Midnight Armada: Flying the Avro Lancaster into the Heart of Germany
90K views · Jun 9, 2026 · Science & Technology
Comments · 85
@joannedickie7863 · 1 month ago
My husband had 2 uncles flying in Lancasters. One flew as a navigator with RAAF 460 squadron. He & his crew were lost on the Mailly le Camp raid in May 1944. His other uncle commenced with RAAF 467 squadron as a bomb aimer but was later transferred to 617 Dam Busters. He did not take part in the dam raid & survived the war. He did not want to talk about any of his missions but would talk for hours about what the merits of the Lancaster. My husband & I have visited Binbrook to honour his uncle that did not return. We also visited the French village where his Lancaster crashed. The villagers hid the crew's bodies from the Germans by burying them in their local cemetery which is where they are still buried as the Commonwealth War Graves Commision were so impressed with the respect & care the villagers paid to the graves. The villagers have a large ceremony each year to honour the sacrifice the crew made.
11
@ianjones5348 · 3 months ago
what brave young men...little wonder they looked 30 when only 20yrs old
15
@scroggins100 · 3 months ago
I take my dog for a walk on the old runway of a second world war bomber base now reverting to nature. I often hear those merlin engines starting up in my mind. Bless them all for what they endured and often... too often paid for in their lives.
17
@John_Stelz78 · 3 months ago
Even watching it now it's sad to think about some of those faces not coming back the next day😢
8
@41708 · 3 weeks ago
My cousin was a bomb aimer with 625 sqdn at Kelstern.<br>he spent 1943 bombing Berlin each week, to use his written words, in his letters,"putting salt on Hitlers tail", but they started supporting Dday ops in 1944 and the Lancaster was shot down whilst bombing the rail yards at Vierzon on the night of 30june-1july 1944.<br>All the crew lie in a grave in the village of Genouilly, near to Vierzon.
2
@shaunmcclory8117 · 3 months ago
engine=tractor parking=dispersal <br>Team=crew and I'm still wondering what the difference between 'wrecked' and 'severely wrecked' is!?🤔🤷
13
@davidsaunders2906 · 3 months ago
Thank you for posting this film. Gives one hope that our history won't be forgotten. I'm old enough to remember my grandfather talking about the first world war while watching England v Germany on a tiny b&w TV !
4
@theupsetter1969 · 3 months ago
There is no official "Air Brigadier" rank; the correct equivalent in the Royal Air Force is Air Commodore
17
@johnstephen2869 · 1 month ago
That precious film provides lots of information (lots I didn’t know) so thanks for the video. Gosh those men were extremely brave knowing that the odds weren’t that great. And very young, a whole generation of flyers. Could we find them now? Hopefully, because of these guys, there won’t be another world war. We have lots to be grateful for. What a fine piece of engineering the Lancaster was. Strongly built and as light as possible. I’d love to hear the sound of 600x4 Merlins, amazing.
2
@davierj · 2 months ago
An excellent film spoiled by the weird language employed by the ‘talker’
7
@ShevillMathers · 2 months ago
Primary Beam = Main Spare. Royal Air Force, not army. Merlin's " calming down" 😢
4
@Firebrand55 · 3 months ago (edited)
Night after night after night...and at Wars end, 55,000 aircrew died, not to mention those that were injured or baled......and the American 8th Air Force suffered similar such losses..........lest we forget
17
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