Silhouette WW2 Lancaster Bomber ~ Standing Approx 20cm tall

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As one of the most frequently employed night bombers during World War II, the "Lanc," as it was referred to colloquially, delivered 608,612 long tonnes (618,378,000 lb) of bombs over 156,000 missions. Today, only a handful of these magnificent planes survive, serving as a testament to the skill and dedication of the engineers and airmen who designed, built, and flew them. By removing both gun turrets and armor plating, engineers could also considerably reduce the aircraft's weight. These B-29s significantly outperformed the standard variants in terms of performance. Dambusters Raid" significantly impacted German morale and industrial production and was a major victory for the Allies. As a consequence, the atomic bomb's developers immediately determined that "Little Boy," a tubular "gun-type fission weapon," and "Fat Man," an oval plutonium implosion weapon, would be too big to be dropped from a standard bomber-like the B-17 or the B-24 due to their unusual size and weight.

Little Boy," for reference, was initially planned to be about 17 feet (5 meters) but was eventually shortened to 10 feet (3 meters). These were, to put it lightly, no ordinary bombs, so housing all the complex gubbins for these weapons required large bomb casings. To carry out the mission, the RAF developed a type of bomb, the so-called "bouncing bomb," designed to skip across the water's surface and sink to the dam's base, where they would explode. The B-29 was chosen as the delivery aircraft for the first atomic bombs because it was the most advanced and capable heavy bomber available. It had the range to fly the mission from Tinian Island, the ability to carry the large and heavy bomb, and the altitude to drop the bomb from above the reach of enemy air defenses.

The Army Air Forces Materiel Command at Wright Field, Ohio, received instructions from the United States Army Air Forces on November 30, 1943, for a highly secret B-29 modification project. The Lancaster bombers had to fly low over the dams, avoiding heavy anti-aircraft fire, which significantly impacted the drop of the bombs successfully. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Lancaster was painted with the markings of Guy Gibson's 617 Squadron aircraft (Code AJ-G, ED932) when he oversaw the "Dambusters" raids for the 2018 flying season to honor the 75th anniversary of "Operation Chastise." What aircraft were used to drop the first atomic bombs? Not all these losses were from Lancaster bomber crews, but given Bomber Command's reliance on this aircraft, a significant proportion was.

The raid was a success, with two of the three dams being severely damaged, leading to widespread flooding and destruction of infrastructure and facilities in the Ruhr Valley. On December 2, the first B-29 arrived in Wright Field, Ohio, where the bomb bay received major modifications. Engineers removed the B-29's four bomb bay doors and the fuselage portion between the bays and replaced them with a single 33-foot (10-meter) bomb bay to handle the length of the gun-type weapon.There are hopes to make another Lancaster, "Just Jane," NX611, a B MkVII, airworthy in the future. "Just Jane"is based at the East Kirkby Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre. Bazalgette FM159, located at the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta, is the fourth Lancaster with working engines and the ability to taxi. It was painstakingly repaired after being vandalized and is now a popular tourist attraction. With its distinctive silhouette and powerful performance, the Lancaster became one of the war's most recognizable and iconic aircraft.