COMING TO N.Z.

Grey River Argus, 10 June 1943, Page 6

COMING TO N.Z.

Giant Bomber [Per Press Association! WELLINGTON, June 9. The new giant four-engined Lancaster bomber at present visiting Australia is expected to arrive in New Zealand very shortly. An itinerary for a tour of New Zealand is now being arranged, and will be announced, subject, of course, to weather conditions and other circumstances. The Lancaster was flown to Australia by way of the Atlantic, Canada and the Pacific, it being the first occasion on which an aircraft has been flown by one crew over this route. The flight across the Tasman Sea will add further to the! plane’s unique flying record. The Lancaster is the newest ■' of the R.A.F.’s trio of heavy bombers, and is the fastest asd most formidable of its type in the world. It carries three times the load of the heaviest bomber in use in September 1939, is twenty-five per cent faster, and mounts two and half times the armament. Lancasters have proved their worth in air operations over Europe since they made the debut in April, 1942, and ’ their most recent achievement was the destructive attack on the Ruhr dams. The Lancaster has a wing-span of 102 feet and a length of seventy, feet. It can carry eighteen thousand lbs of fuel and bombs, the bomb bay having a capacity in excess of seven tons. Fopr engines with a total horsepower of 5120 give a speed of three hundred miles at an hour at heights up to twenty-one thousand feet fully loaded. There, are four power operated turrents in the pose, in the tail, above and below, housing ten guns. It is very manoeuvrable and is stated by pilots to be “delightful on controls.’’ <