
A 'lucky' Lancaster bomber which survived an impressive 109 missions during the Second World War was deliberately set on fire in a training exercise, a new book reveals.

Such was the precarious nature of bombing runs that the average lifespan of a Lancaster before it was shot down was just 25 raids.

Yet 42 different captains took Lancaster EE136 - which was part of No. 9 Squadron and then No. 189 Squadron - on 109 missions.

As part of its illustrious time in the air, it went on 14 raids to Berlin where German aircraft defences were at their strongest.

Sergeant C Payne and his crew (pictured) took EE136 to Hamburg on July 29, on the third of the four Gomorrah raids

The Lancaster EE136 was used in a firefighting exercise and set on fire during a routine firefighting drill at Sutton on Hull station in Yorkshire in 1954

The photograph was taken in July 1944, when this crew flew in EE136 WS/R, which later went on to take part in 109 missions

Lancaster ED499 WS/X was the No. 9 Squadron record holder for a while and is pictured here after a trip to Cologne, Germany

The organised chaos of assembly for a big raid is shown here, as No. 9 Squadron crews wait for their lifts out to their aircraft before setting off for Hamburg as part of Operation Gomorrah

A total of 315 men flew in operations in the EE136 and all came home safely. Shockingly 101 of them - more than a third - were later killed in other aircraft.

The last raid carried out by the EE136 before it was pensioned off was Karlsruhe, Germany, on February 2, 1945, the worst night of the war for No. 189 Squadron which lost four Lancasters and crews.

However, instead of taking pride of place in a museum, EE136 was deemed surplus to requirements by the RAF and set on fire during a routine firefighting drill at Sutton on Hull station in Yorkshire in 1954.

From the first flight of the EE136 on June 11, 1943, to her last with No. 9 Squadron on October 19, 1944, 86 Lancaster bombers were assigned to the squadron.

Of these, 50 were lost to enemy action, another five crashed at home, three crashed in Russia on the first Tirpitz raid and four were transferred to other squadrons only to be lost by them.

As more aircraft came in to replace the heavy casualty toll, the EE136 moved to No. 189 squadron where between November 1, 1944, and February 3, 1945, nine out of 34 Lancaster bombers were lost.

Overall, of the 6,000 Lancasters which were made available for duty in the war, 3,400 were lost.

Tragically, about 55,000 out of the 125,000 aircrew who served in Bomber Command were killed, while 10,000 became prisoners of war.

One of the most memorable raids the EE136 was involved in was to Berlin on the night of January 28, 1944.

Hitler's newly built Chancellery was among the wreckage - 'mountains of it', according to the official German report.

Luck of a Lancaster (left) by Gordon Throburn is published by Pen & Sword on July 30 and costs £19.99. Meanwhile, a Tallboy bomb (right), with armaments officer Mick Maguire, was the biggest thing that could possibly fit inside a Lancaster

ED501 flew 17 ops in February to April 1943, 11 of them with Sergeant Doolan (third from right) and new gunner Harry Irons (third from left), until the squadron commander failed to bring her home

Four captains of EE136 WS/R were standing together for a photograph. In the front are (left) Ron Adams and Doug Tweddle

A Tallboy bomb bomb attack on Bremen, this bomb was the biggest thing that could possibly fit inside a Lancaster

The American pilot Ed Stowell (left) had only one op in EE136, but he was lucky enough to complete the rest of his tour. Wing Commander Pat Burnett, DSO, DFC (right) was CO of No. 9 Squadron from April to November 1943, with a reputation as a disciplinarian

The most 'capped' captain of the EE136 was Flight Officer Roy Lake who flew in it 22 times.

Following the war, the EE136 was used as a training tool at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire but it fell out of favour and in 1954 was set on fire during a routine RAF fire fighting drill at Sutton on Hull station which closed in 1961.

Author Gordon Thorburn, 71, of Laxfield, Suffolk, said: 'It is said that the only job more dangerous (than flying a bomber) was in a U-boat crew.

'From the time when the really big raids began, mid-1942, through to the end of 1944, headquarters regarded losses of less than five bombers in a hundred, on any given op, as being a kind of par for the course.

'Any more than five per cent and special reasons had to be looked for and explained.

'At squadron level, aircrew had no figures to go on but they could see what was happening around them.

'Front-line squadrons in 1943 were losing a Lancaster a week, and it was only slightly better in 1944.

'So, sitting in the mess looking at this week's newly empty chairs, you had to tell yourself that it was going to be the other fellow who got the chop, not you.

'With this being the case it is remarkable that the EE136 survived 109 flights including 14 Berlin raids which was the most heavily defended city in Germany with excellent radar defences.

'You can not put it down to the skippers because pilots who flew the EE136 were killed in other aircraft. The only thing you can put it down to is luck.

'Considering the number of operations this aircraft had very little happened to it in terms of damage.

'It was pensioned off but ironically after the war the RAF firefighting team set fire to it in a training exercise.

'What the Germans could not do in 109 attempts the RAF school of fire fighting could do!'

Luck of a Lancaster by Gordon Thorburn is published by Pen & Sword on July 30 and costs £19.99.