The British entered WWII without a really effective, long range bomber. What seemed to be adequate a few years before, was quickly shown to be wholly inadequate to the task. British bombers were not able to operate during the daytime without high losses from enemy fighters and FlaK, and even when they did, their accuracy was miserable. This brought a switch to night bombing, which pretty well cancelled out any hopes for accuracy as often raids bombed miles from the intended target.

One 'solution' was what is known as area bombing. Instead of concentrating on specific targets, the idea was to bomb the towns. This would kill workers and make it easier for the RAF to hit targets. These 'terror attacks' were the mainstay of RAF Bomber Command operations for the rest of the war. Post war analysis found them to be only moderately successful and certainly did not cause the German government to sue for peace, as the RAF had hoped.

Anyway, the RAF needed a long range bomber that was effective and reliable. The two engine Avro Manchester provided some hope, but burdened with unreliable Vulture X-shaped engines, it was quickly realized this was not the answer. Thanks to politicking from Avro, a four Merlin engine version of the Manchester was developed which soon became the Lancaster. To say it was an immediate hit would be about right. It was able to carry prodigious loads and goodly distance and was fairly well armed.

So successful was the basic design that it was carried over to the Griffon powered Lincoln and finally to the Shackleton maritime patrol and AEW aircraft which did not retire from service until the early 1990s.

Despite being a fairly small book, this one is a super read. It provides the full story of the Lancaster from the situation prior to its development, the construction of the Manchester and a brief look at most of the aircraft's raids. By brief, I mean that the raid descriptions are brief as there were many of them. The use of the aircraft by 617 squadron in their famous dam busting raids and the carrying of the superbombs, the Tallboy and Grand Slam are also covered. When you add in some great photos, well done art work and color profiles, you have a book that is well worth picking up.

April 2017

Copyright ModelingMadness.com. All rights reserved.

Thanks to Osprey Publishing for the review book. For more on the complete line of Osprey books, visit www.ospreypublishing.com .

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