First Canadian Built Lancaster to arrive in Britain

[K225]

The crew of the first Canadian-built Avro Lancaster X KB700 to arrive in Britain, christened the 'Ruhr Express', photographed with their mascot at Northolt, Middlesex, on 15 September 1943.

[Pat Carry]

thanks for the photo

[Invader26]

Nice pic.

Note the turret under the belly...not fitted to UK aircraft although some had unit mods with a free gun or two from a ventral hatch...

[K225]

It's not a 'belly' turret, but it was operated by a gunner in the fuselage using a periscopic sighting system. This proved pretty much impossible to track a fighter and many gunners experienced vertigo to the point of nausea while using it. Early Mitchells used a similar turret with the same result as a result most were removed in the field. They were deleted on Mitchells with the introduction of tail guns.