The British Lancaster aircraft, is one of my favourite aeroplanes of WW2. It was mainly used for the bombardment of German cities and some were used on special missions. But a lot of Lancaster's got shot down, but still proved reliable during the war. It has protection in the front, the side, the back, but none on the bottom part of the plane. The German's used this to their advantage and during the night raids they would sneek up to the bottom of the aircraft and then shoot at the engines I believe and it worked for the most part. This technique used by the Germans put fear into the crew of the Lancaster planes. But eventually the allies won the war and the Lamcaster did a great deal to help. There are only two Lancasters aeroplanes Left in the world, so we must keep them because they are a part of history. Private Mic von Krate
Putting in a vendral gun position means the weight of the gunner, the life support for the gunner, ammo, extra drag and possibly even reducing the size of the bomb-bay. The Americans who did put in vendral turrets still lost bombers by the score.
I recall seeing images in painting guides, etc. of the Lancaster II, with 2 unique things - radial engines, and a small remotely powered ventral turret just behind the bomb bay. I don't have my books anymore; can someone supply some more specifics? Thanks!
A ventral turret was available for Lancasters and fitted to some of them, but it was generally discarded as useless because it was remotely aimed (via a periscope) and the gunner had too narrow a field of view to be able to detect incoming fighters. The space allocated for the turret was filled by the H2S radar scanner later in the war. With the 'Fishpond' modification, this was able to detect night-fighters coming up from underneath. Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum
