Lancaster bomber question ?

[PGB]

Can anyone advise if the Lancaster bomber used for operations in europe around 1944 had any aluminium components in it? We live near a crash site in Belgium and have found alloy and steel pieces in our garden which look to have been melted. They are around 10-15 cm in length and have a smooth rounded surface as if melted at great heat, we saw them when the sun reflected off the alloy...

[Woolgar]

Yes they did.

See here:

Chaff (countermeasure) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nick

[PGB]

Many thanks for the advice Woolgar, looking at the link and the size of stuff we've found it could well be melted Chaff material... the bomber that went down was on it's way to a raid so it could have been fully loaded...

[big ned]

The total amount of materials used in making a single Lanc was vast, but the greatest amount of all (but NOT by weight) was aluminium at nearly 70%. So the chances are you are finding a lot of airframe components and skinning that has melted.

As an aside a Lancaster cost around £42,000 each;

The crew cost £10,000 each to train;

The average cost of fuel and bombs per mission was £13,000.

Othe variables meant that the average cost for a single aircraft on a single raid was over £100,000. Remember the cost of the crew was spread (Theoretically if they survived, which most did not) over 30 missions normally.

Regards, Ned.

[PGB]

Thanks Ned, it is a strange find as the alloy is fused with something iron and globular as if melted together. This is not what you'd expect to find outside of a foundry so our first thoughts were that it was linked to the crash site. Before our the houses arrived it was open fields so items like this could have been ploughed under by the farmer. Luckily we know the details of the plane as the local commune have erected a memorial (Lancaster LL622/KO-J from 115 Squadron on a bombing raid to Nuremburg, 30th March 1944)...

[big ned]

The cold facts.

From Chorley's Bomber Command Losses for 1944.

115 Squadron Lancaster II LL622 KO-J. Operation to Nurnberg.

Took off 2233 Witchford. Homebound, strayed N of track and was shot down by a night-fighter, crashing on the edge of the historic battlefield at Waterloo. The precise location is given as Braine l'Alleud (Brabant), 3km SSW of Waterloo.

Crew:

F/S R Thomas
Sgt R F Taylor
Sgt D Atkinson
Sgt J H Kensett
Sgt F Hawksworth
Sgt P Jack
Sgt H Kendrick

All were killed and are buried ar Brussels Town Cemetery.

On this operation to Nurnberg (Nuremberg), Bomber Command lost 64 Lancasters and 31 Halifaxes, the largest single total for any Bomber Command operation of the entire war.

Regards, Ned.

[PGB]

Sadly at the same spot you can see the memorial to the battle of Waterloo dead as well, even though many years apart it's quiet poignant that Britain's were still dying in this area...

[Woolgar]

Sadly at the same spot you can see the memorial to the battle of Waterloo dead as well, even though many years apart it's quiet poignant that Britain's were still dying in this area...

Nicely put Warrors united 129 later

Nick