RCAF AVRO LANCASTER BOMB FUZE UNIT & JETTISON SWITCH

In August 1942, with Britains Bomber Command suffering considerable losses from their nighttime bombing raids over occupied Europe, a single Avro Lancaster was flown across the Atlantic as a pattern aircraft to be used as a template for an initial order of some 300 Canadian built Avro Lancaster at the by Victory Aircraft Limited plant at Malton, Ontario.

The first Canadain Lancaster off the production line was Ruhr Express who, with her Canadian crew, ended the War in Europe having completed 121 missions.

By the end of the war 430  Avro Lancaster Mk. X’s had been built in Canada for Britains bomber command with many of those which had survived the War, being returned to Canada for post war maritime surveillance and other duties with the RCAF.

The Canadian Mk X’s had a number of differences from their British counterparts including significant changes to their powered turrets with the British designed FN-50 dorsal turret being replaced with the lighter US Martin 250 CE dorsal turret with more powerful 50 cal twin machine guns similar to the Martin Maruader B-24.

Along with changes to the electrical system, cockpit and bomb aimer controls and instrumentation, the Canadian Mk X also featured longer and more bulbous bomb bay doors which were later used to carry the massive Tall Boy, 'Bunker Buster' - used with significant success againt the German U Boat pens along the French coast.

Canadian industries from all areas became involved in the project including instrument makers who built most of the aircraft's instrumentation also under licence from British supplied instrument samples.

Out of the 430 Canadian Mk X Lancasters that rolled out of the Victory production line, 100 would be lost in combat or in flying accidents during active servcie.

The British built Avro Lancaster, bomb aimer's starboard cockpit wall featured three Bomb Control Panels.

One was the 16 switch Connell Bomb Pre-selector Unit which enabled the bomb aimer to to preselect which bombs were to be released from their 16 point toggle points in the aircraft's long bomb bay.

The second was the Bomb Release Timer Distribution Unit which was used to pre-set the timing interval and order of the ordinance to be dropped. A longer delay for spread out targets like railway lines, bridges and transport hubs and a short delay for a ‘stick’ release on a concentrated target.

The third was the Bomb Selector Box which was used to ensure that the bombs dropped in the correct order to maintain the critical trim of the aircraft.

In an emergency however such as a fire on board, night fighter attack or engine failure during take off or landing, the bomb aimer could also toggle a full emergency ordinance jettison from the covered switch at the top right hand side of the 16 switch Connell Bomb Pre-selector Unit. The jettison control was also linked a separate fusing switch which allowed the bomb aimer to render the ordnance safe for dropping by keeping the release pins still firmly embedded in the bomb’s nose. This was extremely important if the aircraft had to jettison their bomb load in an emergency over friendly territory.

On the cockpit’s main instrument panel immediately in front of the Lancaster’s Engineer’s fold down seat, another ‘Jettison’ panel was located to be operated by either the pilot of Engineer should the Bomb Aimer be incapacitated. This was split into two switches that would first jettison any containers carried in the bomb bay and then the full ordinance.

The Canadian built Lancaster's Bomb Aimer panels and switches were slightly different with the Bomb Aimer’s Jettison Switches separated from the 16 switch Connell Bomb Pre-selector Unit into a stand alone unit.

Manufactured in Canada, the Jettison Switch was still connected to a Fuzing Unit to render the bomb load ‘Safe’ or ‘Fuzed’ but also featured a hinged cover protecting an illuminated bulb that also acted as a button which was pressed to jettison the bomb load.

With only 170 Canadian Lancaster being built under licence this Canadian made Fuzing unit and illuminated Jettison Switch is an extremely rare Bomber Command artefact and mounted on its 100 yr old Mango Wood stand with heavily detailed, hand built 1/72, super detailed 1/48 or Ultra detailed 1/32 scale model mounted on its removable magnetic arm above, it would be an amazing and irreplaceable gift for any aviation enthusiast.

This Avro Lancaster Hand Bearing Compass is photographed with a 1/72 scale model but to choose the larger and more detailed 1/48 scale model, simply click on the 1/48 Scale option at the top of the page.

A full internal Lighting Kit is also availabe for the 1/48 scale option at just $120.

Canadian Lancaster Martin dorsal gun turret colour photo:  Per from Thunder Bay, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=257533

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

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