Avro 683 Lancaster was the best Bitish WWII heavy bomber. The double-engine Manchester served as its prototype. The aircraft conducted its first flight on January 9th 1941. The new bomber was approved, and soon after, the first orders for its production was recieved. In totsl 7377 aicraft in various modifications were built. The squadrons of 59 bombing Units were equipped with Lancasters. During the war, they have conducted over 156,000 flighst and realeased 618,350 tons of demolition bombes and over 51 million incendiary bombs. Some bombers were re-equipped into cargo aircraft..