cookie" shown was a high capacity bomb, with a much higher explosive filling percentage than the standard bombs used. There were two larger high capacity bombs used by the RAF in WW2 - one at 8,000lb and one at 12,000lb, though these weren't used often.

[@limitedmark]

Thanks for your videos, I enjoy your channel and your content is excellent. All the best from Lincolnshire Uk. 😎

[@ChrisPopham]

If I look out my back window I can see RAF Scampton, when I went to school I used to pass the Lancaster every day and once saw it hover coming into land in a strong head wind, it was only hovering for around 5-10 seconds but she is a big bird to pull that off, I think the pilots would have been decisively uncomfortable in that moment, Guy Gibson's son runs a pub/ restaurant in Scampton called The Dambusters inn and is probably the best meal you can eat around here.

[@B-A-L]

My condolences to what your view will soon become!

[@ChrisPopham]

@@B-A-L unfortunately, a refugee camp, or! Fortunately, if you’re a refugee

[@debbieburton938]

Ohhhhh you are doing a video on my obsession 😂 I will literally spend the summer going to the various air shows.. Just to see her.. To me she is the most perfect thing.. I showed my granddaughter this video just last week.. I'm learning her now. They made 7.377 of them..

[@Puckoon2002]

When the Lancasters carried the Tallboy and Grandslam bombs the wings would be flexed/curved upwards to the wing tips, the aircraft would leap upwards when the bomb was released and the wings could be seen briefly "flapping" till things settled down again.

[@streaky81]

I once got very lucky and sat on the edge of BBMF's Lancaster's bomb bay as it taxied at the event that was held the first time that RAF Scampton was shut in the mid-late 90's, very cool experience, the engines on these are something else - you don't quite "get" it until you're inside and you can feel them trying to tear the airframe apart. Met a lot of WW2 Lancaster veteran crew that day too, I doubt many of them (if any) are still with us but, yeah. I also had a very similar experience in the Vulcan at the Newark air museum around the same time when they still ran their Vulcan but it's just a fixed display these days, some regs mean they're not allowed to fire it up (if it would even still run).

[@timholder6825]

Merlins were in Spitfires, Hurricanes, Lancasters, Mosquitos and Mustangs. They also were later used by the Spanish to power their Me109's (these can be seen in the movie, Battle of Britain).

[@himoffthequakeroatbox4320]

Some versions of the Halifax too. You can spot an Me109 with a Merlin by the exhausts in the wrong place, because the original German engine was upside down.

[@LB-rj7fj]

Absolute icon, the Lancaster. You just wouldn't want to be the tail gunner.

[@aussie6910]

When the 10t Grand Slam was released the a/c would climb uncontrollably about 500ft before the pilot could catch it. The bombaimers calculations were so involved & accurate many craters touched each other. Only brand new Lancaster's carried GS & they were stripped down to save weight, no armour, two turrets removed, one radio & one man less. B-17 max load=8,000lbs. Lanc max load=22,400lbs. That's 10 English tons.

[@shadybacon3451]

From what I have seen in documentaries on the lancaster, which had first hand information from lancaster pilots, the tallboy and grandslam bombs, when released, would cause the plane to climb slightly as balance of weight shifted.

[@juliehemmings]

There is nothing like the sound of a Lancaster at an airshow. I played a film of one show to my Dad. He knew immediately it was a Lancaster before it came into frame. He said it paid to know what was flying above you when he was a kid

[@williambranch4283]

The Norden bombsight was an early form of autopilot combined with transfer of flight control to the bombardier that was hopped to improve accuracy. Analog computer. Advanced naval gunnery was by analog computer also.

[@JohnEdwards-r2l]

Sorry to spoil that. But when the R.A.F tested the Norton sight they saw through the hype put out by Norton. The horrible truth was it was next to useless and all the over the top security the company insisted on was more to hide that fact not keep a important asset safe. So at the end of the day the Dam Busters triangle of wood with two nails and an eye piece used on the Dams Raid was more accurate.

[@johnp8131]

@@JohnEdwards-r2l I believe you're right. I'm sure there's a documentary on YT too, where it states that the Germans didn't think much of it either compared to their own.

[@christinepreston8642]

Reg Payne was a wireless operator, started at 19, survived the war and outlived 2 wives until he passed aged 98. The stories he told were amazing, he self published a book called First Wave that some here may find interesting if you can find a copy!

[@geoffmower8729]

They were able to bail out through hatches close to where there station was that opened up allowing them to get out . I heard somewhere that the tail gunner had to get up open the door behind him crawl a short way along the fuselage to get to his hatch and then jump out. Very brave men!

[@percyprune7548]

Get out of the turret to get the parachute - the turret was too small for one worn permanently - then either go to the rear door or back in the turret, rotate sideways and roll out backwards into the sky.

[@wiliammound7942]

Always enjoy your vids Connor, always smile when you salute any one worthy? Regards from 🇦🇺

[@boothy201]

The Lancaster bomber: So good the Americans named an actor after it. RIP Bert. 😃

[@B-A-L]

I had the privilege to visit 617 Squadron at RAF Scampton in the 80s when I was 14 and they had a Lancaster as a gate guard which I was allowed to have a look inside and even as an average sized teen I was surprised at how cramped it was inside. I was even more surprised at how cramped the Vulcan bomber cockpit was that I got to sit in too! Incidentally one of the pilots who took part in the Dambuster raid was an American called Joe McCarthy who had already flown over 30 missions beforehand and had already joined the fighting months before the rest of America had!

[@johnp8131]

I loved them because they were nice and roomy to fit the seats. I had a surprise later on fitting seats to Canberras and Tornados!

[@ashleyhoward8926]

There was only one pilot, but some flight engineers got the hang of basic flying, even if only long enough for a crew to bale out if the pilot was hit. This is mentioned is such books as "enemy coats ahead" "no moon tonight" etc. Curiously the pilot was not necessarily always the officer in charge of the aircraft.

[@listerofsmegv987pevinaek5]

Merlins powered not just the Lancaster but the spitfire, hurricane, mosquito. The BBC did a program on the radio of a genuine Lancaster raid on Germany. They set up the crew (actor's) as if they were in the aircraft. They were isolated like the crew would of been to give them a better feeling. They weren't allowed go to the toilet, could only drink, what a aircrew could drink, and had to stay were they were from take off till the raid was done and they had landed back in UK.

[@chrism7969]

When they dropped the large bombs they aircraft did tend to ascend. When they dropped the Grand Slam they were 22,000 LBs lighter. The large bombs did have a bit of a hidden advantage. The casings they had had to be so thick they were effectively armoured.

[@oldman1734]

The American P51 was a failure until the engine was changed from the Allison to the Rolls Royce Merlin.

[@paulthomas-hh2kv]

Have you heard of Douglas Bader with the tin legs 🦵 interesting fellow look up Douglas Bader.. This is Your Life…you even get Adolph Galland as a bonus guest 👍

[@christophercarr3755]

We salute the men that flew these machines and the men that never came home, we'll always remember you 🇬🇧

[@JohnSmith-bx8zb]

It was a death trip, having worked with a chap who served as a radio operator on a Lancaster he told me that it was impossible for a crew member in full flying suit could not get out through the forward escape hatch. It also seems that those who were rotated on to Halifax bombers did not want to come back on to Lancasters. Also the Halifax B 111 V1 had a top speed over 300mph faster than a B17

[@ChrisPopham]

When a large bomb is released from a plane, you want the plane to gain as much altitude as possible to get out of the way of the blast, so it's a good thing the plane ascends when the bomb departs :o)

[@sekara9866]

The International Bomber Command Centre is in walking distance. Worth a visit, or a google if you're not a local to where the dambusters flew from.

[@annemariefleming]

Lancaster...my favourate bomber...alongside the Vulcan.

[@LewisVinyl]

Vulcan howl is an argentines worst nightmare

[@garyproffitt5941]

Good solid Avro Lancaster sturdy Planes with four Merlin or Griffin engines and remember dam busters with the late Barnes Wallies inventing three German Dams WWII and those were the days.

[@87leeb]

What an excellent tour guide,

[@ratowey]

The reason those engines look like spitfire`s are because its the same engine. They were also used on Mustangs, Hurricanes, Mosquito`s and many others.

[@maxmoore9955]

Conner if you ever visit the UK 🇬🇧 Duxford Air Museum is well worth a vist .

[@caltblake6112]

the one in the film i belive is called the city of lincoln still flying

[@WhisperedDreams951]

As far as training was concerned re - tail gunners - two words - Burton tailors - figure it out.

[@roballen5718]

the RAF WW2 plane that interests me most, is the Mosquito. it was built out of wood, which was basically bits of recycled furniture. the parts were stuck together with extremely sticky glue. the big advantage of that, was that if bullets hit it, there would be no dangerous bits of shrapnel.

[@dp-sr1fd]

It wasn't made out of recycled furniture. It utilized furniture making machinery and techniques, and was made out of a very advanced type of plywood.

[@roballen5718]

@@dp-sr1fd oh, right. even more interesting. thanks

[@finncarlbomholtsrensen1188]

Some years ago I think the single flying Lancaster still, should have visited the resistance drop sites in Denmark from the war. Sadly it never happened as I think weather or technical problems made it impossible. But for many years I was a guest during the yearly meeting on the 5th of May, also with representatives from the allied Embassies, on the liberation day of Denmark, where we meet by the Commonwealth War graves, of which one is close to my former home, to remember all those who died! I have seen family, children and grandchildren from those buried there, coming over for this evening, and hopefully appreciating that many Danish people still respect and are gathered during this evening!

[@neil2742]

The grand slam bomb was the largest non nuclear bomb dropped last century. It was 10 tons. When carried in the air the wings were noticeably bent due to the weight. When it was released the aircraft jumped. The comments were that the bomber didn't need to tell anyone that bomb release had happened

[@mothmagic1]

Aircraft length 69' 7". Bombay length 35'. No other bomber of the period could carry the tallboy and grandslam. Yes Connor the tallboy was 12000 lbs, grandslam was 22000 or best part of 10 tons. Yes the aircraft did rise very quickly when relieved of the weight.

[@hadesdogs4366]

The grand slam was the Moab of ww2 clocking In at a whopping 22,000 pounds, being equipped with a reenforced nose cone, the bomb was also known as an earth quake bomb due to its highly penetratrive nature being able to bury itself about a meter under the ground before detonating 22,000 pounds of high explosives , leading to a localized earthquake, which was ideal in destroying large and fragile areas where one Lancaster armed with a grand slam, would be enough to level an entire town, or an entire German industrial zone, where the initial explosion would cause massive amounts of damage, whilst the air pressure from the blast would push over any remaining structures, all the while a small localized earthquake would be enough to damage any underground bunkers causing them to collapse or loose their structural tegrity, all the whole buildings already damaged by the shockwave and the explosion would also have to deal with a small earthquake

[@JohnEdwards-r2l]

Please check your figures, both Tallboy and Grand Slam where meant to and did bury themselves many feet, several metres below the surface and in fact scoop out the foundations of a target.

[@aussie6910]

Explosive content was 13,000lbs & it would penetrate up to 100ft of earth. Check out the photo's of the Saumur tunnel. They were never a blast bomb like the MOAB.

[@mothmagic1]

I wonder if Roy Chadwick and his team ever thought that the grandson of the Lancaster (Avro Shackleton) would serve until 1990?

[@lynette.]

Deadly but beautiful In flight.

[@davidtownsend3592]

My grandfather was one of the bomb aimers that laid flat on their stomachs.

[@FlightProgramAborted]

Yeah as LAGood said same engines, it also carries twice the bomb load of a B17

[@christineharding4190]

The Lancaster was also used to drop food and supplies to the Dutch people at end of WW2, who were starving due to German policy at the time.

[@paulhadfield7909]

my uncle was a navigator in a bomber in ww2, affected him badly,

[@harryjohnson9215]

The bomb bay doors were removed for the TALLBOY the bomb bay it self was removed for the GRAND SLAM

[@patlittle4642]

Canadian Lanc's had 2 50 cals on top! later 2 50's in rear turret.

[@Armyz]

Hi Connor, You should watch a video on the Grand Slam bomb. The biggest bomb in ww2 that was none nuclear.

[@annemariefleming]

You say it looks like four Spitfires...the Merlin engines in the Lanc were also used in Spits

[@errolmills2192]

From what I have read the bomber shot up considerably after release of heavy bomb loads

[@brucewilliams4152]

The best heavy bomber of the war bar none

[@DavidGloyne-vf9sv]

My English school Master was bomber crew and offend told us about the war.

[@hadesdogs4366]

So by a side by side comparison, the Lancaster was superior to the B17 in terms of payload being able to carry about three times more than the b17, the Lancaster was also highly modular but outside of payload and bomb accuracy as well as versatility, the Lancaster was worse than the B17 in terms of climbing height, armaments as well as numbers produced, other than that the Lancaster was primarily used for nighttime bombings as well as reconnaissance vs the b17 which was primarily used as a day time heavy bomber

[@beetrooot1137]

JUST LOOK AT IT

[@breakbeatkid]

funny you should say it looks like the front of a spitfire 👍 it pretty much is that.

[@dinger40]

Spookily enough the Merlin powered the Spitfire as well so it would look similar. The Noden M9 bomb sight and the bomb release mechanism for the Grand Slam were used on the B29's Enola Gay and Bockscar to drop the Atomic bombs on Japan.

[@B-A-L]

Nothing spooky about it. It was just the perfect engine to use.

[@rayg4360]

Read that the navigator could fly the plane,but not land it. And that it did rise when the bombs were dropped

[@hadesdogs4366]

It was actually the Lancaster bomber that was initially supposed to drop the two atomic bombs, but because the Americans wanted an all American bomber dropping American bombs, they basically gave the British a hard pass and spent several years or so rather than the two days it would’ve taken to rig up a release system for the Lancaster and a day or two to drop the bombs.

[@R_McGeddon117]

Britain was going to drop the first atomic bombs over Japan using Lancaster bombers flying from Burma as at that stage of the war the Lancaster was the only bomber capable of carrying such a heavy load That changed when the US finally got a suitable aircraft at the last minute The Lancasters were known as the 'Black Lancasters' and info on them is still classed as top secret today although there are many youtube and Google articles about them

[@Thegrinch2169]

you should watch the dame busters the film so good

[@johnp8131]

Sounds like a dodgy film from the 70's?

[@B-A-L]

​@@johnp8131 More like a 1940s film noire about a gang of American female gangsters!

[@beetrooot1137]

What a beast

[@domgarwell5581]

Despite the fact we were massively outnumbered in terms of air power... The Luftwafe had no chance against the British royal air force

[@brucewilliams4152]

You can taxi ride In a Lancaster, just jane. East Kirkby.

[@michael_177]

Should have one of these in war thunder, soon.

[@tfrowlett8752]

Those Tallboy bombs were responsible for sinking the Tirpitz, the sister ship of the Bismarck in 1944.

[@ZacharyMcNeely-c9g]

As someone who works on a lancaster I am pretty bias

[@stewthorne]

if you can watch film "DAM BUSTERS " you will learn a lot

[@Living_the_Scottish_Dream]

The Lancaster was the aircraft they were going to use to nuke Japan if the yanks didn't get the B29 adapted in time.

[@brucewilliams4152]

However the Lancaster was highly manneuvarable and airobatic.

[@himoffthequakeroatbox4320]

OMGaaaaaawd, it's hardly got any guns! And they're so snmaaaaaall!

[@lorddaver5729]

The commentator seems determined to point out the weak points of the Lanc. For example, the fact that the skin of the plane could be easily penetrated by German machine gun bullets and cannon rounds. But so would the skins of the American B17s and B25s be easily penetrated. Who's side is he on?

[@PedroConejo1939]

Silly comment. He's pointing out just how dangerous it was for the crews. They didn't need reminding but evidently, you do. Who's side is he on, my arse.

[@daveyr7454]

Who’s side is he on? What a strange thing to say. He’s only stating the facts. The video is about Lancaster bombers, not the American bombers. No doubt had the video been about those then he would have made a similar statement. Come on!

[@iankelly5387]

Personally I think it's quite sad you would do a video on aircraft whose sole purpose was to kill other human beings😢

[@christinepreston8642]

I think you must have missed the part when they took out the dam to stop the production of arms being used against us!

[@iankelly5387]

@@christinepreston8642 - Haha. The point is all forms of war is abhorrent, whatever side you're on!

[@B-A-L]

Have you watched any videos about civilian planes because a lot of them are really boring?

[@aussie6910]

It's sole purpose was to stop other people from killing us. It's sad you don't see that.

[@stirlingmoss4621]

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