The French navy used 54 Avro Lancasters (32 B I and 22 B VII) between 1951 and 1964. They were bought not long after the Washington treaty, signed on April 4th, 1949, which set the pace for military cooperation between the European countries against the communist bloc. They would be used to help the Coastal Command to patrol the Atlantic and the Mediterannean shipping lanes. For their new mission, the planes had to be modified, and the mid-upper turret was removed, windows were added to the rear fuselage as well as a second pilot wheel (two pilots being required for long range patrol), additional fuel tanks and specialized equipment for anti-submarine warfare and maritime reconnaissance. The first aircraft, serialled WU ( for Western Union) 01, was delivered in December 1951, and the last, WU 48, on February 1954. They were to serve for about ten years in several navy "flotilles", and the last to be withdrawn from service was WU 15, on July 1st, 1964.
Five other Lancasters were purchased by the Secrétariat Général à l'Aviation Civile et Commerciale (bureau of civil and commercial aviation) to be used for air sea rescue duty, manned by french navy crews. They were serialled FCL ( French Civil Lancaster) 101 to 105, and were delivered between November 1953 and April 1954. Of those 59 planes, only 4 have survived. They were the last operational french Lancasters in use and were based at Nouméa, in New-Caledonia, 1000 miles east of Australia. Three of these planes were donated , the first being WU 16 (NX622), flown to Australia on November 29th, 1962. Then on April 26, 1964, Wu 13 (NX665) was donated to New Zealand and finally WU 15 (NX611) was donated to the Royal Australian Air Force Museum on July 1st, 1964, before being flown to England, arriving at Bigging Hill on may 13th, 1965.