The last surviving WW2 heavy bombers
Video from the channel Mark Felton Productions about Avro Lancaster, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 7:07. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
A review of the types of Second World War heavy bomber of which examples still survive in 2023. According to the video, eight remain, two of them from the Axis; it first lists the ones with no survivors at all, such as the Short Stirling, the Heinkel He 177 and the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley.
Historical context
For each type, the video gives the number built, when it left service, and how many examples survive and fly. The list opens with the Boeing B-17 (12,731 built) and the B-29 (3,970, with two airworthy); followed by the B-24 Liberator (13 survivors, two airworthy), the Heinkel He 111 (five, none airworthy, not counting the Spanish CASA 2.111s), the Avro Lincoln (604 built, four preserved), the Handley Page Halifax (6,176 built, three preserved) and the Savoia-Marchetti SM.82, of which only one remains, at the Italian Air Force museum.
Key facts
The Avro Lancaster ranks sixth. The United Kingdom and Canada built 7,377, and the last one left service in Canada in 1964. In 2023, 17 survived: two airworthy and two others capable of taxiing, one of them in the United Kingdom with plans to fly again in the following years.