Avro Lancaster B.Mk I Tallboy – 9 Sqn RAF, Getting Younger Everyday, U-Boat Pens Raid, 1945

Corgi Aviation Archive 1/72 scale AA32618: Avro Lancaster B.Mk I LM220 of 9 Sqn RAF, nickname Getting Younger Everyday, U-Boat Pens Raid, January 1945, with Tallboy bomb. Non limited edition.

Length 11.75 inches Wingspan 17 inches

As the war neared its end the Germans were concealing more and more of their important facilities underground in heavily fortified and defended positions with targets such as U-boat pens being protected by thick concrete roofs. As early as 1941 the great engineer Barnes Wallis had begun design on a bomb that would be able to penetrate deep underground and then explode. He called it his Earthquake bomb, this later became the prototype of the Tallboy bomb. Weighing 12,000lbs, the Tallboys were first used against the Saumur railway tunnel in Western France and went on to prove their effectiveness against U-Boat pens, bunkers and the famous German battleship Tirpitz. This particular machine belonged to 9 Squadron RAF, one of only two squadrons that dropped Tallboys. On the night of the 11th January 1945 this machine helped penetrate 3.5M of concrete above the U-Boat pens at Bergen, destroying the intended target.

Designed to meet a specification for a new generation of “worldwide use” medium bombers, the Avro Lancaster was first flown on January 8, 1941. The design of the Lancaster evolved from an unsuccessful two-engine aircraft called the Manchester. The heavier Lancaster had four engines and an extensive bomb bay, with later versions capable of carrying 22,000 lb bombs. Used primarily as a night bomber, the Lancaster was a versatile aircraft that became most famous for its role in the 1943 “Dam Buster” raids on Germany’s Ruhr Valley dams. Between 1942 and 1945, Lancasters flew 156,000 sorties, dropping 608,612 tons of bombs on enemy targets.