Lancaster Squadrons 1944-45 (Combat Aircraft) [Paperback]

Jon Lake (Author), Chris Davey (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Combat Aircraft | Publication Date: December 11, 2002

The RAF's most successful heavy bomber of World War II (1939-1945), the Avro Lancaster formed the backbone of Bomber Command during the large-scale night bombing campaign against occupied Europe. Produced in massive numbers (over 7300 up to VE-Day), the first examples entered squadron service on Christmas Eve 1941, and tasted combat the following March. The second of two volumes on the British bomber icon of World War II, this book details Bomber Command's massive nocturnal bombing campaign, its support for the D-Day landings, Tallboy raids against the U-boat pens in France and the battleship Tirpitz in Norway, and the final daylight missions of 1945.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Osprey's Combat series combines the best archival photography available with specially commissioned artworks and first hand accounts, making these books favourites amongst historians, modellers and aviation enthusiasts everywhere.

About the Author

Jon Lake is one of Britain¹s leading aviation journalists/historians, and secretary of the Freelance Aviation Journalists' Association. His work for Osprey includes volumes in the Combat Aircraft series on the Blenheim, Halifax and Sunderland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (December 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841764337
• ISBN-13: 978-1841764337
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.2 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,735,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lancaster to the Fore!, October 1, 2009

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Michael OConnor "Wordsmith" (Wausau, WI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lancaster Squadrons 1944-45 (Combat Aircraft) (Paperback)

Jon Lake continues his history of the Avro Lancaster at war in this 2002 Osprey 'Combat Aircraft' volume, #35 in the series. LANCASTER SQUADRONS 1944-45 chronicles the rise of the Lanc to prominence as Bomber Command's main bomber, the Lancaster being turned into a devastating weapon of war thanks to improved tactics and technology. Yet, though German targets were sometimes devastated, the Lanc and Bomber Command in general ended the war with a mixed record of victories and defeats as revealed in Lake's comprehensive book.

The last two years saw Bomber Command raids improve in their effectiveness thanks to the creation of Pathfinder units, better radar, better target marking, etc. Yet, many raids, went amiss, doing little damage while suffering crippling losses such as the disastrous March 1944 Nuremberg raid and the ineffective "Battle of Berlin" campaign of late 1943/early 1944. Harris' mistaken and unyielding belief that Area Bombing attacks would win the war cost 10,000 British airmen in the 11 months following D-Day alone. Many would say unnecessarily lost.

Lake's book does a fair job of covering the Lanc's last two years in action but has the same problem as LANCASTER SQUADRONS 1942-43: trying to cram too much into 80-odd pages. Then too, in this second volume, Lake spends some ink repeatedly discussing the Area Bombing doctrine, taking space away from the "Lanc ops" theme. Several times he runs long, dull summaries on targets hit during such-and-such a month. And, as with the first volume, Lake includes very few first-person reminiscences, again resulting in a dry read.

Heavy metal fans will loves the dozens of photographs contained in the book. Likewise, Chris Davey's color profiles are a definite plus, being wonderfully done.

In all, LANCASTER SQUADRONS 1944-45 is a fairly good operational summary of the Lancaster's late war record but suffers from trying to stuff a size-20 body into a size-15 flying suit and, likewise, leaves out most of the human element which would have given more life to the Lancaster story.