The Lancaster Story

The epic story of the RAF’s legendary heavy bomber: the Avro Lancaster

The Lancaster Story takes readers on a remarkable journey through the history of an aviation icon. This is an informative and engaging account of the true workhorse of the RAF’s bomber corps and the emotional human stories of quiet courage, sacrifice, and hard work of the men and women who flew, designed, constructed and maintained it.

Between its introduction in 1942 and the end of the Second World War, the Avro Lancaster flew more than 150,000 sorties, dropped more than 600,000 tons of explosives and took the Allied fight to Nazi Germany. The ‘Lanc’ featured on some of the most daring and celebrated missions of the war, including the heroic Dambusters raid and the Operation Hydra bombing. These and many other successes came at a significant cost, however: almost half of the 7,377 Lancasters deployed into service were lost in action.

Using archival documents, letters and first-hand accounts, The Lancaster Story delivers a dramatic and vividly rendered account of the most successful RAF bomber of the Second World War. Combining individual stories into a gripping, panoramic narrative, it paints a complete portrait of the battle over Europe, and the Lancaster’s unique and decisive role in it.