AIRA09007 - Airfix 1/72 Avro Lancaster B.III (Special) Dambusters - WWWEB10105188

AIRA09007 - Airfix 1/72 Royal Airforce Avro Lancaster B.III (Special) Dambusters 627 Squadron - WWWEB10105188

Preowned, Original seal, Mint

The Avro Lancaster spent most of its war as a high altitude night bomber, but its most famous night was flown at sixty feet. On 16 and 17 May 1943, 617 Squadron launched nineteen specially modified Lancasters from RAF Scampton against the dams of the Ruhr in Operation Chastise, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson. The B.III (Special) had its mid upper turret and bomb bay doors removed and carried Barnes Wallis's Upkeep mine, spun up before release so it would skip across the water, over the torpedo nets, and sink against the dam wall before detonating. The Möhne and Eder dams were breached at heavy cost to the squadron, and the raid became one of the defining stories of the bomber war.

In the box

• Airfix 1:72 scale injection moulded plastic kit, 239 parts
• Clear parts for the canopy, turrets and fuselage windows
• Detailed cockpit, navigator's station and turret interiors
• Upkeep mine with its rotating cradle and the associated fuselage modifications
• Detailed Rolls Royce Merlin engines and undercarriage
• Assembled length 294mm, wingspan 432mm
• Skill level 3
• Waterslide decal sheet printed by Cartograf covering two schemes, both No.617 Squadron, RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, May 1943:
  • AJ-T, ED825/G, flown by Flt Lt Joseph Charles McCarthy DFC
  • AJ-E, ED927, flown by Flt Lt Robert Norman George Barlow DFC
• Illustrated assembly instructions with separate colour painting and decal placement guide