Thursday 2 November 2017

Avro Lancaster Mk.I - British Users part three

We keep going with the native users of, probably, the best British bomber of the World War 2:

  • No.50 Squadron: This squadron transitioned to the Avro Lancaster from the Avro Manchester. The squadron had wide experience in raids against Germany and, since they were reequipped with the Lancaster in summer 1942, they conducted even more raids against Germany until the end of the war. Their last war raid was on the night of 25/26 April 1945 against an oil refinery in Vallo, Norway. Their Lancasters were replaced with Avro Lincolns one year later, in 1946.
  • No.44 (Rhodesia) Squadron: This squadron was the first one to be completely equipped with the Lancaster, as they received the first one, registered BT308, in late 1941 replacing the Handley Page Hampden they had been equipped with. Their first operational raid with the Lancaster Mk.I was on 3rd March 1942 and through the war they conducted many raids against Germany being the third squadron with highest casualties of the RAF Bomber Command. When the war in Europe ended, they were assigned to the Tiger Air Force to join the strategic bombing campaign against Japan and therefore they returned to the United Kingdom in July 1945 and were re-equipped with the Lancaster Mk.I (FE). As the invasion of Japan never took place, there was no need of sending the Tiger Air Force to the Far East, so the Lancasters of this squadron were replaced with Avro Lincolns in 1946.









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._44_Squadron_RAF
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._50_Squadron_RAF
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Lancaster

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