Avro Lancaster Mk X
Bomber Plane

The Avro Lancaster Mk X was the Canadian built version of the British built Avro Lancaster B III, a later variant of the RAF Bomber Command's original Avro Lancaster B1, the main difference between the UK and Canadian aircraft was the use of Canadian and American instrumentation and electrical components. A total of 430 Avro Lancaster Mk X's were built by Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario in the last three years of WW2, they were flown to Britain unarmed across the Atlantic where they were armed before becoming operational. It is note that the Royal Canadian Air-Force (RCAF) continued to operate the Avro Lancaster in a variety of roles until mid 1963.

The picture above depicts the Avro Lancaster B X FM213 belonging to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum and is dedicated to the memory of Pilot Officer Andrew Charles Mynarski VC, it is one of only two Avro Lancasters maintained in an airworthy condition, the other being the Lancaster B1 of the RAF's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF).

It is of note that during WW2 Avro Lancasters dropped 608,612 tons of high explosives and in excess of 51 million incendiary bombs with an average combat life expectancy of approximately 21 sorties per aircraft (about 160 mission flight hours).

Avro Lancaster Mk X Specifications:

• Crew: Pilot, navigator, flight engineer, wireless operator, bomb aimer/nose turret gunner, mid-upper
• gunner and rear gunner
• Length: 69 ft 5 in (21.18 m)
• Wingspan: 102 ft (31.09 m)
• Height: 19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)
• Wing area: 1,300 ft² (120 m²)
• Empty weight: 35,240 lb (15,985 kg)
• Loaded weight: 65,000 lb (29,484 kg)
• Engines: Four 1,620-hp Packard built Rolls-Royce Merlin 224 V12 liquid cooled engines
• Maximum speed: 272 mph (438 km/h)
• Range: 1,660 mi(2,671 km) with full bomb load
• Service ceiling 24,700 ft (7,530 m)

Armament:

• Guns: Eight 0.303 in (7.70 mm) Browning machine guns in triple turrets
• Bombs: Maximum of 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) (typical 14,000 lb)