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Avionics & Other Systems
Mark IX Course Setting Bomb Sight (CSBS).
This was an early preset vector bombsight that involved squinting through wires that had to be manually set based on aircraft speed, altitude and bombload. This sight lacked tactical flexibility as it had to be manually adjusted if any of the parameters changed and was soon changed in favour of more advanced designs.
Mark XIV bombsight
A vector bombsight where the bomb aimer input details of the bombload, target altitude and wind direction and the analogue computer then continuously calculated the trajectory of the bombs and projected an inverted sword shape onto a sighting glass on the sighting head. Assuming the sight was set correctly, when the target was in the cross hairs of the sword shape, the bomb aimer would be able to accurately release the bombs.
T1 bombsight
A Mark XIV bombsight modified for mass production and produced in the USA. Some of the pneumatic gyro drives on the Mk XIV sight were replaced with electronic gyros and other minor modifications were made.
Stabilizing Automatic Bomb Sight
Also known as "SABS", this was an advanced bombsight mainly used by 617 Squadron for precision raids. Like the American Norden bombsight it was a tachometric sight.
Radio, radar and countermeasures equipment
The Lancaster had a very advanced communications system for its time. Most British-built Lancasters were fitted with the R1155 receiver and T1154 transmitter, whereas the Canadian-built aircraft and those built for service in the Far East had American radios. These provided radio direction-finding, as well as voice and Morse capabilities.
H2S
3 GHz frequency, ground-looking navigation radar system – eventually, it could be homed in on by the German night fighters' FuG 350 Naxos receiver and had to be used with discretion — a problem which the higher resolution, 10 GHz frequency American H2X radar never had to deal with. This is the large blister under the rear fuselage on later Lancasters.
Fishpond
An add-on to H2S that provided additional (aerial) coverage of the underside of the aircraft to display attacking fighters on an auxiliary screen in the radio operator's position.
Monica
A rearward-looking radar to warn of night fighter approaches. However, it could not distinguish between attacking enemy fighters and nearby friendly bombers and served as a homing beacon for suitably equipped German night fighters. Once this was realised, it was removed altogether.
GEE
A receiver for a navigation system of synchronised pulses transmitted from the UK – aircraft calculated their position from the time delay between pulses. The range of GEE was 3–400 mi (483–644 km). GEE used a whip aerial mounted on the top of the fuselage ahead of the mid-upper turret.
Boozer (radar detector)
A system of lights mounted on the aircraft's instrument panel that lit up when the aircraft was being tracked by the low-UHF band Würzburg-Riese ground radar and early model Lichtenstein B/C and C-1 airborne radar. In practice it was found to be more disconcerting than useful, as the lights were often triggered by false alerts in the radar-signal-infested skies over Germany.
Oboe
A very accurate navigation system consisting of a receiver/transponder for two radar stations transmitting from widely separated locations in Southern England which, when used together, determined the aircraft's position. The system could only handle one aircraft at a time, and was fitted to a Pathfinder aircraft, usually a fast and manoeuvrable Mosquito which marked the target for the main force rather than a Lancaster.
GEE-H
Similar to Oboe but with the transponder on the ground allowing more aircraft to use the system simultaneously. GEE-H aircraft were usually marked with two horizontal yellow stripes on the fins.
"Village Inn" Automatic Gun-Laying Turret
A radar-aimed and ranged gun turret fitted to some Lancaster rear turrets in 1944. Identifiable by a radome mounted below the turret.
Airborne Cigar (ABC)
This was only fitted to the Lancasters of 101 Squadron. It had three 7-foot (2.1 m) aerials, two sticking out of the top of the fuselage and one under the bomb aimer's position. These aircraft carried a German-speaking crew member and were used to jam ground-to-air communications to German night fighters. The extra equipment and extra crewman added around 600 pounds (272 kg) to the bomber's weight so the bomb load was reduced by 1,000 pounds (454 kg). Due to the nature of the equipment, the enemy was able to track the aircraft and 101 Squadron suffered the highest casualty rate of any squadron. Fitted from about mid-1943, they remained until the end of the war.
Tinsel
A microphone installed in the nacelle of one of the engines that allowed the wireless operator to transmit engine noise on the German night fighter control voice frequencies.
Sources:
Wikipedia
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