Avro Lancaster, Air Ministry 5C/1974 Undercarriage Indicator Switch

One of the most expensive and catastrophic aviation mistakes dreaded by military and civilian pilots even in our modern age, is an accidental landing gear retraction or forgetting to lower or lock the landing gear in place upon approach.

The same was true for bomber and fighter pilots of WWII - both Allied and Axis.

A fully loaded Avro Lancaster at takeoff, weighed in excess of 30,909 kg - one of the heaviest bombers of WWII.

Like modern aircraft, the Avro Lancaster incorporated a number of hopefully, fail-safe measures designed to prevent or lower the risk of such gear failures.

The first of these was an illuminated Undercarriage Indicator mounted to the left of the Altimeter on the Lancaster’s main flying panel.

The Indicator informed the pilot of the status of the aircraft’s undercarriage by way of a series of electrical illuminated display bulbs.

When the undercarriage was down and locked, two green lights would appear on the face of the Indicator. 

When down but in the unlocked position, the Indicator showed two red lights. When, fully retracted and locked in position, the Indicator showed no lights.

As an added safety precaution, the Lancaster was also equiped with an Undercarriage Indicator Switch that prevented the aircraft’s Port Engines from being started unless it was moved to the ‘ON’ position.

It did this by means of a mechanical arm that slide across the face of the Port Engine Magneto switches when in the ‘OFF’ position.

Once switched to ‘ON’ the switch powered up the Undercarriage Indicator unit alerting the pilot to the status of the aircraft’s undercarriage.

A similar combined unit was also installed in fighter aircraft like the Hawker Typhoon and the Royal Navy’s Seafire.

This Air Ministry labeled, 5C/1974 Undercarriage Indicator Switch is a WWII veteran and comes mounted in a 100yr old Mango Wood Stand complete with engraved Plaque and a detailed, double sided laminated Fact Sheet. It also comes with a detachable magnetic arm and a beautifully detailed 1/72 or 1/48 scale hand built model of this iconic British Bomber. What an amazing gift for the aviation enthusiast in your life!

* Please note that this original Recovery Curios Aircraft Instrument is also available in a Super Detailed, Large Scale 1/48 version with some astounding and simply awesome detail. Click on the ‘1/48 Scale Model Option' at the top of this page to order.

These Avro Lancaster Instrument come complete with detailed Scale Model, Mango Wood Stand & Plaque plus Printed Fact Sheet featuring photo of instruments in the aircraft cockpit.

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