The Squadron continued the heavy bombing role until the end of the war.ġ00 Squadron dropped a total of 18,108 tons of bombs in 3,984 individual sorties. The first operational sortie took place on March the 4th 1943, with a mine laying (gardening) operation to St. In December 1942 100 Squadron RAF reformed at RAF Waltham (Grimsby) equipped with Lancaster MkIIIs. Thus 100 Squadron were wiped out except for the flight equipped with the Beauforts which was in Australia, and which went on to form the nucleus of No.100 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force. Badly outmatched, five Wildebeest failed to return, the survivors all being from 36 Sqd. Later on that day in a last ditch effort, nine Wildebeest, from 100 and 36 Squadrons, took off to face the enemy, they encountered a number of Japanese Zero aircraft. 100 Squadron suffered terribly, losing six of its planes. When the Japanese advanced on Singapore ten 100 Squadron Wildebeests took off to attack enemy shipping at Endau. However these proved to be in need of significant modification and the flight returned with them to Australia. In December 1941 the Squadron received a number of Beaufort aircraft allocated to a new flight. On 8th December 1933 the Squadron embarked for Singapore, where they were stationed at the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1933 the Squadron received the new Vickers Vildebeest specifically designed for carrying torpedos, and was officially redesignated 100 (Torpedo) Bomber Squadron. Although designated as a bomber Squadron, from 1930 it began joint exercises with the Royal Navy equipped with torpedoes. The Squadron returned to England in 1922. It was the first night bomber squadron and served on the Western Front as part of the Independent Air Force, undertaking long-range missions behind enemy lines.Īt the end of hostilities it moved to Abbeville in northern France where it remained for 10 months before being posted to Dublin during the Irish War of Independence. The actual bombing runs caused far more death and destruction below than they experienced at altitude.100 Squadron was first formed in February 1917. Crews that fulfilled 30 missions received a full military commission. Half of all Lancaster crews were shot down. Enemy fighters cut swathes through the air, flak brought down aircraft or sent hot glowing shrapnel arcing through the skin of the plane and killing or maiming anyone inside, or setting off fires in the munitions or fuel storage. The crews flew for three or four hour before reaching their respective targets when all hell broke loose. At 30,000 feet the crew had to have heated suits to avoid hypothermia. Missions started general after dark and the crew huddle into their positions as it climbed up into the atmosphere. There was gunner who manned the upper turret in mid fuselage, there was a gunner who manned the rear machine guns and two people operated the bomb bay doors. The pilot sat on the left in a raised seat and the engineer had a collapsible seat and workstation. Over the bomb bay the pilot and flight engineer sat side by side. Or he could sit up and look through the bubble canopy and help the navigator negotiate the way to and out of targets. He often laid prone below that gun to use the bomb aiming gear. It could reach 45,000 feet altitude, travel at just under 300 miles per hours and go 1500 miles on one tank of gas.Īt the nose of the plane was a bubble canopy view window and firing station for Browning twin. The Lancaster was piloted and operated by a crew of 7. Lancasters were used to drop food for people trapped and running out of provisions. The Lancasters also used quite a suite of electronic warfare equipment for example acting as pathfinder aircraft marking bomb targets jamming enemy radars: rear looking radars and the Oboe radar location tracking system that kept crews from getting lost. The bombing packages were quite precise and crews used to for exact missions, incendiaries around factories, redoubt reduction, anti heavy industry bomb packages and even port mining. It was the various bomb loads that the crews prepared the Lancaster for that made it unusual in the war. The Lancaster was used for deploying the anti dam bouncing bombs in the Ruhr. It was the foresight of designers that made the Lancaster a great test bed for new anti submarine technology and other battlefield roles. The Lancaster aircraft built by Avro in the UK was the workhorse night bomber during the war to stop the Nazis. Lancasters also carried the 22,000 pound Grand Slam bombs, the largest non nuclear bombs carried in the entire war. They were one of the simplest most successful aircraft designs of world war II It featured a multipurpose and massively large bomb bay that accommodated devastating weaponry from 4000 pound bombs to 12000 pound tallboys meant to bust bunkers.
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