To many, the British bomber of WWII was the Avro Lancaster. Along with the Halifax, it was able to carry a useful load a long way and was a major player in Britain's nightly carpet bombing raids. So good was the airframe, that it was developed even more into the larger Lincoln and the later Shackleton, an aircraft that, in AEW form, lasted until the late 1980s. Not a bad run for a WWII aircraft.

Most of you are away of the Squadron/Signal Walk-Around series of books. They are basically publications that look at all of the various details of a subject. Since most of the subjects for these books are long gone from actual unit service, they generally rely on museum, restored and warbirds.

This book uses three UK based Lancasters; the one flown by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight,  another that is complete and does ground runs, and the one in the Imperial War Museum. Of the three, only the IWM plane actually saw combat in WWII. Most Lancasters that are still extant were Canadian built and survived only because the French used them until the early 1960s.

These three survivors have been superbly restored to as close to WWII operational condition as is possible. The majority of the book concentrates on these planes to get all of our detail photos. These images are crisply reproduced and in full color. There are four pages of large color profiles and several more pages of period photos showing a variety of different marks and the different equipment these planes carried.

In all, it makes for an excellent reference for the modeler and a fine picture book for the enthusiast. It all adds up to about as comprehensive a book on the subject that you will find and one that I know you will not only find useful but it is an interesting read as well.

February 2011

My thanks to Squadron Products for the review copy. Get yours today at your favorite shop or on-line retailer.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.