No. 101 Sqd, Lancasters

[Lightning Guy]

I've always been interested in the Lancasters of No. 101 squadron. They were equipped with three massive ariels for the ABC jammer. I would really appreciate any information on this system: how did it function, how many extra crew did it require, where were these crewmen stationed? Any help would be appreciated.

[Concorde247]

I've just had a quick look in one of my books & found this profile.

Apparently, the ABC (Airbourne Cigar) equipped Lancs carried an extra crew member (Radio Operator) making it a crew of eight instead of the usual seven. who had to be german speaking. the equipment was to jam and/or confuse the german fighter radio frequencies, thus distracting them from the commands given by the ground controllers, and was especially valuable at the time of the invasion of France, when hoardes of transport aircraft were flying across to france for the airbourne drops of troops and would have made easy targets for enemy nightfighters; thus the squadron was at peak operations at this time. it continued to fly the dual role of bombing & jamming right up to the end of the war in Europe in April 1945.

hope this little bit of info helps Tintin

[mosquitoman]

Contrary to popular belief, they didn't broadcast false messages. What they did was find the right frequency and turn on a mike in an engine to broadcast engine noise over that frequency.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

ok 101 sqn lancs did indeed have 8 crew members, however the extra man was not a "radio operator" he was a "SDO" or "specail duties operator", this extra crew member manned a position behind the wing spar (i think), here he controlled essentailly three radio sets, with these sets the extra crew member who not just spoke german, but could identify most european languages (all he had to do was identify them, speaking them all was not nessisary), would scan the frequencies untill he found a channel believed to be communicating from a german ground controll radar station to a nightfighter, then, as MM said, noise from an engine would be broadcast on this frequency, thus blocking this frequency, because he has three sets, he can block three frequencies at a time. The "ABC" system required the use of 3 large arials (one underneath on the nose, two on top forward of the upper turret), each arial was about 5ft in length, streamlined in section, about 5 inches thick at the base tapering to 2 inches at the top, however this is the only way in which 101 Sqn lancs differ from the norm, they still carried the normal payload and, apart from the SDO, the normal crew...............

101 Sqn was the largest in bomber command, having 41 aircraft at peak strength, due to the fact that they "escorted" all major raids post october 1943, whey were spaced out inside bomber streams to provide the maximum of protection, they did however suffer huge losses...........

this is of course a very brief look at it, if you want any more detail on any of it please ask..........

right, i feel i've made all your knowledge look suitably pathetic, i'm off to bed, and remember, no one can out lanc the lanc............

[evangilder]

Yeah, I feel patheticized!

[Concorde247]

I remember reading somewhere that they had a microphone fitted near one of the engines & when they found a luftwaffe frequency they switched it on & broadcast the engine noise on that frequency - is this true?

[Nonskimmer]

Originally Posted by mosquitoman

Contrary to popular belief, they didn't broadcast false messages. What they did was find the right frequency and turn on a mike in an engine to broadcast engine noise over that frequency.

(Pssst...it was about four posts up.) :-"

[Concorde247]

Originally Posted by Nonskimmer

(Pssst...it was about four posts up.) :-"

WHOOPS!!!

[the lancaster kicks ass]

and the best part, most of what i said was from memory!! cripps will be proud............

[the lancaster kicks ass]

really guys?? no extra questions??