Second World War aviation art prints of the Lancaster aircraft. Our collection of prints and original paintings of the Lancaster aircraft of World War Two.
The Avro Lancaster arose from the avro Manchester and the first prototype Lancaster was a converted Manchester with four engines. The Lancaster was first flown in January 1941, and started operations in March 1942. By March 1945 The Royal Air Force had 56 squadrons of Lancasters with the first squadron equipped being No.44 Squadron. During World War Two the Avro Lancaster flew 156,000 sorties and dropped 618,378 tonnes of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Lancaster Bomberss took part in the devastating round-the-clock raids on Hamburg during Air Marshall Harris' "Operation Gomorrah" in July 1943. Just 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations, and the Lancaster was scrapped after the war in 1947. A few Lancasters were converted into tankers and the two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster and were used in the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties. A famous Lancaster bombing raid was the 1943 mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley. The operation was carried out by 617 Squadron in modified Mk IIIs carrying special drum shaped bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis. Also famous was a series of Lancaster attacks using Tallboy bombs against the German battleship Tirpitz, which first disabled and later sank the ship. The Lancaster bomber was the basis of the new Avro Lincoln bomber, initially known as the Lancaster IV and Lancaster V. (Becoming Lincoln B1 and B2 respectively.) Their Lancastrian airliner was also based on the Lancaster but was not very successful. Other developments were the Avro York and the successful Shackleton which continued in airborne early warning service up to 1992.
Lancaster AJ-T of No.617 Sqn being towed by tractor to its dispersal slot by a Women's Auxiliary Air Force driver at Scampton, May 1943, in preparation for Operation Chastise. ......
3 print editions available from £75.00 Original available : £375.00
Lancaster BIII OF-J PB410 of 97 sqn. lifts off from Coningsby (Tattershall Castle in the background) in 1944/45 en route for a night mission over Germany. This squadron was the second to equip with Lancasters in Jan1942 after a year with its predeces......
Wing Commander Gibsons aircraft in the foreground and Flt. Lt. Martins in the distance, both draw flak away from Sqn. Ldr. Youngs Lancaster after it has dropped its Bouncing Bomb and makes its escape over the Mohne Dam. Led by Wing Commander Guy ......
The official commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of Bomber Command was marked by a moving service in St.Pauls Cathedral on 24th April 2002, attended by over 1500 surviving WWII bomber crews and personnel. At the end of the service, those present em......
The Lancaster and Mosquito became legends in their own time during the Second World War. Both performed vital roles in support of the allied cause roaming far and wide over occupied Europe. ......
Lancaster PA 474 along with Spitfire Mk 356 and AB 910 dropping one million poppies over Mv Van Gough off the coast of Normandy, celebrating the invasion of the Normandy beaches in June 1944. The event was witnessed by veterans of D-Day on board the ......
A sombre and moving portrayal of outbound Lancasters at sunset over the North Norfolk coast being overtaken by a target-bound Pathfinder Force Mosquito. The Lancaster portrayed is VN-B of No.50 Squadron, RAF Skellingthorpe, flown by Michael Beetham......
Mist and fog swirled eerily over the Eder Lake on the night of 16/17 May 1943 as four specially modified Lancasters of 617 Squadron, under the leadership of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, circled overhead. Their target, the mighty Eder Dam, was barely ......
4 print editions available from £200.00 1 canvas print edition available from £995.00
Winter in Northern Europe brings short days, long nights and, for the most part, appalling weather making navigation difficult and flying hazardous, even by todays electronically sophisticated standards. Throughout RAF Bomber Commands arduous six ye......
The Lancaster B MkIII of Flt Lt J V Hopgood was the second aircraft to make an attempt at breaching the Möhne Dam on the night of 16/17th of May 1943. Already damaged by flak en route to their target, the embattled Lancaster ED925(G) (AJ-M) encou......
3 print editions available from £65.00 2 canvas print editions available from £460.00 Original Sold.
After another long, hard nights mission over Germany, Flt. Lt. Rusty Waughman of 101 Special Duties Squadron, once again brings his aircraft and trusting crew back across the English Channel, heading for their home base of Ludford Magna, Lincolnshir......
This print depicts a Lancaster Mk.III powered by four Merlin engines. Assigned to 44 (Rhodesia) squadron on 5th February 1944 to Dunholme Lodge, KM (Yorker) ND 578 was flown by P.O. John Chatterton on its first fifteen operations after which he recei......
En route to the Ruhr Dams on the night of 16/17 May 1943, P/O W C Townsend, demonstrating great skill, flew his aircraft, ED886(G) 'O'- Orange below tree-top height through a forest firetrap on his way to the Ennepe Dam, a feat carried out b......
4 print editions available from £65.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original available : £1275.00
The fourth attack on the Mohne Dam led by Sqd Ldr H M Young, piloting AJ-A (ED877/G) In the background to his starboard side is Flt Lt H B Martin, flying AJ-P (ED909/G) who was drawing fire away from the attacking aircraft by flashing his identificat......
3 print editions available from £90.00 2 canvas print editions available from £310.00 Original Sold. 1 ex-display print available from £78.00
Flying impossibly low en route to the Sorpe Dam on the night of 16th/17th May 1943 as part of Operation Chastise, Flight Sergeant Ken Brown's Lancaster ED918(G) encountered a number of German trains. On three occasions, AJ-F's nose and tai......
5 print editions available from £40.00 2 canvas print editions available from £460.00 Original Sold.
A 101 Squadron Lancaster returns home after yet another highly dangerous but vitally important mission over occupied Europe. The Squadron was involved in Special Duties ops usually carrying an extra, German speaking operator to transmit messages des......
Lancasters of 61 Squadron head out for the enemy coast during the night of 3rd November 1943. Seen in the lead Lancaster is Flt Lt Bill Reid flying QR-O. After sustaining two heavy attacks by enemy night fighters, killing two crew members and inju......
2 print editions available from £125.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Original available : £2200.00 1 ex-display print available from £240.00
Lancaster of No.617 Sqn on the Tallboy Raid - the final and successful mission by Allied aircraft to sink the German battleship Tirpitz in Faettenfjord. The Lancasters are escorted here by Spitfires.......
The dawn of a new day illuminates a Lancaster of 57 Squadron returning to East Kirkby from night ops over occupied Europe, escorted by a Swannington based Mosquito night-fighter of 85 Squadron ......
Lancasters of 617 Sqn <i>Dambusters</i> get airborne from their Scampton base at the start of their journey to the Ruhr Valley on the night of 16th May 1943 under the codename <i>Operation Chastise</i>. These are aircraft of the First Wave, led by ......
5 print editions available from £65.00 2 canvas print editions available from £460.00 Original available : £3300.00 1 ex-display print available from £40.00
an all time classic image of the Lancaster bomber of Bomber ommand being prepared by the RAF ground crew. The ground crew showed their expertise and commitment in keeping these superb bombers ready and in top condition in all weather. In this atmos......
An all time classic image of the Lancaster bomber of Bomber command at altitude crossing the coast on its way to another bombing mission in Europe. In this atmospheric classic image, Gerald Coulson has shown this stalwart of the Royal Air Forces Bom......
3 print editions available from £18.00 1 ex-display print available from £35.00
Lancaster of 617 Sqn carrying its cargo of the Barnes-Wallace bouncing bomb on its way to its target of Germanys western dams. The Dambusters raid was to become one of the most celebrated missions ever carried out. ......
Avro Lancaster W4118 (ZN-Y) piloted by Wing Commander G.P. Gibson CO of 106 squadron en-route to attack Schneider Armament works at Le Creusot in 1942. ......
A tribute to Flt Lt Mike Chatterton, pilot of Lancaster PA474 with the Battle of Britain flight 1988-1977, as he flies over the Derwent Dam in Derbyshire, recreating the training flights of the famous 617 Dambuster squadron in 1943 prior to their epi......
The mighty Lancaster, the mainstay of RAF Bomber Command, crewed by volunteers from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Rhodesia, South Africa, and many other nations opposed to Nazi rule, flew day and night sorties whenever there was a chance ......
R5689 (VN-N) - a Lancaster B.1 of 50 Squadron based at Swinderby. This aircraft crash-landed in Lincolnshire while returning from a mission on 19th September 1942, after both port engines failed as the aircraft was preparing to land. The aircraft n......
8 print editions available from £65.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Original Sold.
A superb study of a pair of Lancaster heavy bombers as they set out on a mission over occupied Europe, painted against a powerful cloudscape. Both Bill Reid and Norman Jackson won Britains supreme award, the Victoria Cross, flying in Lancasters.......
When Roy Chadwick first drew the Avro 679 Manchester bomber for the RAF, he could little have known that from this rather lacklustre machine would evolve the classic 683 Lancaster. This painting is not a record of any single event in the Lancasters i......
Depicting the morning after a gruelling operation during the autumn of 1944. As day breaks a returning crew awaits the crew bus at their aircraft dispersal, grouped before their mighty bomber which shows fresh scars of battle from an arduous mission ......
Anxious to retaliate against German bombing raids on Great Britain, the RAF devised a strategic bombing strategy of its own. Sir Arthur Harris, Chief of the RAFs Bomber Command, stated: The Nazis entered this war with the rather childish delusion th......
This was the moment when the massive Möhne dam was finally breached on the night of 16th-17th May 1943 during the top secret Operation Chastise. The specially-converted Lancaster B MkIII of Fl/Lt David Maltby ED906(G) AJ-J roars between the towers o......
4 print editions available from £40.00 2 canvas print editions available from £300.00 Original Sold.
The air war fought throughout World War II in the night skies above Europe raged six long years. RAF Hurricanes sent up to intercept the Luftwaffes nightly blitz on British cities had no more equipment than the fighters that fought the Battle of Bri......
The most famous raid of the second world war, the audacious Dambusters raid by Lancasters of No.617 Sqn was to wreak havoc in Germanys industrial heartland. Two dams will be destroyed on the raid - the Mohne and the Eder, flooding the valleys below......
4 print editions available from £50.00 1 canvas print edition available from £370.00 Original Sold.
Avro Lancaster AJ-P of Flt. Lt. Martin 617 Squadron releases the bomb that successfully breaches the Mohne dam. In the foreground the electrical substation is burning from a previous attack by Flt.Lt. Hopgood. ......
3 print editions available from £70.00 1 canvas print edition available from £370.00 Original available : £1900.00
Bill Townsends Lancaster O for Orange, returns safely on the morning of 17th May 1943 after the success of the daring raids on the dams of the Ruhr Valley. ......
4 print editions available from £30.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original Sold.
With the familiar Lincolnshire countryside beckoning, a Lancaster of the famous 617 Dambusters Squadron, makes its final approach after a raid on Germany, late summer 1944. Gerald Coulsons painting Summer Harvest winds the clock back sixty years, re......
The Dams raids on the night of 16/17 May 1943 were notable not least for the incredible ingenuity shown by the Lancaster crews in their efforts to avoid detection by the enemy en route to their targets. P/O W C Townsend elected to fly his aircraft, E......
3 print editions available from £55.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original Sold.
The image shows Lancaster AJ-A attacking the Mohne dam, successfully causing a small breach. Alongside is the portrait of AJ-A pilot Sqn Ldr H M Young. This aircraft was shot down over the Dutch coast on the return journey, with the loss of all cr......
2 print editions available from £70.00 Original available : £410.00
On the night of 7th-8th June 1944, a Lancaster of No.207 Sqn piloted by Wing Commander John Grey was part of a force of 112 bombers and 10 Mosquitoes sent to attack a tank storage park near Cerisy-la-Foret. With the D-Day landings just 48 hours old,......
6 print editions available from £35.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original Sold.
Despite crippling damage to their Lancaster ED925 (G), the crew of AJ-M continued to press home their attack on the Mohne Dam on the night of 16th/17th May 1943. With both port engines ablaze, Flt Lt J V Hopgood forced his blazing aircraft on, relea......
2 print editions available from £30.00 1 canvas print edition available from £200.00 Original Sold.
During the night of May 16/17, 1943, 19 Lancasters of the newly formed 617 Squadron carried out daring raids against four dams in the Ruhr. The Primary target was the Mohne dam. Here we see Flt Lt Maltby and crew in AJ-J flying clear of the Mohne be......
The Avro Lancaster was possibly the most versatile and successful bomber aircraft ever and certainly became the backbone of RAF Bomber Command during WWII. Being able to deliver a greater payload than any other aircraft of The War, the Lancaster was ......
2 print editions available from £160.00 All 1 canvas print edition sold out.
The magnificent Avro Lancasters bathed in early morning light as they return home from a successful raid during the summer of 1944. The Lancaster was undoubtedly Bomber Commands finest and most important aircraft of WW2. Loved by its crews for its......
2 print editions available from £70.00 All 1 canvas print edition sold out.
Amid a hail of defensive fire, Flt Lt D J H Maltby holds Lancaster ED906/G AJ-J steady for his bomb aimer John Fort to perfectly choose his moment to release the Upkeep Bomb that would ultimately breach and destroy the Mohne Dam during the famous Da......
4 print editions available from £30.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original Sold.
The afternoon of 3rd August 1944 saw Lancasters of 15 Sqn assigned to an attack on German V-1 Rocket stores at Bois de Cassan. While over the target the squadron encountered heavy flak. During the return journey, Lancaster LS-P fell behind the r......
4 print editions available from £80.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original Sold.
On 12th November 1944, the mighty Tirpitz was finally destroyed by a combined force of Lancasters from No 9 and No 617 Squadrons. LM220, an aircraft of 9 Sqn is shown here making its run toward the target at approximately 09.40 hours on that fatefu......
3 print editions available from £60.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original available : £550.00
Immediately following their devastating attack on the Mohne Dam, the specially modified Lancasters of 617 Squadron successfully breach the second of Germanys mighty western dams - the Eder, on the night of 16th / 17th May 1943. After hitting the ta......
Guy Gibsons Lancaster having unsuccessfully dropped its bomb, draws enemy fire from the aircraft of Sqn Ldr Young as his bomb explodes spectacularly on the Mohne Dam during the audacious Dams Raids of 16th/17th May 1943. ......
3 print editions available from £90.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Postcard edition available : £2.00 1 ex-display print available from £70.00
Lancaster CF-X (LM384) of 625 Squadron. On the Leipzig raid on the evening of 19th/20th February 1944 approx 47 Lancasters were shot down or failed to return, that is over 300 airmen. Lancaster CF-X (LM384) was taking part in the bombing raids that......
3 print editions available from £30.00 1 canvas print edition available from £370.00 Original Sold.
Flying low across the North Sea en route to the Sorpe Dam on the night of 16th/17th May 1943 as part of Operation Chastise, Flying Officer Geoff Rice's Lancaster ED936(G) clipped a large wave, ripping the Upkeep bomb from its mountings and pitchi......
3 print editions available from £60.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original Sold.
Piloted by RAAF skipper T.N.Scholefield, No. 467 Squadrons Lancaster S For Sugar, one of RAF Bomber Commands most famous Lancs, heads out on her 100th mission on May 11, 1944. Embellished with a bomb symbol painted on the fuselage signifying each ra......
The 617 Sqn Lancaster of Guy Gibson (<i>G for George</i>) thunders over the Mohne Dam on the first attack run of the Dambusters raid, 16th - 17th May 1943. After several attacks on the dam, it was finally breached by the innovative <i>bouncing bomb......
As RAF Bomber Command took the war to the enemy under Air Chief Marshall Arthur Harris, the four-engined Avro Lancaster reined supreme, replacing the rugged, reliable Wellington in laying waste to German cities by night. This most successful of all ......
When No 49 Squadron Lancasters bombed the S.S. barracks at Berchtesgaden on 25th April 1945, its aircrews completed a campaign that had begun 5 and a half years earlier in September, 1939. From the very beginning, 49 Squadron were in the thick of th......
The Lancaster is one of the most famous aircraft of all time. During the Second World War some 7,377 examples of this aircraft were built and saw service with British and Commonwealth bomber squadrons in the dangerous skies over Germany and Occupied......
The crews of Bomber Command faced one of the most daunting tasks, calling for courage sustained night after night, in conditions of desperate danger and discomfort. They did not fail us and 55,573 paid the supreme sacrifice. In his new tribute to Th......
On April 25th 1945, the RAF despatched over 300 Lancasters to attack The Eagles Nest, Hitlers private mountain top castle at Berchstegaden. It was a symbolic raid, for the war was almost over, but it seemed appropriate that, after almost six years o......
Having arrived at the Eder dam, following the successful breaching of the Mohne on the night of 16th/17th May 1943, Wing Commander Guy Gibson put Flight Lieutenant D J Shannon, flying ED929G, to the task of making the first attack, but he had great d......
3 print editions available from £60.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original Sold.
With the sun setting behind them, fully loaded Lancaster bombers from 57 Sqn, East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, make their way out over the English Channel on route to target. Each crew member knew the dangers ahead but bravely gave of their best at all tim......
1 print edition available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £75.00
The image shows Lancaster AJ-N pulling away after its successful breach of the Eder dam. Alongside is the portrait of AJ-N pilot Plt Off L J Knight. This aircraft was the third aircraft to make the tricky attack on the Eder dam. Despite the appro......
2 print editions available from £80.00 Original available : £410.00
On the evening of 17th August 1943, a total of 596 aircraft of RAF Bomber Command, spearheaded by the Pathfinder Force, set out on what called for, and what became, the most precise bombing raid of the war. Success was vital. The target was a secl......
A Lancaster of No. 61 Squadron, RAF, piloted by Flt. Lt. Bill Reid, under attack from a German Fw190 en route to Dusseldorf on the night of November 3rd, 1943. Already injured in a previous attack, Bill Reid was again wounded but pressed on for anot......
To celebrate 50 years gone - and still going strong, Lancaster PA474 City of Lincoln depicted as she is in 1995, and as she appeared in 1946 and 1962. Published in 1995 by the Lincolnshire Lancaster Association. We have managed to get probably the......
At 0154am, Pilot officer Les Knight in Avro Lancaster AJ-N transmitted the codeword Dinghy, the signal that the Eder Dam had been successfully breached. Although the target was undefended by flak, its location made it extremely difficult to hit. In ......
2 print editions available from £100.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Postcard edition available : £2.00
At sunrise on 12 November, 1944, led by Wing Commander James Tait, Lancasters of 617 Squadron RAF prepare to make their bombing run on the German battleship Tirpitz, lying in the Norwegian fjord at Tromso.......
The crews of 617 Squadron that took part in the epic Dambusters raid on the night of 16/17 May 1943 were among the finest in the RAF. They were the elite of Bomber Command, and when they left RAF Scampton that night, the skills of their pilots – som......
The evening mist begins to settle on the bleak airfield at Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire, as Lancaster aircraft of 101 Squadron taxi out for another dangerous nighttime sortie. The nature of their assignments during the war was a closely guarded secret......
During WW II ofjuly 1944, the RAF Bomber Command were planning yet another bombing raid, this time over Stuttgart in Germany. The no.514 Sq., based in Cambridgeshire, England, were one of the Lancaster Bomber Squadrons chosen for the mission. Flight ......
Dinghy Young, flying Lancaster AJ-A, heading through flak and machine gun fire towards the Mohne Dam at precisely 60ft, has just released his cylindrical, hydrostatically-triggered bouncing bomb – clearly visible against the huge splash created as i......
Lancaster LM360, piloted by Bill Reid, is raked by fire from stem to stern by a Luftwaffe Fw190 fighter. Bill Reid had already sustained injuries to his head, torso and hands from a previous attack by an Me110, but, with this rest of his crew unsca......
Lancaster V-RA, with its young Canadian crew, flew just a handful of operations. On the night of June 12, 1944, it was set afire by a JU88, forcing the crew to bale out. Seeing the rear gunner trapped Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski vainly braved the ......
Aircraft History: ND845 was one of 600 Mk III Lancasters delivered to the RAF from December 1943 to May 1944 by A V Roe (Chadderton) Delivered to No.7 Squadron, it was lost on the night of 19th/20th May 1944, whilst acting as Master Bomber on a rai......
Mohne Dam, Ruhr Valley, 16th-17th May 1943. On the fifth and final attempt to breach the Mohne dam, Flt. Lt Maltby was flanked by the aircraft of Gibson and Martin who attempted to suppress the German flak defences. ......
2 print editions available from £75.00 Original available : £410.00
On the night of 16th / 17th May 1943, Lancasters of 617 Squadron under the command of Wing Commander Guy Gibson attacked the hydroelectric dams of the Ruhr. Five of the aircraft that successfully attacked and breached the Mohne flew onto the Eder, o......
Spitfires from 144 Wing RCAF 2nd TAF led by W/c Johnnie Johnson. Supplying air cover to a mixed force of 942 bombers over Normandy on Operation Goodwood, 18th July 1944. SR-Z of 101 (Special) squadron. Lancasters piloted by Flt Lt George Harris DFC.......
1 print edition available from £125.00 Original available : £3000.00
Wing Commander Guy Gibson and crew have just released their Upkeep mine against their primary target The Mohne dam. Wg. Cdr. Gibson went on to receive the Victoria Cross after leading 19 Lancasters on this historic mission to the Ruhr dams. Operatio......
August 17th - 18th 1943 - German fighers and British bombers battle above the research station at Peenemunde to decide the fate of the Nazi V weapons. ......
On the night of 16/17th May 1943,under a full moon, 19 specially modified Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron carried out one of the most daring and effective air raids of the Second World War. Led by wing commander Guy Gibson the 19 aircraft took o......
A snow covered landscape bathed in early morning sun provides welcome relief for the crew of an Avro Lancaster B1 of 15 Sqd as it returns from a night mission over Germany. ......
With its mission completed, the mighty Lancaster slowly rolls to a halt on the lonely dispersal point, the roar of its four pulsating Merlin engines steadily slackens, replaced by an eerie silence, broken only by the snapping cracks of cooling metal......
Mick Martin's Lancaster pulls away from the Möhne Dam, his Upkeep bomb exploding behind him sending a huge plume of water into the air. Guy Gibson flies to his right drawing flak from the anti-aircraft guns on the towers. ......
Oberleutenant Schalls ME 262 of JG7 catches the Australian crewed Lancaster from 5 group dead astern as it lines up for its bombing run on the Hamburg U-Boat pens. Even at this angle the speed of the jet made it difficult to get off more than a few ......
8 print editions available from £80.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Postcard edition available : £2.00
17th May 1943. Lancasters from 617 Squadron deliver a surprise attack on the Ruhr dams with specially designed, unique bouncing bombs invented by Barnes Wallis. Wing Commander Guy Gibson is shown drawing defensive fire away from Flt Lt Maltbys aircra......
Lancasters of 617 Squadron, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson begin their low level cross channel dash towards the enemy coast on the way to the heart of the Ruhr. The aircraft were arranged in three waves. The first wave comprised three groups of th......
On the night of 16th - 17th May 1943 nineteen specially modified Lancasters of No.617 Squadron departed from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire on one of the most secret and daring bombing operations undertaken during World War Two. The ultra-secret oper......
Operation Chastise, the plan to destroy the mighty Ruhr dams, was bold, audacious and dangerous. It was also set to become one of the most legendary combat missions ever undertaken in the history of aviation warfare. In late February 1943 a unique ......
A flak-damaged Lancaster of 617 Squadron struggles across the airfield perimeter as it returns to base after a precision raid over enemy territory. After writing a new chapter in aviation history with the famous Dams Raid of May 1943, 617 Squadron ......
Guy Gibsons Lancaster having unsuccessfully dropped its bomb, draws enemy fire from the aircraft of Sqn Ldr Young as his bomb explodes spectacularly on the Mohne Dam during the audacious Dams Raids of 16th/17th May 1943.......
2 print editions available from £15.00 Original Sold.
For over five years the young men of RAF Bomber Command fought a long, unceasing and always bitter struggle against the mighty war machine of Nazi Germany. Magnificently brave, they endured fearful odds, frightening losses and some of the most terr......
The flight to the Ruhr dams on the night of 16th/17th May 1943 as part of Operation Chastise was fraught with peril as each wave of three aircraft hugged the ground across Holland and into Germany to avoid detection. Having flown particularly low t......
4 print editions available from £70.00 2 canvas print editions available from £300.00 Original available : £1500.00
The night of the 16th May 1943 saw 19 modified Lancasters of the specially formed 617 squadron set out to breach the Ennepe, Eder, Mohne and Sorpe dams in Westphalia, Germany. The mission was led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson DSO, DFC. Gibsons Lancast......
2 print editions available from £125.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Original available : £2600.00
Just after midnight, on the night of 16/17 May 1943, Lancaster crews of 617 Squadron undertook what was to become the most remarkable and probably best remembered air raid of the Second World War. Flying all the way from their base in England in dark......
On the night of 16th May 1943, 18 specially modified Avro Lancasters of No.617 Squadron, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, breached the Möhne and Eder dams on the Ruhr, in the famous <i>Dambusters</i> raid. ......
McCarthy's aircraft, ED825(G) AJ-T attacking the undefended Sorpe Dam with the village in the background and the church with the steeple that they had to avoid on the hilltop. Such was the difficulty of the approach to this dam - attacked along ......
3 print editions available from £80.00 Original available : £255.00
A Lancaster has been damaged and is left far behind the main force to make its own perilous way home as best it can. Seeing the vulnerability of their friends, a Mosquito crew expose themselves to the same dangers, and throttle back to stay alongsid......
Standing his aircraft at the height of just 60 feet above the waters of the Mohne, Flt Lt Maltby braves a hail of anti-aircraft fire just seconds before the release of the bouncing bomb that would at last breach the dam on that historic night of the ......
2 print editions available from £40.00 Original Sold.
Watched by keen eyes, an Upkeep bomb arrives on the threshold to be loaded onto the special cradle beneath a Lancaster of 617 Dambusters Squadron on the eve of their perilous journey to the Ruhr Valley on the night of 16th May 1943 when the Möhne an......
4 print editions available from £95.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original available : £950.00
During the years of the German occupation of Holland in World War II, more than 20,000 Dutch civilians perished through starvation and lack of basic provisions. Operation Manna was set in motion on Sunday, 29th April 1945 when Lancasters of the Roya......
5 print editions available from £35.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original available : £700.00
The tension is electric; slowly they climb to circle the airfield while the entire squadron gets airborne. Below, the countryside reverberates with the sound of roaring Merlin engines. RAF Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron. ......
Working around the clock and in all weather conditions the ground crew knew from the size of the bombs they were loading, this was going to be a very special operation for the Lancaster crews of 9 Squadron. Brainchild of Barnes Wallis, the Tallboy b......
The 617 Sqn Lancaster of Guy Gibson (<i>G for George</i>) thunders over the Mohne Dam on the first attack run of the Dambusters raid, 16th - 17th May 1943. After several attacks on the dam, it was finally breached by the innovative <i>bouncing bomb......
Viewed from the cockpit, Lancasters of 617 Sqn <i>Dambusters</i> form up at the beginning of their perilous journey to the Ruhr Valley on the night of 16th May 1943 when the Möhne and Eder dams were breached under the codename <i>Operation Chastise<......
4 print editions available from £50.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original available : £700.00
As the air war raged over Berlin and other German cities, night-fighter units such as NJG100, the original Eastern front night fighter Geschwader, were redeployed nearer home in the final desperate defence of Germany. By late 1944 the Luftwaffes ni......
Tracer fire streaks past two Dambuster Lancasters of No.617 Sqn as the decisive Barnes-Wallace bouncing bomb skips towards the dam in the moonlit background. Fire from the already burning buildings lights up the front face of the dam and reflects of......
4 print editions available from £48.00 1 canvas print edition available from £400.00
Crew of Lancasters 101 Squadron RAF, stand chatting and drinking cups of tea supplied by the WMCA vans. Delays in Ops for an hour or so allow the crews a chance to light up and have a cup of tea. 101 Squadron based at Ludford Magna were a squadron ......
2 print editions available from £135.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Original Sold. 1 ex-display print available from £310.00
This peaceful scene at East Kirkby in the winter of 1944 gives a very real feel for the vitally important work undertaken by ground crew in all weathers. At this stage of the war, to help identification at a distance, the tail fins of 57-squadron La......
The Lancaster B MkIII of Flt Lt J V Hopgood was the second aircraft to make an attempt at breaching the Mohne Dam on the night of 16/17th of May 1943, ED925(G) (AJ-M) encountering intense flak and 20mm fire from the shore and from the towers of the ......
1 canvas print edition available from £200.00 Original Sold.
The Avro Lancaster B MkIII ED932(G), AJ-G, of Wing Commander Guy Gibson was the first aircraft to make an attempt at breaching the Möhne Dam on the night of 16/17th of May 1943 as Operation Chastise got underway. Having already made one 'sighti......
4 print editions available from £65.00 2 canvas print editions available from £300.00 Original available : £1500.00
Berlin, Germany, 24th March 1944. While taking part in what was to be the last major RAF bombing raid on the German capital, Avro Lancaster AS-C of 166 Squadron was unlucky to have both port engines hit by flak. As the crew prepared to bale out, t......
3 print editions available from £85.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original available : £800.00
Of the five Lancasters that formed the Second Wave of Operation Chastise, just one aircraft made it to the target, the Sorpe Dam, on the night of 16th/17th May 1943. American pilot Joe McCarthy had been forced to switch to the reserve aircraft due to......
6 print editions available from £75.00 2 canvas print editions available from £460.00 Original Sold.
In 1943, the RAF's 617 Squadron set out to destroy three dams in Germany's Ruhr valley. They managed to breach two, giving a boost to Britain's war effort. On 16th May 1943, 19 aircraft set out to destroy the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams ......
The success of the attack on the Möhne dam on the night of 16th/17th May 1943 meant that the remaining three 617 Sqn Lancasters of the First Wave could turn their attention to the Eder, some twelve minutes flying time away. Wing Commander Guy Gibso......
4 print editions available from £55.00 2 canvas print editions available from £460.00 Original Sold. 1 ex-display print available from £40.00
A first-hand account of the sinking of the Tirpitz by Bob Knights. - The early morning of 12th November 1944 was clear and very cold, and the wings of the Lancasters of 617 Squadron, parked on the airfield at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, were coated ......
Lancasters of No.15 Squadron are shown releasing their bombs during the attack against German armour that had amassed in and near the French village of Villers Bocage on 30th June 1944. ED395 (LS-M), piloted by Fl Off W Hall, is in the background wit......
4 print editions available from £85.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original Sold.
Up to 1942 Bomber Command operations were beset by many problems. The means they had to accurately pinpoint the target and assault it were totally lacking, in fact their Commander in Chief, Air Marshall Arthur Harris later wrote : It was glaringly ob......
3 print editions available from £160.00 All 1 canvas print edition sold out.
Flight Lieutenant Mick Martin readies his crew to release their bouncing bomb as he makes his run into the Mohne Dam. Flanking him is the Lancaster of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, using his aircraft to draw flak from the gunners along the dam. ......
No single raid during World War Two has attracted more discussion, analysis, features, books, interviews, or been the subject of more films, documentaries, and TV programmes than the famous attack mounted by the RAFs 617 Squadron upon the mighty hyd......
4 print editions available from £115.00 1 ex-display print available from £105.00
Whilst en route to the Ruhr on the night of 16th/17th May 1943 as part of Operation Chastise, Lancaster AJ-C received 20mm hits to the starboard inner engine which immediately burst into flames. Pilot Officer Warner Ottley realised instantly that all......
3 print editions available from £60.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original Sold.
Flying at altitudes as low as fifty feet, Lancasters of 617 Squadron follow the Dutch canals en-route to Germany - their target, the mighty Dams of the Ruhr - on the night of 16th / 17th May 1943. At such low level the pilots of many of the special......
Throughout four long years of war Allied air and naval forces endeavoured to sink the German battleship Tirpitz. The mighty warship was a constant threat to Allied shipping, even while lying at anchor in her lair among the fjords of Norway. Her very......
3 print editions available from £110.00 1 ex-display print available from £100.00
The image shows Lancaster AJ-L lining up for the attack on the Eder dam. Alongside is the portrait of AJ-L pilot Flt Lt D J Shannon. The first aircraft to attempt an attack the Eder dam, AJ-L made several unsuccessful attempts at lining up to drop......
2 print editions available from £80.00 Original available : £410.00
The Mohne Dam gives way as David Maltbys Lancaster releases its bomb to deliver the coup de grace on the night of 16th / 17th May 1943. Guy Gibsom, nearest, and Mick Martin, having already dropped their bombs, make dummy runs with lights on to draw ......
Avro Lancaster Mk.I R5868 of No.467 Squadron RAAF over the Lincolnshire countryside. This aircraft became the second highest scoring Lancaster with 137 operations to its credit and is today preserved at the Royal Air Force Museum. ......
1 print edition available from £55.00 1 ex-display print available from £30.00
The night of the 16th May 1943 saw 19 modified Lancasters of the specially formed 617 squadron set out to breach the Ennepe, Eder, Mohne and Sorpe dams in Westphalia, Germany. The mission was led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson. ......
3 print editions available from £35.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Postcard edition available : £2.00 Original available : £2600.00
A Lancaster of 626 Squadron takes evasive action during a raid over Osterfeld in December 1944, as a Messerschmitt Me110 G.4 night-fighter makes a pass beneath the bomber. ......
In one of the finest portrayals of the Avro Lancaster, Moonlight Run depicts the aircraft of Fl. Lt. Mickey Martin (ED909 AJ-P) at the moment of release of the Wallace Bomb during the Dams raid on the Ruhr in 1943. With only the gentlest of moonlight......
1 print edition available from £50.00 1 ex-display print available from £70.00
The image shows Lancaster AJ-M attacking the Mohne dam. Alongside is the portrait of AJ-M pilot Flt Lt J V Hopgood. The second aircraft to attack the target, the aircraft was hit by flak, and its bomb bounced over the dam. Caught in the blast fro......
2 print editions available from £65.00 Original available : £410.00
The nose and tail gunners of Ken Brown's Lancaster ED918(G) F for Freddie pour fire into a train as they pass overhead en route to the Sorpe Dam during the Dambusters raid. ......
3 print editions available from £80.00 Original available : £255.00
On an RAF airfield in the early evening, a squadron of Lancaster bombers of Bomber Command prepare for another bombing sortie against targets of the German war machine. A fitting tribute to all Bomber Command aircrew who flew in the Avro Lancatser.......
7 print editions available from £70.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Original available : £1800.00
On the night of 12th September 1944, Lancaster NF958 (LS-M) of No.15 Sqn was lost in the skies above Mannheim when it was attacked by the Messerschmitt Bf.110G-2 of Ofw Ludwig Schmidt of II/NGJ 6, the bomber receiving hits to the bomb bay which igni......
4 print editions available from £45.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original Sold.
Having completed yet another sortie, the crew of 101 Sqn Special Operations Lancaster SR-W, piloted by Flt Lt Rusty Waughman, are about to commence the long and hazardous journey back to their base at Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire. ......
The image shows Lancaster AJ-G attacking the Mohne dam. Alongside is the portrait of AJ-G pilot Wing Cdr G P Gibson. The very first aircraft to attack the dams, AJ-G dropped its bomb short of the Mohne, but drew anti-aircraft fire away from the fo......
2 print editions available from £80.00 Original available : £375.00
Standing in front of their Lancaster from left to right: David Shannon DSO, DFC (pilot) JAck Buckley, DFC (Rear Gunner) Guy Gibson, VC, DSO, DFC (CO of 617 Squadron) Brian Jagger, DFM (Front Gunner) Len Sumpter, DFC, DFM (Bomb-aimer) ......
Resplendent in the morning sunrise, the Avro Lancaster sits majestically. One could almost believe it is a wild animal sniffing the air, secure in its natural habitat. Watching the scene, the total silence is occasionally broken by the chink of a d......
Signed by Wallace McIntosh, an ex Lanc. rear gunner. Wallace has the distinction of holding the record for Bomber Command kills from the rear turret of Avro Lancaster EM-M LL973 standing at 8 confirmed kills. ......
The Avro Lancaster was undoubtedly the RAFs greatest bomber of World War 2. Stemming from the unsuccessful Avro Manchester, the Lancaster carried the night bomber offensive deep into occupied Europe. Over 7,300 Lancasters were built with the last be......
Standing his aircraft at the height of just 60 feet above the waters of the Mohne, Flt Lt Maltby braves a hail of anti-aircraft fire just seconds before the release of the bouncing bomb that would at last breach the dam on that historic night of the......
3 print editions available from £50.00 2 canvas print editions available from £370.00 Postcard edition available : £2.00 1 ex-display print available from £75.00
Following the successful attack on the Mohne dam on the night of 16th/17th May 1943, three Lancasters of 617 Sqn turned their attention to the Eder, some twelve minutes flying time away, accompanied by Wing Commander Guy Gibson to oversee the next a......
4 print editions available from £30.00 1 canvas print edition available from £220.00 Original Sold.
En route to the dams of the Ruhr Valley, the first wave of three specially adapted Avro Lancasters roar across the Dutch wetlands on the night of 16 -17th May 1943 led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, their mission to breach the Mohne and Eder dams, th......
4 print editions available from £60.00 2 canvas print editions available from £460.00 Original Sold. 1 ex-display print available from £40.00
The image shows Lancaster AJ-P attacking the Mohne dam. Alongside is the portrait of AJ-P pilot Flt Lt H B Martin. This aircraft was the third to attack the Mohne dam, and although the bomb was dropped successfully, it veered to the side of the da......
2 print editions available from £80.00 Original available : £410.00
The Lancaster was the most successful bomber of the RAF, being both versatile and capable of withstanding consierable damage. In todays world, we often question the purpose and objectives which Bomber Command set, but despite thie, we must never for......
Probably the most famous RAF Squadron in history, mainly due to the audacious Dambuster raid in 1943. Other notably successful missions flying their Avro Lancaster bombers included precision raids on the mighty German battleship Tirpitz, U-boat pens,......
The Avro lancatser, the backbone of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command during world war two. The Avro Lancaster was a development from the Avro Manchester, and with its four Rolls Royce Merlin engines it was able to carry a substantial bomb load. Th......
RAF Scampton, 16th May 1943. Ground crew deliver the top secret bouncing bombs to the Lancasters of 617 Squadron in preparation for Operation Chastise. ......
2 print editions available from £70.00 Original available : £425.00
Pilot of 'Mynarski's Lanc', the Lancaster in which Andrew Mynarski earned his VC after attempting to rescue the rear gunner of the Lancaster, which was on fire as it lurched towards it's doom after losing two engines to a Ju88. After allowing time for the crew to escape, De Breyne parachuted out of the doomed Lancaster at about 800ft.
A pilot on Lancasters he served with 619 Sqn but was shot down in February 1944 by a German night fighter whilst on a mission to Schweinfurt, it was his 18th ‘Op. He subsequently spent time as a Pow in Sagen, North Camp.
John Searby joined the RAF in 1929 as a Halton apprentice but was a Sergeant Pilot flying bombers when war broke out. Joining 106 Squadron he flew Lancasters with Guy Gibson and eventually took over as Squadron Commander when Gibson left for 617 Squadron. A specialist in navigation, he was then chosen by Arthur Harris to take command of No.83 Pathfinder Squadron at Wyton. Searby quickly developed a superb reputation as a Pathfinder and was involved in countless precision raids including his role as Master Bomber on the Peenemunde raid, coordinating the attack by over 600 heavy bombers. He died on 14th January 1986.
Born 27th February 1918, Australian Mick Martin joined the RAF in 1940 and had flown tours with 455 Squadron RAAF and 50 Squadron RAF before joining Guy Gibson at 617 Squadron. Pilot of AJ-P, Mick Martin was Deputy Leader of the Dams Raid and flew in Gibsons lead group. Third aircraft to attack the Mohne Dam, he was awarded the DSO for his part in the raid. Mick Martin later served with Leonard Cheshire, and went on to a distinguished career after the war. ADC to the Queen in 1963, he eventually retired from the RAF as an Air Marshal in 1974. Mick Martin died 3rd November 1988.
Vital to the whole Dambusters operation was the complete dedication by the ground crew of 617 Squadron. Personified by Beck Parsons. Joining the RAF in 1940, he trained as an electrician and worked with Avro Manchester’s with 207 Squadron at Waddington. In March 1943 he was posted to 617 Squadron at Scampton where he flew with Barnes Wallis during the tests on the bouncing bomb. As Electrical NCO Beck was responsible for the electrics on “B” flight at the time of the raid, together with ‘Top Maintenance’ on five of the Lancaster’s, including those of Guy Gibson and Mick Martin.
Ken Lucas joined the RAF in June 1940, and trained as ground crew for bomber Command. He was sent first to 49 Squadron at RAF Scampton, before transferring to 617 Squadron upon its formation, Involved in all the major servicing of the aircraft before the raid including fitting the motors that drove the belt that spun the bomb, and attaching the critical lamps to the underside of the aircraft. Sadly, Ken Lucas passed away in January 2011.
Flight Engineer and Co Pilot Lancaster Bombers, N.514 Sq. RAF Bomber Command based in Cambridgeshire England. He completed 11 missions over Germany, before being shot down at Domremy (S.W. Nancy) in France. He then joined the FFI (French resistance) at Neuf Chateau. The mayor of the town later awarded Thomas Harvell the Medal of Honour in recognition of his wartime services an 50 years of continued friendship with his former resistance colleagues. He moved to another area, Doubs, near the Swiss border and helped the resistance liberate the town of Pierrefontaine. he was again awarded and became a "Citizen of Honour". The Resistance Veterans Association proposed him for the "Legion of Honour" but as Thomas Harvell was still RAF/British he never received this award. The RAF did, however, award him several combat medals.
Harold Parkin Joined the RAF in 1941 and underwent initial pilot training was at Stratford-on-Avon, and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. After the exams he was sent for Northamptonshire to learn to fly in the Tiger Moths. Harold Parkin was posted to Spittlegate near Grantham, a permanent RAF base, where he got his wings in 1942. For a period of time here went to Montrose in Scotland for training as a flying instructor and intructed at Little Rissington, near Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds where he spent the next two years training new pilots. In 1944 he was given a commission and sent to Operational Training Unit at Bruntingthorpe. As part of his flying squad, he had one bomb-aimer and one gunner from Rhodesia, and because of this, the rules required that they came under the (44th.) Rhodesian Squadron. Harold Parkin was involved in the last raid of the war. The mission was to fly to Berchtesgarten, Hitler’s retreat in Bavaria. The mission was in broad daylight with 2 fighter escorts, where they proceeded to bomb Hitler’s SS barracks in the bottom of the valley. In 1945-6, Harold served in transport operations, being based first in Stradishall, Suffolk and then at Stoneycross in the New Forest. They spent most of that time taking freight to Karachi and ferrying POW from Japanese prisoner of war camps. Harold Parkin left the RAF in 1946 but in 1951 joined the reserve and in 1953 was called up to train Pilots for the Korean war. Harold was at Flying Training Command HQ, near Reading as part of the Examining Board. until his retirement in 1972. Harold piloted the Lancaster Bomber Yorker Mk.111 Lancaster KM-Y 44 (Rhodesia Squadron). Yorker was one of about 35 Lancasters (out of thousands that were produced during the war) which completed over 100 operations.
volunteered and was called up for Air Crew duties in April 1942. After some Pilot training in S Rhodesia and returning to England, Jim qualified as a Flight Engineer, joining Flying Officer David Coster and crew at Conversion Unit flying Stirlings. After a course at Lancaster Finishing School, a posting to IX Squadron, Bardney resulted. On his seventh trip Jim flew in WS.T LM448 (as illustrated in “Preparing for the Tirpitz”) on the final Tirpitz raid, but as the result of heavy flak damage causing a loss of fuel and power a course was set for Sweden where, after evading enemy fighters over Norway, a crash landing was made. After returning to England the crew re-joined the Squadron and Jim completed 22 ops. by the end of the war. After cancellation of the Tiger Force destined for the Far East, Jim joined Squadron Leader (Jock) Blair for the Squadron’s brief visit to India.
Born in Crewe in July 1922, Alex McKie joined the RAF in 1938 as an apprentice, and was selected for pilot training in 1942. After training, he joined No.106 Squadron flying Lancasters as a navigator. With this squadron, he flew eight raids to Berlin. Completing 30 operations, he was awarded the DFM, before volunteering in June 1944 to join No.617 Squadron, a squadron which by this time was famous for the legendary Dambusters raid. During a raid on the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway, Mckie and his crew were forced to crash-land in neutral Sweden after losing two engines. After blaming their intrusion into Sweden on faulty navigation, they were repatriated. Sadly, Alex McKie passed away on 1st August 2008.
