COBI Avro Lancaster B. III Dambuster - Executive Edition Set 5758

COBI's Avro Lancaster B. III Dambuster Executive Edition is a 1:48 model built from 1,747 blocks, 45.5 cm long with a 64.5 cm wingspan, in the markings of 617 Squadron. The propellers turn, the landing gear folds, the ailerons move, the cockpit interior is modelled and takes the three crew figures, and the bouncing bomb mounts underneath. A display base with the aircraft's name is included. No stickers.

Two lamps and a piece of string

Operation Chastise on the night of 16 May 1943 required the bomb to be released at exactly 60 feet above the water, at exactly 232 mph, exactly 425 yards from the dam. Get any of it wrong and the bomb sank, or bounced over, or broke up.

Sixty feet cannot be measured by an altimeter, which reads barometric pressure and is useless that low over water at night. The solution was almost absurdly simple: two spotlights fitted to the aircraft, one in the nose and one in the belly, angled so their beams met at a point exactly 60 feet below. The navigator watched from the blister and told the pilot to climb or descend until the two circles of light merged into a figure of eight on the water.

The range was solved the same way — a plywood handheld sight with two nails, lined up against the dam's towers. The most technically ambitious raid of the war was flown using a torch and a stick.

Nineteen aircraft set out. Eight did not come back, and 53 of the 133 men were killed. The Möhne and Eder dams were breached.

In the COBI range

Set 5759 is the standard Lancaster B. III in the markings of the Polish 300 Squadron.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,747 · Figures: 3 · Scale: 1:48 · Bouncing bomb and display base included · No stickers
Model dimensions: 45.5 × 64.5 cm (17.9 × 25.4 in)