Operated by 617 squadron these specially modified aircraft were used to carry weapons designed by Barnes Wallace to attack especially difficult or resilient targets. The spinning bouncing bomb could be made to skip over the surface of bodies of water, allowing protected dams or ships to be attacked. The Grand Slam was a massive 22,000lb (10,000kg / 10 metric tons) weapon intended to penetrate into the ground or concrete before detonating, causing disruption of foundations of bridges or massive blast damage to hardened shelters like submarine pens.
The Avro Lancaster was one of the RAF's main heavy bombers during WWII. Among the many variants, the Mk.III "Dambuster" and Mk.I "Grand Slam Bomber" were best known and the most famous. The "Dambuster" was modified to attack dams in Germany. It was equipped with special bouncing bombs which would skip across the water to the dam wall and explode below the surface of water to inflict structural damage. The "Grand Slam Bomber" was designed to carry the 10-ton Grand Slam earthquake bomb and its bomb bay doors and dorsal machine guns were removed to reduce weight in order to do so. These Lancaster's used the Grand Slam on such important targets such as U-boat bases and rocket manufacturing sites. The Tamiya model faithfully captures all the detail of this historic and famous WWII aircraft in 1/48 scale.
This aircraft was powered by four Rolls Royce Merlin engines, and was used by the English Royal Air Force in bombing raids against Germany. Approximately 7,377 units were built. The Avro Lancaster B Mk.I/III specifications are as follows: Length: 21.18m, Width: 31.10m, Weight: 33.11t, Power source: Four Rolls Royce Merlin engines (1480-1640hp)