Avro Lancaster Mk.I - British Users part five

The Avro Lancaster has its origins in the Avro Manchester that was developed in the late 1930s in response to the Air Ministry's specification P.13/36 for an able long-range medium bomber. It was a development of the Manchester which proved to be not reliable and troublesome. It was designed by Roy Chadwick and saw service with the RAF Bomber Command in 1942 and, during the strategic bombing campaign in Europe, it was the main allied night bomber. It became the main bomber for the RAF, RCAF and some other commonwealth squadrons serving in Europe.
The squadrons covered today are:

• No.9 Squadron: This squadron received the Lancaster in September 1942 and they have been taking part in anti-shipping operations in the North Sea. They specialized on dropping big bombs , among them the famous Tallboy weighing 12.000lb (5440kg) and took part in the raid that sunk the German Battleship Tirpitz, in Norway. They took part also in every main bight-bombing run against Germany and led the main force in the last great raid of the war against Berchtesgaden on 25th April 1945. Just after the war their Lancasters were replaced by the Avro Lincoln.
• No.61 Squadron: This squadron converted to the Lancaster from the Manchester in spring 1942. They had the honous of being the first squadron to host among their files four Lancasters with more than 100 raids. They were loaned briefly to RAF Coastal Command for anti-submarine operations in the Bay of Biscay. Their last operational mission was on 25/26th April 1945 when they bombed a refinery in the Norwegian town of Vallo, in Tonsberg. Just before the end of the war in Europe, on 6th May 1945 they took part on an operation to ferry 336 POWs from mainland Europe. They were re-equipped with Avro Lincolns in May 1946.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Lancaster

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._9_Squadron_RAF

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._61_Squadron_RAF