This aircraft was ordered in 1940 in a batch of 400 Lancaster B Mk I and Mk III aircraft. It was delivered to 460 Squadron RAAF on 27 October 1942 and assigned the call sign 'G' for George. While in service with the squadron, it flew some 90 operations with 27 crews. The main crews were captained by Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) J A Saint-Smith (13 operations), Flt Sgt J Murray (13 operations), Flying Officer Henderson (10 operations), and Pilot Officer H Carter (21 operations). The aircraft's longest operation lasted 10:09 flying hours, to La Spezia, Italy on 13 April 1943. Its last operation was a raid on Cologne, Germany on 20 April 1944. When G for George retired from service after this raid it had completed more operations than almost any other aircraft in RAF Bomber Command. In June 1944 the Department of Air made it available for war museum purposes and after an extensive overhaul it left for Australia on 11 October 1944, flown by an all-Australian crew captained by Flight Lieutenant E A Hudson, DFC and Bar. It arrived in Brisbane, Queensland on 8 November 1944 and the following day was received by 3 Aircraft Depot, Amberley where it was given RAAF registration number A66-2. In 1945 the aircraft toured the eastern states of Australia in connection with the Third Victory Loan until finally declared surplus and transferred to the Australian War Memorial.
Raid on Bochum and Kelsenkirchen 26-06-1943 Saturday
26th June 1943 473 Bombers – 157 dead
473 Aircraft ordered to Gelsenkirchen
214 Lancasters, 134 Halifaxes, 73 Stirlings, 40 Wellingtons, 12 Mosquitos. This was the 1st Raid to the City since 1941, when it had been one of Bomber Command's regular 'Oil Targets', although, being in the middle of the Ruhr, this Town had often been Hit when other Targets were attacked.
The Raid was not a success. The Target was obscured by Cloud and the Oboe Mosquitos, for once, failed to produce regular & accurate Marking since 5 of the 12 Oboe Aircraft found that their Equipment was unserviceable.
30 Aircraft – 13 Lancasters, 7 Halifax's, 6 Stirlings, 4 Wellingtons – were Lost, 6.3% of the Force.
picture from source 1
- Avro Lancaster Mk I Bomber 'G for George' : 460 Squadron, RAAF
- Bochum Raid
- original ww2 raf / raaf 460 sqn lancaster bomber crew photograph | eBay