ABC Equipped Lancaster… Where did the 8th member sit?

Excellent David and T.O. thank you!

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Immediately behind the W/Op’s position facing forward.

David….it doesn;t show in the diagram…would that be the space between the Front and Rear Main Spars?……where the “rest bed” would have been in a regular Lanc?…I am leaning towards that as it looks like a bulkhead immediately behind the W/Op., isn;t that where the tight crawl space over the spar is?..

cheers, and GREAT FIND!

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Immediately behind the W/Op’s position facing forward.

MindOverMatter is your man – here’s one of his threads. 😉

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?128715-101-Squadron-and-Ludford-Magna-and-Operation-Grapple-amongst-other-things&highlight=Ludford

Thanks Jay, I can honestly say I have not seen a picture or diagram showing the position inside so should be interesting.

Hi Peter,

while I am not sure for actual positioning within the lanc. for the SDO ( Special Duties Operator)…the fact that the ABC equipment was HUGE, it weighed 604.75 lbs and took a total of 3,000 man-hours to install in a Lancaster, and had three 7 ft. long antennas, 2 of which where located between the W.Ops. Blister and the Mid Upper Turret ( the third was located below the nose and to the right). With reading the descriptions of the unit, with three transmitters, the receiver and associated “screen” etc.it seems logical that the system was more or less kept together, and far too large to sit in the W/Ops. or Nav’s crew areas…..I would likely say that the “rest bed” between the forward and rear Wing Spars was maybe removed and accommodation for the system and SDO maybe found there?….allowing for easier access to the antennas above ( wiring) as well as all the power cables etc. and maybe keep the SDO a little farther away from the crew chatter etc while he was scanning and translating in his head?…..

That said, they had the H2S operator / equipment in sharing the Nav. table and seated beside and to the front of the Nav. who knows…very little seems to have been recorded about ABC due to the Secrets acts i guess….

I’ll keep looking anyway….. really good question