General info for Lancaster B Mk III

• Country Britain
• Vehicle role Heavy Bomber / Long Range Bomber
• Rank 4

• Battle rating in
  • arcade battles 5
  • realistic battles 5.7
  • simulator battles 6

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Wiki info about Lancaster B Mk III

Official War Thunder wiki

With RAF Bomber Command’s focus being centred on the strategic bombing campaign against German industry, the RAF desperately required a force of heavy bombers to increase the capability provided by their medium bomber fleet. A twin engine Avro Manchester bomber was converted to be powered by four engines and first flown in January 1941. This and subsequent prototypes were deemed to be so successful that the first production variant of the new bomber, now named the Lancaster, was flown in October 1941. The immediate success of the Lancaster Mk I (redesignated the BI in 1942) caused it to be pushed ahead in terms of production priorities. In turn, this threatened the supply of Rolls Royce Merlin engines which powered it, so alternative engines needed to be sourced. The BII was powered by Bristol Hercules engines, but this caused a drop in performance and payload. The BIII was powered by Packard Merlin engines, a license built version manufactured in the United States. Internal differences between the BI and BIII were very few; the two models had near identical technical characteristics and armament and externally the BIII had only a larger bomb aimer’s bubble window, but the change in designation was necessary since the different engines had different servicing requirements. The Lancaster was first used operationally in March 1942 by No. 44 Squadron. It soon became the backbone of RAF Bomber Command’s offensive against the heart of Germany, but was also used against targets all across occupied Europe. The majority of Lancaster operations took place at night, due to RAF Bomber Command’s policy of night bombing whilst the bombers of the United States Army Air Force tackled targets by day. For defence, the Lancaster had eight 0.303 inch Colt-Browning Mk.II machine guns located in three turrets: two guns were located in the nose, two in the dorsal turret, and four in the tail turret. The maximum ordinance capacity of the Lancaster was the highest of any heavy bomber in World War II: 14,000 lb (6,356 kg). Besides standard bombs, the aircraft could carry an 8,000 lb (3,632 kg) “blockbuster” or two 4,000 lb (1,816 kg) high-explosive “cookie” bombs. Special modifications of the bomber could carry even larger bombs, such as the 22,000 lb ‘Grand Slam’ bomb. The Lancaster became legendary on the night of May 17th 1943 when bombers of No 617 Squadron breached the Mohne and Eder dams in Germany with Barnes Wallis’ genius ‘bouncing bomb’. Lancasters of Nos 9 and 617 Squadrons also sank the German battleship ‘Tirpitz’ with 12,000 lb ‘Tallboy’ bombs, also designed by Wallis. A total of 3,039 BIII bombers were produced. The bomber was finally decommissioned in Great Britain in 1950, and is a serious contender to the claim of being the most capable bomber of the entire war.