What Weapons Did The Lancaster Bomber Have?

Almost all Lancasters were equipped with three Frazer-Nash (FN) hydraulically operated turrets, each with . 303 calibre machine guns. The FN-5 nose turret had two guns, the FN-50 mid-upper turret had two, and the FN20 tail turret had four. The FN64 mid-under turret saw only limited use in the aircraft’s early months.

How many guns did the Lancaster have?

50-caliber machine guns, the Lancaster only had 10 such guns, in three sets of twin-gun turrets located on the belly (ventral guns), on top (dorsal guns), and in the nose, and a set of four guns in the tail.

Did the Lancaster have a ball turret?

The Rose turret (sometimes known as the Rose-Rice turret) was a gun turret fit to the rear position of some British Avro Lancaster heavy bombers in 1944–45. It was armed with two American light-barrel Browning .

Rose turret
Designed 1943–1944
Manufacturer Rose Brothers
Produced 1944–1945
No. built 400

What was Lancaster bomber famous for?

The Avro Lancaster is one of the most famous heavy bombers of the Second World War. With a wingspan of 102 feet and four Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 engines, the Lancaster could carry the heaviest bomb load in the European Theatre of Operations.

Which ww2 bomber dropped the most bombs?

Developed by the Boeing Company in the 1930s, the B-17 was a four‑engine heavy bomber aircraft used by the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. It was a very effective weapons system, dropping more bombs during the war than any other American aircraft.

Did Lancaster bombers have toilets?

Some of the big aeroplanes, like the Avro Lancaster Bomber, had a chemical toilet, basically a bucket with a lid on it.

What was the life expectancy of a Lancaster bomber crew?

The Lancaster was one of the most dangerous places to be in the entire war – the life expectancy of a new recruit was just two weeks.

What guns did Lancaster have?

Almost all Lancasters were equipped with three Frazer-Nash (FN) hydraulically operated turrets, each with . 303 calibre machine guns. The FN-5 nose turret had two guns, the FN-50 mid-upper turret had two, and the FN20 tail turret had four. The FN64 mid-under turret saw only limited use in the aircraft’s early months.

What was the life expectancy of a Lancaster rear gunner?

five sorties
Estimates for the life expectancy for a WWII Lancaster rear gunner vary but are never high, mostly about just five sorties. His remarkable figure of 60 missions included being shot down twice into the Channel, the first time seeing him and his crew spending about four days in a dinghy.

How many bombs could a Lancaster carry?

14 SBC, each with 236 x 4 lb (1.8 kg) Incendiary and Explosive Incendiary bomblets, total 3,304. 14 x 1,000 lb (450 kg) GP/HE bombs using both impact and long delay (up to 144 hours.

What bombs did Lancasters drop?

Another was the sinking on November 12, 1944, of the German battleship Tirpitz in the remote Kaa fjord of Norway by 31 Lancasters dropping 12,000-pound (5,400-kg) “Tallboy” bombs.

Was the Lancaster bomber better than the B 17?

Lancaster had far better payload, far better range and smaller crew. B-17 had better ceiling, better defensive armament and more rugged construction.

How many Lancaster bombers lost in ww2?

3,736
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engine heavy bomber used by the Royal Air Force and other Commonwealth air forces during World War II. Of the 7,377 aircraft built, 3,736 were lost during the War (3,249 in action and 487 in ground accidents).

What was the toughest bomber in ww2?

The heaviest bomber of World War II was the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, which entered service in 1944 with a fully pressurized crew compartment (previously used only on experimental aircraft) and as many as 12 . 50-inch machine guns mounted in pairs in remotely-controlled turrets.

What is the most feared bomber?

The Boeing B-29 was the biggest American bomber of the Second World War, but perhaps what made it the most deadly was that it was the aircraft that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which in a way makes the aircraft infamous.

What was the most destroyed city in ww2?

Hiroshima lost more than 60,000 of its 90,000 buildings, all destroyed or severely damaged by one bomb. In comparison, Nagasaki – though blasted by a bigger bomb on 9 August 1945 (21,000 tonnes of TNT to Hiroshima’s 15,000) – lost 19,400 of its 52,000 buildings.

What was the fuel consumption of a Lancaster bomber?

All the tanks were self-sealing. 150 gallons of lubricating oil were carried, 37½ gallons to each engine. The oil consumption was one to two gallons per hour per engine, depending on its condition. An engine exceeding a usage of more than two gallons per hour needed changing.

Are there any Lancaster bomber pilots still alive?

Rusty Waughman is 99 now, one of the very few Lancaster bomber pilots still alive and able to tell their wartime tales not so much of derring do, but of survival against sometimes overwhelming odds.

How much does it cost to ride in the Lancaster bomber?

Then, you pay $3,000 (plus tax) for the ride — and your Air Miles won’t work.

What is the oldest bomber still in service?

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) since the 1950s.

What plane shot down the most planes in WW2?

Which plane shot down the most planes in WW2? As others have said, it pretty much has to be the Messerschmitt Bf-109. The Bf-109 was a fine, modern fighter – though it was getting a bit old by the end of the war.