Sandbach resident and avid photographer, Kevin Dowey, shared some photographs of the Lancaster Bomber which flew over the area on Sunday (May 28th) as part of the Smallwood Vintage Rally.

The Lancaster Bomber was introduced in 1942, first seeing service with RAF Bomber Command (the bomber force in the RAF) in the same year.

It eventually became the principle bomber for the RAF, taking part in strategic offensives over Europe.

This Lancaster is one of only two still flying - the other is in Canada. This particular model - PA474 – was originally used as a reconnaissance plane in eastern and southern Africa.

Nearly all Lancasters were powered by four Rolls Royce Merlin engines. It was a development on the earlier Avro Manchester model, an early war medium bomber.

The majority of Lancasters during the war years were built by aircraft manufacturer Avro at their factory in Chadderton, near Oldham, only a few miles from Stockport. PA474, however, was built near Chester.

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Lancaster Bombers were famously used in the dambusters raid - Operation Chastise - in 1943. The aircraft used the bouncing bombs developed by Barnes Wallis to breach the Möhne and Edersee dams, causing catastrophic flooding of the industrial Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley.

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