I have a Friend, who did two tours on Lancs in WW2, 60 odd missions i guess. He was the pilot and is still alive. Interestingly he told me that at that time him & his crew were T-total which was unusual. Lovely guy to talk to. Some quotes
Rumour went round the base"Full Tanks Tonight" Oh heck that'll be Berlin then.
I was talking to him about over boosting the merlins. (more inches than revs) which obviously wrecks the engines. "Aye Lad do you know average life of Lancaster? 30 hrs F*** the engines" & apparently by doing that you could get another hour or so out of the fuel.
Brave Men indeed, we owe them a lot.
(It is some time since I spoke to him the quotes above from when I was a first officer/Co Pilot in the 70 ies so please forgive me if the actual times are wrong)
PS Have been an Airline Captain for some 30 years now, current A330. That Lancaster Driver taught me things that have saved the day on many occasion I owe him more than I can say. A real Gent.
