Lancaster: the forging of a very British legend

Penned by former RAF Navigator and Gulf War veteran John Nichol, Lancaster is one of the most enthralling aviation history books I have read. But its succinct title does not do it justice. Its pages narrate not only the history of the legendary bomber but also of those who flew her.

Perhaps surprisingly for a book with ‘Lancaster’ as its title, there is not much technical detail here and only one picture of the aircraft’s interior (the cockpit of East Kirkby’s Just Jane). Yet there is interesting information given on GEE, Oboe, H2S, Monica, and the like, and the description of the differences between the Lancaster B Mark III Special – used for Operation Chastise and other 617 Squadron operations – and the standard Lancaster makes for interesting reading. So too does the description of the German night fighters’ Schräge Musik weaponry.

The book commences with a very emotive foreword based on the memories of a Lancaster rear-gunner. It then proceeds chronologically from the early days of the aircraft, including production and test flying, right up to the war’s end. Along the way, there is coverage of Operations Manna (the dropping of food to the starving masses in Holland) and Exodus (the recovery of prisoners-of-war back to Britain from PoW camps). Concluding chapters delve into the philosophy of Head of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris, and his notorious preference for area-bombing tactics; and of the fates of the men who served under him. Those who survived often struggled to find roles for themselves after the war.