Lancaster


myself as a flight engineer to familiarise us with the aircraft’s performance and flying capabilities.


Our first flight was with a screen pilot who sat next to the skipper on my seat while I took up a position behind accompanied by a screen engineer to monitor my performance. After taking-off and climbing to 4000 feet (1220m) we were taken through the aircraft’s paces including turning, banking, etc, at first on four engines then three and then two. The screen pilot enthusiastically sang the Lanc’s praises telling us how it would fly all day on two even when moderately loaded! He then proceeded to show us how well it performed on one engine informing us it would fly at 4000 feet for an hour before the engine overheated. We were most impressed!


Bomber turned glider! What followed next would have undoubtedly ended in disaster in most other aircraft. He decided to unfeather the starboard inner and promptly pressed the wrong button! I looked out to starboard and saw two stationary props and then to port to see two more. All I could hear was the swish of air and instinctively grabbed my parachute watching the Navigator following my example. Meanwhile both Pilots were feverishly pressing buttons and at last the engines starting firing. The whole episode could have lasted no more than 20 seconds, but we had dropped to 900 feet before levelling out. That night we were the talk of the mess as the only crew to approach the circuit in a glide and to ‘shoot up’ the base on no engines! The Skipper reckoned he had our aircraft lined up with a disused airstrip and could have put her down safely. The rest of us had our doubts.


Maximum power


Months later on the night of the 7/8 March 1945 while with 227 Squadron Bomber Command, we were on our way to Harburg, near Hamburg to attack the oil refinery there. Based at Balderton, Notts, 227 was part of a force of five Mosquitos and 200 plus Lancasters to mark and bomb the target respectively. We were flying in PB-645 A-for- ABLE. As we approached across the Baltic, the Pathfinders had already dropped their flares and there was no flak. This was a sure sign that fighters were present waiting for the main force to arrive before mounting their attack. When we commenced our bombing run, there were flashes all around accompanied by shock waves and just after


Lancaster design The genesis of the Lancaster was the unsuccessful Manchester, a twin engine aircraft designed by Avro which first flew in 1939. The combination of a new airframe and new engines proved a failure with the engines being unreliable and not producing the designed power, coupled with a number of defects in the airframe. Although it was used operationally in early 1941, by mid 1942 it had been withdrawn altogether from front line squadrons.


Redesigned as the Lancaster with four engines the prototype had Rolls Royce Merlin Xs,


we released our bombs the rear gunner sighted a fighter and opened fire. The Skipper immediately commenced a copybook corkscrew, but after repeating this manoeuvre three times the fighter was still on our tail and in spite of all our gyrations the rear gunner was still doggedly returning fire.


Under the flak! The Skipper yelled “To hell with this” putting the Lanc into a steep dive with me giving him maximum power (this time on all four engines!). We were travelling at well over 300mph (482 kmh) and as we flattened out over the harbour we were lucky not to be seen by another fighter that cut across our nose! Also, our high speed and low altitude most probably upset the aim of the gunners on two flak ships on each side of us as we sped out of the target area beneath their cross fire! We had many other close shaves including a bird strike through the nose and some near collisions, but the Lanc’s wonderful flying capabilities on all four engines and especially on none will always be the most memorable!


A new life Following demob, I emigrated to South Australia and was employed as a design draughtsman at the Weapons Research Establishment spending some time at the Woomera Rocket Firing Range. In 1969, I was commissioned as an engineer officer in RAAF Reserve and was later appointed as the Commanding Officer of an Air Training Corps Unit. On retiring from the Reserve in 1985, I founded and am still active in the Air Youth of South Australia a cadet organisation dedicated to introducing the younger generation to the world of flying and adventure.


“The genesis of the Lancaster was the unsuccessful Manchester, a twin engine aircraft designed by Avro which first flew in 1939.”


Stirling at Waterbeach


Peter’s Crew


Peter (centre) with son and grandson on ANZAC Day 2010


The IED would like to thank Peter Munson, Doug Taylor and the editor of Flypast, Nigel Price, for their contributions to this article.


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