The Planes That Built Britain with Rob Bell - Season 1, Episode 03: The Avro Lancaster

During the winter of 1940 the future of Britain hung in the balance, with 40,000 lives lost as its citizens faced the nightly onslaught of The Blitz. Our own fighter planes were too small and didn’t have the power to fly 600 miles to hit back at Germany, so things were looking bleak. Then up stepped genius Roy Chadwick, who designed the magnificent Lancaster bomber, with four powerful engines, three gun turrets and a 33ft bay for carrying twice as many bombs as usual. 'It was the most fearsome weapon of war the British ever unleashed,' says Rob Bell, who presents this series. 'The British bombers started to strike back at the Nazis, avenging the horrors of the Blitz. Cities like Hamburg, Cologne and Berlin were pounded night after night with incredible accuracy.'