title: Tremors (1990 film)

text: A sequel, "", was released in 1996. A second sequel, "", was released in 2001, followed by a prequel, "" in 2004. These three sequels were all made with direct involvement from S. S. Wilson, Brent Maddock, and Ron Underwood at Stampede Entertainment. Following an 11-year gap, "" was released in 2015, with the franchise's sixth inclusion, "", in 2018. These two films were made by Universal 1440 Entertainment without any involvement from Stampede Entertainment. All Tremors sequels thus far have been released direct-to-video without a theatrical release, though "Tremors 2: Aftershocks" did receive a brief limited theatrical run. Another direct-to-video sequel, "", was released in October 2020.


title: Tremors (1990 film)

text: In 2003, the franchise spawned a television show titled "". The show aired in 2003 on the Syfy Channel but was canceled after one season. A 60-minute pilot for a second television series also titled "Tremors" was filmed in 2017, but no further episodes of this show were ever filmed.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Frank Árpád Darabont (born Ferenc Árpád Darabont, January 28, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. In his early career, he was primarily a screenwriter for such horror films as "" (1987), "The Blob" (1988) and "The Fly II" (1989). As a director, he is known for his film adaptations of Stephen King novellas and novels, such as "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994), "The Green Mile" (1999), and "The Mist" (2007).


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont also developed and executive-produced the first season and first half of the second season of the AMC horror series "The Walking Dead" (2010–2011).


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont was born in a refugee camp in 1959 in Montbéliard, France. His parents had fled Hungary for France after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, bringing his five brothers and four sisters, and three cousins. When Darabont was still an infant, his family immigrated to the United States, settling in Chicago before moving to Los Angeles at age five.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont was inspired in his youth to pursue a career in film after seeing the George Lucas film "THX 1138". Darabont graduated from Hollywood High School in 1977 and did not attend college.


title: Frank Darabont

text: His first job after finishing school was working at the famed Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. He served at the concession stand and as an usher, and was grateful for the perk of getting to watch numerous films for free. He claims he developed his writing skills from "endless hours" of writing at a desk on a typewriter in his free time, and from his childhood friend Cody Hills.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont became involved in filmmaking by becoming a production assistant on such films as "Hell Night", "The Seduction", and "Trancers". The first film he wrote and directed was a short work adapted from Stephen King's story "The Woman in the Room". This film was one of the first "Dollar Babies" and made the semi-finalist list for Academy Award consideration in 1983. Although Darabont was not happy with how the short turned out, this effort resulted in a close association with King, who granted him the "handshake deal" rights to another of his shorter works, "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" from the collection "Different Seasons".


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont sold his first screenplay titled "Black Cat Run" in 1986, but it was not produced for more than a decade, as a television film under the same name. Darabont was approached by Chuck Russell (who was a producer on "Hell Night" and "The Seduction") with an offer to become his writing partner, as he had become interested in Darabont's writing after reading his spec script written for the television series "M*A*S*H".


title: Frank Darabont

text: The two began working on a script for a remake of the film "The Blob", which they had planned to shop around to studios. That was interrupted when they were both hired to rewrite the script of "", with Russell directing the film. The two were given only two weeks to rewrite the script and accomplished it in ten days. The success of their "A Nightmare on Elm Street" film allowed them to produce the first script they had originally written, "The Blob". By then considered a successful writer for hire, Darabont was commissioned to write "The Fly II", an early draft of "The Rocketeer", and an unproduced sequel to "Commando".


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont made his directorial debut with "Buried Alive", a television movie with a $2,000,000 budget that aired on the USA Network in 1990. He followed this with an extended run as writer for George Lucas's television series "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles". He also wrote two episodes of the television series "Tales from the Crypt".


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont made good on the deal with Stephen King by writing and directing the film adaptation of "The Shawshank Redemption". Rob Reiner, who had previously adapted another King novella, "The Body", as the movie "Stand by Me" offered Darabont $2.5 million in an attempt to write and direct "Shawshank". He planned to cast Tom Cruise in the part of Andy and Harrison Ford as Red. Darabont seriously considered and liked Reiner's vision, but he ultimately decided it was his "chance to do something really great" by directing the film himself.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Although the film did not fare well at the box office, it was met with acclaim by audiences and critics. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for Darabont. The film attracted additional viewers after its Academy Award nominations, and became the most rented film of 1995. Today it is considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont's next directorial effort was another Stephen King adaptation for which he wrote the screenplay, "The Green Mile", starring Tom Hanks. At first Darabont was reluctant to adapt the novel as a film, as its setting was too similar to "Shawshank", but quickly changed his mind after reading the novel. Hanks and Darabont first met at an Academy Award luncheon in 1994, and the two were eager to work on a project together. Stephen King said he had envisioned Hanks in the role and was happy when Darabont mentioned his name.


title: Frank Darabont

text: The film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture, and Darabont was nominated for his second Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. This was originally the highest-grossing film based on a Stephen King novel, as it made a total of $286,801,374 worldwide (before being surpassed by 2017's "It" when it made $603 million worldwide.)


title: Frank Darabont

text: In 2001 Darabont directed the film "The Majestic", starring Jim Carrey, Martin Landau, and Laurie Holden. He worked with these actors frequently throughout his career. Michael Sloane, whom Darabont had known since high school, wrote the script. This film is one of the few which Darabont directed, but did not write the screenplay. Darabont wanted to direct the film as he saw it as a "love letter" to works of Frank Capra and all the other movies he has loved throughout his life. The film received mixed reviews from critics and bombed at the box-office, recouping only half of its $72 million budget internationally.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont had originally wanted to direct "The Mist" even before he directed "The Shawshank Redemption", but kept pushing it back. It was 2004 before he began to write the screenplay for the film. Most of the crew that worked on the film had worked on the television series "The Shield", as Darabont hired them after directing an episode of the series. He thought they could help give the film a "more fluid, ragged documentary kind of direction".


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont also helped create the designs of the creatures in the film, along with artists Jordu Schell, Bernie Wrightson, and the film's lead makeup artist Greg Nicotero. CafeFX was hired to do the film's special effects after Darabont asked fellow director Guillermo del Toro who did the effects on his film "Pan's Labyrinth".


title: Frank Darabont

text: The film was a modest success at the box office, but earned positive reviews from critics. King also praised Darabont's new ending, saying, "The ending is such a jolt—wham! It's frightening. But people who go to see a horror movie don't necessarily want to be sent out with a Pollyanna ending." When a two-disc edition of the DVD was released, it included an exclusive black-and-white presentation of the film, the way Darabont had always intended it to be.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont developed and executive-produced the first season of "The Walking Dead", the AMC series based on Robert Kirkman's comic book of the same name. Darabont recalled that he had first come across the series in 2005, in a comic book store in Burbank, California. When Darabont became interested, creator Kirkman called it "extremely flattering". He said that Darabont "definitely cares about the original source material, and you can tell that in the way he's adapting it."


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont first initiated a deal with NBC for "The Walking Dead", but was later declined. He eventually brought it to AMC, who picked it up based on the source material and Darabont's involvement. Darabont wrote and directed the pilot and was executive producer of the first season, along with Gale Anne Hurd. The series features a number of actors who have regularly worked with Darabont in the past, including Jeffrey DeMunn, Laurie Holden and Melissa McBride. The series earned positive reviews upon release and the pilot attracted 5.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched series premiere episode of any AMC television series.


title: Frank Darabont

text: In July 2011, Darabont was fired from the position as showrunner. Initial reports suggested that he was unable to adjust to the schedule of running a television series; however, it was later confirmed that he was fired due to AMC's desire to reduce the show's budget (twice as many episodes for 20% less of a budget) and to his strained relationship with the executives of AMC. Darabont and his agents from the Creative Artists Agency filed a lawsuit against AMC, seeking more than $280 million in unpaid profits. By July 2021, AMC had settled with Darabont and the CAA, agreeing to pay and future royalty payments.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Not too long after leaving "The Walking Dead", Darabont struck a deal with TNT to develop a pilot for a new series to air on their channel, titled "L.A. Noir", based on a book by author John Buntin. Darabont discovered the book at LAX Airport and, after two days straight of reading it, decided to adapt it for television. Darabont was very passionate about the project as he had always wanted to produce a film noir.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont cast Jon Bernthal, whom he had worked with on "The Walking Dead", in the lead role for the series. Other Darabont regulars cast included Jeffrey DeMunn and Alexa Davalos. The series was given a full season order of six episodes in the fall of 2012 and the title of the series was changed to "Mob City". The series premiered in December 2013 and was met with mixed to positive reviews. The series was cancelled after one season.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont also held the rights to two other Stephen King stories, "The Long Walk" and "The Monkey", neither of which he ever adapted.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont was a script doctor for the Steven Spielberg films "Saving Private Ryan" and "Minority Report". In 2002, he wrote an early draft of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". While Spielberg reportedly loved it, George Lucas rejected it. He also produced the 2002 film "The Salton Sea", starring Val Kilmer and Vincent D'Onofrio.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Over the years Darabont has reunited with his old writing partner Chuck Russell. He did a rewrite for Russell's film "Eraser", they attempted to adapt a film of the 1930s pulp character, Doc Savage, and the two wrote an early treatment and were executive producers on the film "Collateral".


title: Frank Darabont

text: He has also tried to produce film adaptations of the novels "Mine" by Robert R. McCammon and "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. Darabont still hopes to make both films some day.


title: Frank Darabont

text: The same year "Shawshank" was released, "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein", which Darabont wrote, was also released. The film was met with mixed reviews and Darabont called it the worst experience in his career as a writer as he had considered it the best script he had ever written, but that director Kenneth Branagh ruined it "every step of the way". He went on to say that "you can't really judge the script based on what you saw on the screen. It got rephrased and messed with every inch of the way." Guillermo del Toro has shown interest in adapting Darabont's draft of the "Frankenstein" script when he gets around to filming his own version of the story, calling the draft a "near perfect" adaptation of the original book.


title: Frank Darabont

text: In 2004, he was hired by Tom Cruise to write "", but the script was later rewritten by J. J. Abrams, who directed the film. The same year, Darabont wrote the introduction for the Hellboy novel, "Hellboy: Odder Jobs" by Christopher Golden.


title: Frank Darabont

text: In 2005, Cemetery Dance Publications published Darabont's novella "Walpuski's Typewriter" in a limited edition. The story, originally written in his early twenties, first appeared in Jessie Horsting's magazine "Midnight Graffiti".


title: Frank Darabont

text: In 2007, Darabont directed an episode of "The Shield" titled "Chasing Ghosts". He also directed and executive produced the pilot episode of "Raines", starring Jeff Goldblum.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont appeared in "First Class Jerk", the October 26, 2008, episode of "Entourage" in which he propositions Vincent Chase to star in a TV show he is executive producing. He appeared in a September 12, 2009, episode where he is now the director of the film about Enzo Ferrari, who Vince is portraying.


title: Frank Darabont

text: According to the "Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion" series by Titan Books, Darabont—a huge fan of the re-imagined series—was slated to direct "Islanded in a Stream of Stars", the penultimate episode of the show's final season. Due to scheduling conflicts, he was unable to take the job, which fell to series star (and previous helmer) Edward James Olmos.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont was slated to direct the 2009 film "Law Abiding Citizen", but left production due to creative differences with the producers.


title: Frank Darabont

text: At the 2012 Austin Film Festival, Darabont was awarded the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award for his contribution to cinema.


title: Frank Darabont

text: In 2013, he lent his voice to a lengthier version of the "World War Z" audio book. In November of the same year Bob Weinstein revealed that he and Darabont were developing a ten part television series based on Darabont's 2007 film "The Mist".


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont was hired to rewrite the script for the 2014 "Godzilla" reboot. Darabont stated that he would like to bring the monster back to his origins as a "terrifying force of nature." The director of the film Gareth Edwards stated in an interview that Darabont wrote the most moving scene of the film and that particular scene helped convince cast members Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche to sign onto the film.


title: Frank Darabont

text: In June 2014, it was reported that Darabont was on the shortlist to direct "", a sequel to the fantasy film "Snow White and the Huntsman". A month later it was confirmed that Darabont would direct the film, but it would not be a sequel, but a prequel focusing on Chris Hemsworth's character Eric, the Huntsman. However, Darabont left the project in January 2015, citing creative differences as the cause.


title: Frank Darabont

text: Darabont revealed in a 2021 interview with Mick Garris that he had recently written a script for a film centred around the American Civil War, based on an unproduced screenplay by filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and historian Shelby Foote that Ridley Scott was attached to produce. Darabont considers the script to be the best thing he's ever written and was dismayed when the film was unable to find financing.


title: Frank Darabont

text: In addition to collaborating with actors on films and television projects, Darabont has collaborated with writers, producers, composers, and others. These include Chuck Russell, Mark Isham, Stephen King, Gregory Nicotero, Rohn Schmidt, David Tattersall, and others. Jeffrey DeMunn appeared in "The Blob" and "Black Cat Run", both of which Darabont wrote, Alexa Davalos appeared in the pilot episode of "Raines" that he directed and Amin Joseph first worked with Darabont on an episode of "The Shield" titled "Chasing Ghosts".


title: Frank Darabont

text: "The Woman in the Room" (1983 film) and "Buried Alive" (1990) are not listed due to lack of collaborations. (Although Brian Libby appears in both.)


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the same wartime era.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Lancaster has its origins in the twin-engine Avro Manchester which had been developed during the late 1930s in response to the Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 for a medium bomber for "world-wide use" which could carry a torpedo internally, and make shallow dive-bombing attacks. Originally developed as an evolution of the Manchester (which had proved troublesome in service and was retired in 1942), the Lancaster was designed by Roy Chadwick and powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins and in one of the versions, Bristol Hercules engines. It first saw service with RAF Bomber Command in 1942 and as the strategic bombing offensive over Europe gathered momentum, it was the main aircraft for the night-time bombing campaigns that followed. As increasing numbers of the type were produced, it became the principal heavy bomber used by the RAF, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and squadrons from other Commonwealth and European countries serving within the RAF, overshadowing the Halifax and Stirling, two other commonly used bombers


title: Avro Lancaster

text: A long, unobstructed bomb bay meant that the Lancaster could take the largest bombs used by the RAF, including the , and "blockbusters", loads often supplemented with smaller bombs or incendiaries. The "Lanc", as it was known colloquially, became one of the most heavily used of the Second World War night bombers, "delivering of bombs in 156,000 sorties". The versatility of the Lancaster was such that it was chosen to equip 617 Squadron and was modified to carry the Upkeep "bouncing bomb" designed by Barnes Wallis for Operation Chastise, the attack on German Ruhr valley dams. Although the Lancaster was primarily a night bomber, it excelled in many other roles, including daylight precision bombing, for which some Lancasters were adapted to carry the Tallboy and then the Grand Slam earthquake bombs (also designed by Wallis). This was the largest payload of any bomber in the war.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: In 1943, a Lancaster was converted to become an engine test bed for the Metropolitan-Vickers F.2 turbojet. Lancasters were later used to test other engines, including the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba and Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops and the Avro Canada Orenda and STAL Dovern turbojets. Postwar, the Lancaster was supplanted as the main strategic bomber of the RAF by the Avro Lincoln, a larger version of the Lancaster. The Lancaster took on the role of long range anti-submarine patrol aircraft (later supplanted by the Avro Shackleton) and air-sea rescue. It was also used for photo-reconnaissance and aerial mapping, as a flying tanker for aerial refuelling and as the Avro Lancastrian, a long-range, high-speed, transatlantic passenger and postal delivery airliner. In March 1946, a Lancastrian of BSAA flew the first scheduled flight from the new London Heathrow Airport.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: In the 1930s, the Royal Air Force (RAF) was primarily interested in twin-engine bombers. These designs put limited demands on engine production and maintenance, both of which were already stretched with the introduction of so many new types into service. Power limitations were so serious that the British invested heavily in the development of huge engines in the class in order to improve performance. During the late 1930s, none of these were ready for production. Both the United States and the Soviet Union were pursuing the development of bombers powered by arrangements of four smaller engines; the results of these projects proved to possess favourable characteristics such as excellent range and fair lifting capacity. Accordingly, in 1936, the RAF also decided to investigate the feasibility of the four-engined bomber.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The origins of the Lancaster stem from a twin-engined bomber that had been submitted to British Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 of 1936 for a twin-engined medium bomber for "worldwide use" which could carry a torpedo internally, and make shallow dive-bombing attacks. Further requirements of the specification included the use of a mid-mounted cantilever monoplane wing, and all-metal construction while the use of the Rolls-Royce Vulture, which was in development was encouraged. Twin-engine designs were submitted by Fairey, Boulton Paul, Handley Page and Shorts, using Rolls-Royce Vulture, Napier Sabre, Fairey P.24 or Bristol Hercules engines. Most of these engines were still under development and while four-engined bomber designs were considered for specification B.12/36 for a heavy bomber, the extra engines required the wing and overall aircraft structure to be stronger, increasing the structural weight.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Avro submitted the Avro 679 to fulfil Specification P.13/36 and, in February 1937, Avro's submission was selected, along with Handley Page's bid as a backup. In April 1937, a pair of prototypes for each design was ordered. Avro's aircraft, named the Manchester, entered RAF service in November 1940. Although a capable aircraft, the Manchester was underpowered and its Vulture engines proved to be unreliable. As a result, only 200 were constructed and the type was withdrawn from service in 1942.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: By mid-1940, Avro's chief design engineer, Roy Chadwick, was working on an improved Manchester powered by four of the more reliable but less powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, specifically adopting the "Power-egg" installation developed for the Beaufighter II, and installed on a wing of increased span. Initially, the improved aircraft was designated as the "Type 683 Manchester III" but was subsequently renamed the Lancaster. The prototype, serial number "BT308", was assembled by the Avro experimental flight department at Ringway Airport, Manchester, being modified from a production Manchester airframe, combined with the new wing to accommodate the additional engines. The first flight was made by test pilot H. A. "Sam" Brown on 9 January 1941 at RAF Ringway, Cheshire.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Flight testing of the new aircraft quickly proved it to be a substantial improvement over its predecessor. The first prototype was initially outfitted with the Manchester I's three-finned tail but this was revised on the second prototype, "DG595", and subsequent production Lancasters used the larger elliptical twin-finned tail unit that was also adopted for the last Manchesters built. This not only increased stability but also improved the dorsal gun turret's field of fire. The second prototype was also fitted with more powerful Merlin XX engines.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Manchesters still on the production line were converted into Lancaster B.Is. Based upon its performance, a decision was taken early on to reequip twin-engine bomber squadrons with the Lancaster as quickly as possible. "L7527", The first production Lancaster made its first flight in October 1941, powered by Merlin XX engines.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Avro received an initial contract for 1,070 Lancasters. The majority of Lancasters manufactured during the war years were constructed by Avro at its factory at Chadderton near Oldham, Lancashire and were test-flown from Woodford Aerodrome in Cheshire. As it was quickly recognised that Avro's capacity was exceeded by the wartime demand for the type, it was decided to form the "Lancaster Aircraft Group", which comprised a number of companies that undertook the type's manufacture, either performing primary assembly themselves or producing various subsections and components for the other participating manufacturers.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: In addition to Avro, further Lancasters were constructed by Metropolitan-Vickers (1,080, also tested at Woodford) and Armstrong Whitworth. They were also produced at the Austin Motor Company works in Longbridge, Birmingham, later in the Second World War and post-war by Vickers-Armstrongs at Chester as well as at the Vickers Armstrong factory, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham. Belfast-based aircraft firm Short Brothers had also received an order for 200 Lancaster B.Is, but this was cancelled before any aircraft had been completed. Only 300 of the "Lancaster B.II", which was outfitted with Bristol Hercules engines, were constructed; this had been produced as a stopgap modification as a result of a shortage of Merlin engines due to fighter production having higher priority for the engines at that time.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Lancaster was also produced overseas. During early 1942, it was decided that the bomber should be produced in Canada, where it was manufactured by Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario. Of later variants, only the Canadian-built "Lancaster B X" was produced in significant numbers. A total of 430 of this type were built, earlier examples differing little from their British-built predecessors, except for using Packard-built Merlin engines and American-style instruments and electrics. In August 1942, a British-built Lancaster B.I was dispatched to Canada as a pattern aircraft, becoming the first of the type to conduct a transatlantic crossing. The first Lancaster produced in Canada was named the "Ruhr Express". The first batch of Canadian Lancasters delivered to England suffered from faulty ailerons; this error was subsequently traced to the use of unskilled labour. By the end of the conflict, over 10,000 Canadians were employed on the production line, which was producing one Lancaster each day.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Lancaster B.I was never fully superseded in production by a successor model, remaining in production until February 1946. According to aviation authors Brian Goulding and M. Garbett, the Lancaster B.I altered little during its production life, partially as a result of the sound basic structure and design; of the visible changes, the fuselage side windows were deleted, the Perspex chin of the bomb-aimer was enlarged, and a larger astrodome was provided. Various additional bumps and blisters were also added, which typically housed radar equipment and radio navigational aids. Some Lancaster B.I bombers were outfitted with bulged bomb bay doors in order to accommodate increased armament payloads.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Early production Lancaster B.Is were outfitted with a ventral gun turret position. In response to feedback on the lack of application for the ventral turret, the ventral turret was often eliminated during the course of each aircraft's career. While some groups chose to discard the position entirely, various trials and experiments were performed at RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire and by individual squadrons. A total of 50 Austin-built Lancaster B.Is was constructed to a non-standard configuration, having a Frazer Nash turret installed directly above the bomb bay; however, this modification was largely unpopular due to its obstruction of the internal walkway, hindering crew movements. Various other turret configurations were adopted by individual squadrons, which included the removal of various combinations of turrets.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The "Lancaster B.III" was powered by Packard Merlin engines, which had been built overseas in the United States, but was otherwise identical to contemporary B.Is. In total, 3,030 B.IIIs were constructed, almost all of them at Avro's Newton Heath factory. The Lancaster B.I and B.III were manufactured concurrently and minor modifications were made to both marks as further batches were ordered. The B.I and B.III designations were effectively interchangeable simply by changing the engines used, which was occasionally done in practice. Examples of modifications made include the relocation of the pitot head from the nose to the side of the cockpit and the change from de Havilland "needle blade" propellers to Hamilton Standard or Nash Kelvinator made "paddle blade" propellers.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Avro Lancaster was a British four-engined strategic bomber that was used as the RAF's principal heavy bomber during the latter half of the Second World War. The typical aircraft was powered by an arrangement of four wing-mounted Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engines, each of which drove a diameter de Havilland Hydromatic three-bladed propeller. While not optimal, the Lancaster was capable of flying the return journey home on only two operational engines, along with very limited distances on a single running engine. Aviation authors Brian Goulding and M. Garbett have claimed that experienced Lancaster pilots were often able to out-manoeuver Luftwaffe fighters. It possessed largely favourable flying characteristics, having been described by Goulding and Garbett as being: "a near-perfect flying machine, fast for its size and very smooth...such a delightfully easy aeroplane to fly...there are instances of Lancasters having been looped and barrel-rolled, both intentionally and otherwise".


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Lancaster benefited from a structure that possessed considerable strength and durability, which had been intentionally designed to maximise structural strength-per-weight; this resulted in the Lancaster being capable of withstanding some levels of damage resulting from attacks by hostile interceptor aircraft and ground-based anti-aircraft batteries. However, during the first year of the type's career, some instances of structural failures were encountered on Lancaster B.Is and a number of aircraft were lost in accidents as a result of the design limitations having been greatly exceeded. Compared with other contemporary aircraft, the Lancaster was not an easy aircraft to escape from as its escape hatch was only in size; in a Halifax or Stirling (which both had an escape hatch wider), 25 per cent of downed aircrew bailed out successfully, and in American bombers (albeit in daylight raids) it was as high as a 50 per cent success rate while only 15 per cent of the Lancaster crew were able to bail out.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Lancaster uses a mid-wing cantilever monoplane configuration. The wing is constructed from five separate main sections while the fuselage is likewise composed of five sections. Aside from a few elements, such as the fabric-covered ailerons, the Lancaster's oval-shaped fuselage had an all-metal covering. All of the wing and fuselage sections were manufactured separately, during which they were outfitted with all of the required equipment in advance of final assembly being performed, as a measure intended to accelerate the rate of production. The Lancaster was equipped with a retractable main undercarriage and fixed tailwheel; the hydraulically-actuated main landing gear raised rearwards into recesses within the inner engine nacelles. The distinctive tail unit of the aircraft was outfitted with a large twin elliptical fins and rudder arrangement.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Like any aeroplane, the Lancaster was not viceless in its handling. In a dive, it had a tendency to go more deeply into the dive as speed increased. Not all aeroplanes did this, for example, the Halifax tended to get increasingly tail-heavy as speed increased, and thus fly itself out of the dive. Furthermore the Lancaster suffered longitudinal instability at speeds above .


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The standard crew for a Lancaster consisted of seven men, stationed in various positions in the fuselage. Starting at the nose, the bomb aimer had two positions to man. His primary location was lying prone on the floor of the nose of the aircraft, with access to the bombsight controls facing forward, with the Mark XIV bomb sight on his left and bomb release selectors on the right. He also used his view through the large transparent perspex nose cupola to assist the navigator with map reading. To man the Frazer Nash FN5 nose turret, he stood up placing himself in position behind the triggers of the twin .303 in (7.7 mm) guns. Ammunition for the turret was 1,000 rounds per gun (rpg). The bomb aimer's position contained the nose emergency hatch in the floor; at (two inches narrower than the Halifax escape hatch) it was difficult to exit through while wearing a parachute. Operational research experts, including British scientist Freeman Dyson, amongst others, attempted unsuccessfully to have the escape hatch enlarged.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: On the roof of the bomb bay the pilot and flight engineer sat side by side under the expansive canopy, with the pilot sitting on the left on a raised portion of the floor (almost all British bombers, and most German bombers, had only a single pilot seat as opposed to the American practice of carrying two pilots, or at least having controls for two pilots installed). The flight engineer sat on a collapsible seat (known as a "second dicky seat") to the pilot's right, with the fuel selectors and gauges on a panel behind him and to his right. The pilot and other crew members could use the panel above the cockpit as an auxiliary emergency exit while the mid-upper gunner was expected to use the rear entrance door to leave the aircraft. The tail gunner escaped by rotating his turret to the rear, opening the door in the back of the turret, passing into the fuselage, and clipping on a parachute that was hung on the side wall. He could then exit through the rear entrance door.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Behind the pilot and flight engineer, and behind a curtain fitted to allow him to use light to work, sat the navigator. His position faced to port with a chart table in front of him. An instrument panel showing the airspeed, altitude, and other information required for navigation was mounted on the side of the fuselage above the chart table. The wireless operator's radios were mounted on the left-hand end of the chart table, facing the rear of the aircraft. Behind these and facing forwards the wireless operator sat on a seat at the front of the main spar. On his left was a window, and above him was the astrodome, used for visual signalling and by the navigator for celestial navigation.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Behind the wireless operator were the two spars of the wing, which created a major obstacle for crew members moving down the fuselage even on the ground. At the end of the bomb bay was the mid-upper gunner's turret, at which the floor dropped down to the fuselage's bottom. His position allowed a 360° view over the top of the aircraft, with two Browning .303 Mark IIs to protect the aircraft from above and to the side. The mid-upper gunner sat on a rectangle of canvas that was slung beneath the turret and would stay in position throughout the flight. The turret had 1,000 rounds of ammunition per gun.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: To the rear of the turret was the side crew door, on the starboard side of the fuselage. This was the main entrance to the aircraft, and also could be used as an emergency exit. The Elsan chemical toilet, a type of aircraft lavatory, was located near the spars for the tailplane. At the extreme tail-end of the fuselage, the rear gunner sat in his exposed position in the tail turret, which was entered through a small hatch in the rear of the fuselage. Depending on the size of the rear gunner, the area was so cramped that the gunner would often hang his parachute on a hook inside the fuselage, near the turret doors. Neither the mid-upper nor the rear gunner's position was heated, and the gunners had to wear electrically heated suits to prevent hypothermia and frostbite.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Avro Lancaster was initially equipped with four Nash & Thompson Frazer Nash hydraulically operated turrets mounted in the nose, tail, mid-upper and underside. The original tail turret was equipped with four Browning .303 Mark II machine guns and all other turrets with two such machine guns.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Late on in the war, Freeman Dyson (as a 19-year-old who had yet to win a degree) put forward a case for the removal of the majority of the Lancaster's defensive armament. He argued that this would reduce the loss rate by increasing the Lancaster's cruising speed by up to (assuming the bomb load was not increased), making the bomber harder to intercept. He also claimed reducing defensive air gunners would reduce human losses incurred with each aircraft lost. However this neglects the fact that the two main Luftwaffe night fighters of the time, the Messerschmitt Bf 110 and the Junkers Ju 88 night fighters were capable of over , thus a increase over the Lancaster's normal cruising speed of around , giving a speed of , still left the Lancaster vulnerable to interception. The introduction of the Heinkel He 219 and Messerschmitt Me 262 night fighters erased any speed advantage and would have left the aircraft undefended. Consequently, Dyson's proposal was not adopted.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Only the FN-5A nose turret which was similar to the FN-5 used on the preceding Avro Manchester, the Vickers Wellington and the Short Stirling remained unchanged during the life of the design, except in instances where it was removed entirely.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The ventral (underside) FN-64 turret quickly proved to be dead weight, being both difficult to sight because it relied on a periscope which limited the gunner's view to a 20-degree arc, and too slow to keep a target within its sights. Aside from early B.Is and the prototype B.IIs, the FN-64 was almost never used. When the Luftwaffe began using "Schräge Musik" to make attacks from below in the winter of 1943/1944, modifications were made, including downward observation blisters mounted behind the bomb aimer's blister and official and unofficial mounts for machine guns or even cannon, firing through the ventral holes of the removed FN-64. The fitting of these guns was hampered as the same ventral position was used for mounting the H2S blister, which limited installations to those aircraft fitted with bulged bomb bays which interfered with the H2S.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The mid-upper (dorsal or top) turret was an FN-50 on early examples and the very similar FN-150 with improved sights and controls on later examples. On all but the earliest examples, this turret was surrounded by a coaming which provided a track for a cam-operated interrupter device which prevented the gunner from shooting the tail of his own aircraft. The Mk.VII and late Mk.X Lancasters used the heavier, electrically-controlled Martin 250 CE 23A turret equipped with two machine guns which was mounted further forward to preserve the aircraft's longitudinal balance, and because it had an internal mechanism to prevent firing on the aircraft itself, it did not require a coaming. Other experimental turrets were tried out, including the FN-79 and the Boulton-Paul Type H barbette system.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The tail turret was the most important defensive position and carried the heaviest armament. Despite this, the turrets used, starting with the FN-20, were never entirely satisfactory and numerous designs were tried. The FN-20 was replaced by the very similar FN-120 which used an improved gyroscopic gun sight (GGS). Many rear gunners insisted on having the centre section of perspex removed from the turret to improve visibility. The transparencies were difficult to see through at night, particularly when trying to keep watch for enemy night fighters that appeared without notice astern and below the aircraft when getting into position to open fire. This removal of perspex from the turret was called the "Gransden Lodge" modification. Ammunition for the tail turret was 2,500 rounds per gun. Due to the weight, the ammunition was stored in tanks situated near the mid-upper turret's position and fed rearward in runways down the back of the fuselage to the turret.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Gunners using both the FN-20 and 120 removed perspex and armour from the turret to improve visibility, but trials by the RAF showed that a Mosquito night fighter was still able to get within a very short distance of the tail gunner without being spotted, confirming what the Luftwaffe had already realised. The Rose turret attempted to improve on the FN turrets by being completely open to the rear (improving visibility and allowing easier emergency egress) and by being fitted with two machine guns. It was installed in a small number of Lancasters but never became common.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Ultimately radar, rather than improved visibility, made the turret more effective. The FN-121 was the Automatic Gun Laying Turret (AGLT), an FN-120 fitted with "Village Inn" gun-laying radar. Aircraft fitted with Village Inn were used as bait, flying behind the main formations to confront the night fighters that followed the formations and shot down stragglers. This significantly reduced operational losses; and gun-laying radar was added to the last versions of the turret. Before the end of the war Lancasters built in the UK standardised on the FN-82 fitted with two machine guns and a gun-laying radar as production allowed, which was also used on early models of the Avro Lincoln. The disadvantage of all radar and radio transmitting systems is that attacking forces can locate aircraft by picking up transmissions.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: An important feature of the Lancaster was its unobstructed long bomb bay. At first, the heaviest bomb carried was the high capacity HC "Cookie". Bulged doors were added to 30 per cent of B.Is to allow the aircraft to carry and later "Cookies". The Lancaster also carried a variety of smaller weapons, including the Small Bomb Container (SBC) which held 236 or 24 incendiary and explosive incendiary bomblets; and General Purpose High Explosive (GP/HE) bombs (these came in a variety of designs); parachute deployed magnetic or acoustic mines, or armour-piercing (AP) bombs; Semi-Armour-Piercing (SAP) bombs, used up to 1942 against submarines; post-1942: or anti-submarine depth charges.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: In 1943, 617 Squadron was created to carry out Operation Chastise, the raid against the Ruhr dams. This unit was equipped with B.III (Specials), officially designated the "Type 464 (Provisioning)", modified to carry the "Upkeep" bouncing bomb. The bomb bay doors were removed and the ends of the bomb bay were covered with fairings. "Upkeep" was suspended on laterally pivoted, vee-shaped struts which sprang apart beamwise when the bomb-release button was pressed. A drive belt and pulley to rotate the bomb at 500 rpm was mounted on the starboard strut and driven by a hydraulic motor housed in the forward fairing. The mid-upper turret was removed and a more bulbous bomb aimer's blister was fitted; this, as "Mod. 780", later became standard on all Lancasters, while the bombsight was replaced by a simple aiming device that consisted of a simple triangle of wood with a peephole at one corner and a nail in each of the other corners such that at the correct distance the nails coincided with the towers on the dams. Because each dam was a different width between the towers, each plane carried two or three different sights. Two Aldis lights were fitted in the rear bomb bay fairing, aimed forward so the bomb aimer could see the converging lights below his blister in the nose; the optimum height for dropping "Upkeep" was and, when shone on the relatively smooth waters of the dam's reservoirs, the light beams converged into a figure 8 when the Lancaster was flying at the correct height.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: After the 'Dam Busters' raid 617 Squadron was converted to a high-altitude precision bombing squadron in preparation for the arrival of Barnes Wallis's forthcoming Earthquake bombs for attacking special and hardened targets, and while they were training for this the bouncing bomb variants of B.I Specials had the spars and equipment removed and were then modified to carry the long "Tallboy" bomb, a scaled-down version of the upcoming long "Grand Slam" "earthquake" bombs which were still being built. Aircraft intended to carry the "Grand Slam" required extensive modifications. These included the removal of the dorsal turret and of two guns from the rear turret, the removal of the cockpit armour plating (the pilot's seatback), and the installation of Rolls-Royce Merlin Mk 24 engines for better take-off performance. The bomb bay doors were removed and the rear end of the bomb bay cut away to clear the tail of the bomb. Later the nose turret was also removed to further improve performance. A strengthened undercarriage and stronger mainwheels, later used by the Avro Lincoln, were fitted.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: 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.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: During early 1942, No. 44 Squadron, based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, became the first RAF squadron to convert to the Lancaster; it was quickly followed by No. 97 Squadron, which was also based at Waddington. On 2 March 1942, the first operational mission of the Lancaster, deploying naval mines in the vicinity of Heligoland Bight, was performed by aircraft of No. 44 Sqn; a planned mission against the had been rescheduled due to poor weather conditions. On 10 March 1942, the type's first bombing mission was conducted over the German city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: All Lancasters were temporarily grounded after a crash on 20 March in Boston, Lincolnshire; this was lifted after each aircraft had been inspected for signs of buckling on the upper wing surface. The first recorded casualties amongst Lancaster crews were recorded on 24 March 1942 with the loss of "R5493" to anti-aircraft fire over Lorient. Due to the high loss rates typically involved in such operations, daytime bombing missions were performed sparingly until the Allies had achieved a level of aerial supremacy over the Axis powers.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: On 17 April 1942, 12 Lancasters of No. 44 and No. 99 Squadrons undertook a bombing raid on the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg A.G., Augsburg engine manufacturing plant in Southern Germany; despite flying at low altitude, three bombers were shot down by Luftwaffe Bf 109s over France, and at least two more were lost to anti-aircraft fire at the factory itself. Nonetheless, the factory was successfully bombed, a feat that was personally hailed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the aftermath. The attack revealed the existence of the Lancaster to both Germany and the British public alike. On 27 April, an unsuccessful small-scale attack on Tirpitz was performed by Lancasters of both No. 44 and No. 99 Squadrons.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: On the night of 30/31 May 1942, the Lancaster participated in Operation Millenium, the first 1,000 bomber raid against the German city of Cologne. By this point, the number of Lancasters in operational service had surpassed those of the preceding Manchester. On 12 June, the first use of the type by RAF Coastal Command, having loaned aircraft from RAF Bomber Command, commenced; it was used to conduct long range anti-U-boat operations, reportedly attacking two on 15 June.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Additional large-scale raids were performed against Emden between 19 and 23 June, and against Bremen between 25 and 29 June, the latter reportedly dealing considerable damage to the Focke-Wulf aircraft works. 40 Lancasters also flew an ineffective long-range raid upon Danzig, arriving after dusk and thus unable to effectively bomb its port to disrupt U-boat construction. On 31 July, 20% of Bomber Command's strength was directed against Dusseldorf, focused on Schiess A.G.'s machine tool manufacturing plant. The tempo of Lancaster operations rose to a new height in August 1942, major raids were flown against targets in the Ruhr, Duisburg, and in the Baltic Sea. An emphasis was placed upon aiding the Battle of the Atlantic by hindering the German Navy. Often, when the weather was deemed to be unsuitable for bombing missions, night-time mine-laying operations were flown instead.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: A major improvement to night-time bombing came with the implementation of the Pathfinder Force (PFF) in August 1942, multiple squadrons were transferred from Bomber Command groups to constitute the new unit. These pathfinders were tasked with flying ahead of bomber formations to locate and mark targets using Target Indicator flares to improve the accuracy of strikes by the following aircraft. Early PFF operations produced mixed results, but did prove decisive on 27/28 August against Kassel and the three factories of the Henschel aircraft company in the city. That same night, 12 Lancasters of No. 106 Squadron flew to Gdynia, armed with newly-developed anti-capital ship bombs, intending to hit the battleships "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau," as well as the aircraft carrier "Graf Zeppelin", but did not manage to hit any ships due to a persistent haze.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: While the Lancaster had been designed to conduct night-time operations, daylight raids were occasionally performed by the type as well. Occasionally, lone Lancasters would be dispatched to perform decoy raids on key manufacturing sites, such as munitions factories, with the intention of being spotted to cause workers to go to air raid shelters, thus disrupting production. On 17 October 1942, an audacious daytime raid was performed by 90 Lancasters of No. 5 Group, the bombing of the Schneider Works at Le Creusot, France; only a single aircraft, "W4774", was lost during the course of the mission. Losses were avoided by measures such as flying beneath German radar cover, aerial reconnaissance along the intended route, and the strict observation of secrecy.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: In late October 1942, the first Lancaster bombing missions over Italy were performed; on 22 and 23, the cities of Genoa and Turin were struck at night-time. On 24 October, the Italian city of Milan was raided by roughly 60 Lancasters during the daytime; railway infrastructure was a priority target for these attacks. These bombers had been escorted across the Channel by Spitfires before breaking formation to individually fly at low altitude to reach and fly over the Alps; a total of three were reportedly shot down by enemy fighters. During November, targets in Italy and Germany were alternatively attacked by Lancasters, striking the city of Osnabrück multiple times, conducting a heavy raid against Turin, and destroying supplies for the Afrika Korps in Genoa. Only eight bombing missions were conducted during all of December, the most prominent of which being against Duisburg, due to poor prevailing weather conditions.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Throughout 1942, the Lancaster remained in relatively short supply; consequently, both training and crew conversion courses typically had to be performed by the squadrons themselves; there were no aircraft furnished with dual controls at this time, and pilots would therefore have to perform their first flight without their instructors being capable of directly acting on the controls themselves. Furthermore, each Lancaster had its own ground crew early on; centralised servicing was introduced later. By the end of the year, a total of 16 operational squadrons had been stood up while around 200 Lancasters were under Bomber Command.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: On 16 January 1943, the German capital city of Berlin was raided for the first time in over a year; conducted by an all-Lancaster force, the Berlin raid was fairly inconsequential beyond its psychological impact, not causing meaningful damage to either side. The first radial engined Lancasters were also introduced to service during January, alongside some new bombing aids. On 4 February, 198 Lancasters raided the city of Turin; days later, 466 Lancasters attacked Lorient, and an all-Lancaster force of 142 aircraft attacked Milan on 14 February. On 28 February, 86 Lancasters attacked the occupied French city of Saint-Nazaire; the next day, 79 Lancasters bombed Berlin. On 5 March, the Battle of the Ruhr strategic bombing campaign was launched by Bomber Command. The initial attack on Essen comprised 412 bombers, 140 of which were Lancasters. In order to cope with the higher attrition rate from these operations, a three-fold increase in production was enacted.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: On 15 April, Stuttgart was raided by a large force of Lancasters; on the following day, Plzeň was similarly struck, although much of the intended attack upon the Škoda Works was unintentionally directed towards a large asylum instead; other targets that month included Stettin, Duisburg, and the Ruhr. The majority of strategic bombing missions flown during May were also directed towards the Ruhr region.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Perhaps the most famous single mission performed by the Lancaster was flown on 16–17 May 1943, codenamed Operation Chastise, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley. The operation was carried out by No. 617 Squadron, which had been formed less than two months prior. They flew modified Lancaster Mk IIIs that were armed with special drum-shaped bouncing bombs; these had been specially designed by the British engineer Barnes Wallis; the Lancaster was the only bomber at the time capable of bearing the weapon. A total of 19 aircraft were dispatched on the operation, setting off in the evening and flying at very low altitudes most of the way to avoid detection. Initial attacks targeted the Mohne Dam until it was breached, then moved on to the Eder Dam, and then the Sorpe Dam and Ennepe Dam. The story of the operation was later made into a book, and subsequently a film, "The Dam Busters".


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Ruhr continued to be intensely raided by Bomber Command for months following Operation Chastise with the aim of suppressing the region's industrial output. In June, Lancasters begun operating in North Africa using the tactic of shuttle bombing from airfields in Blida and Maison Blanche. This was a key element of Operation Bellicose, the bombing of a German radar factory in the former Zeppelin Works at Friedrichshafen and the Italian naval base at La Spezia. On 12 July, an all-Lancaster force performed the biggest-yet bombing raid on Turin in support of the recently-launched Italian Campaign. Further missions across the country were flown throughout this month, often focusing on electrical and railway infrastructure.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: During late July and early August 1943, large numbers of Lancasters participated in the devastating round-the-clock raids on the city of Hamburg during Air Chief Marshal Harris's Operation Gomorrah. On the night of 27 July, 787 RAF aircraft, comprising 74 Vickers Wellingtons, 116 Short Stirlings, 244 Handley Page Halifaxes and 353 Avro Lancasters, bombed the city. An estimated 18,474 people died on this night alone, despite many of victims being within air raid shelters and cellars, as the widespread fires across the city led to carbon monoxide poisoning. Altogether, 8,621 tons of bombs were dropped on Hamburg by the end of the operation.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: On the night of 17/18 August, Operation Hydra was conducted against the Peenemünde Army Research Center, the site of the V-2 rocket and other German guided missiles and munitions; 17 Lancasters were lost in the costly but successful attack, mainly to German night fighters. Five days later, Lancasters struck numerous chemical works across Germany, including those in Leverkusen and Düsseldorf. On 23 August, a major raid on Berlin was conducted, dropping roughly 1,700 tons of bombs on the city; German night fighters responded, causing a 5.4% loss rate amongst Lancasters, while the Halifax and Stirling bombers suffered 8.8% and 12.9% loss rates respectively. Numerous strikes on the German capital occurred over the following weeks, sometimes by an all-Lancaster force.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: In September, Hanover was subjected to the most concentrated bombing raid of the war so far. In October, the widespread bombing of numerous German cities took place, targeting Munich, Kassel, Frankfurt, Offenbach, Ludwigshafen, Stuttgart, Friedrichshafen, and Leipzig, along with other targets. By this point, the Royal Canadian Air Force had stood up its own operational squadrons equipped with Lancasters, and proceeded with offensive action over Germany in this same month.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: In late 1943, Air Chief Marshal Harris advocated to Churchill for the persistent bombing of Berlin in preference to earlier targets such as the Ruhr. Between 15 November 1943 and 24 November 1944, sixteen major bombing operations were conducted against the German capital in the Battle of Berlin; of the 9,111 sorties flown, 7,256 had been performed by Lancasters. These raids, while often incurring in costly losses, were typically deemed to have been 'most satisfactory' by senior officials. In March 1944, the Berlin raids were somewhat lessened as a compromise, Bomber Command having been directed to destroy enemy communications and other targets around France and the Low Countries ahead of the Normandy landings on D-Day.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: During April 1944, key targets in France included railway hubs in Villeneuve, Rouen, and Juvisy. Special operations were flown against specific ammunition depots, munitions factories, and coastal batteries in advance of the Allied invasion. Around this time, Lancasters would also provide direct support to the local operations of field forces. By May, Bomber Command had a daily average operating strength of roughly 1,100 aircraft, 616 of which were Lancasters, 354 were Halifaxes, 72 Mosquitos, and 58 Stirlings; between 300 and 400 bombers were being deployed every night, dependent on weather conditions. In May and June, extensive operations were flown against the fortifications of the Atlantic Wall. The first combat use of Barnes Wallis' 'Tallboy' bombs occurred around this time.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: On 14 June, the first large-scale daylight bombing raid since 1942 was conducted using Lancasters against enemy shipping at the harbours of Le Harve and Boulogne. These daylight raids quickly became frequent as, due to a shortage of oil, the Luftwaffe were increasingly incapable of mounting opposition; to further this difficulty for their opponent, Lancasters were directed against numerous oil installations. In conjunction, low-level nighttime bombing raids continued, but the emphasis shifted away from the strategic bombing of German industry in favour of directly attacking military concentrations, such as U-boat pens and V-1 flying bomb launch sites.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: During July, in the days following the Normandy landings, Lancasters heavily bombed the city of Caen repeatedly. On 24 August, eight Tallboys were dropped in a daylight attack on the U-boat pens at IJmuiden, two direct hits were recorded. Multiple raids on V-1 launch sites and enemy shipping were also performed during August; the partially constructed battleship "Clemenceau" was one of the targets that were struck around this time. September saw a heavy focus on airfields in Holland, as well as repeated raids on German-held Le Harve and oil targets in the Ruhr. On 17 September, precision strikes were performed on Boulogne only 200 yards from the Allied lines.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: In October, Lancasters repeatedly struck the sea wall at Westkapelle, seeing to prevent the Germans from intentionally flooding neighbouring lands to delay Allied ground forces. Extensive daylight raids were performed during the month; cities such as Cologne, Walcheren, and Bergen were targeted by hundreds of Lancasters. Bomber operations proceeded in both day and nighttime against industrial towns, airfields, communications, and troop concentrations into December; one such operation was flown against the E-boat pens at Rotterdam on 29 December.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Throughout the latter half of 1944, a series of high-profile bombing missions were performed by the Lancaster against the . Executed by Nos. 617 and 9 Sqns, a combination of Lancaster B.I and B.III bombers were armed with Tallboy bombs and were adapted with enlarged bomb bay doors in order to accommodate their special payloads and additional fuel tanks to provide the necessary endurance. A total of three attacks, individually codenamed Operation Paravane, Operation Obviate and Operation Catechism, were conducted against "Tirpitz", which was anchored in a fjord in Occupied Norway. The first of these attacks disabled the vessel while the third mission was responsible for sinking the ship. Due to actions such as Operation Chastise and the sinking of "Tirpitz", No. 617 Sqn was perhaps the most famous of all Lancaster squadrons.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: On 1 January 1945, the Dortmund–Ems Canal was attacked by Lancasters, hitting it at a vulnerable section near Ladbergen. An attack on Pforzheim on 23 February was described by aviation author Bruce Robertson as amongst the most concentrated and successful flown in the conflict. In the final months of the war, Lancasters were encountering the newly-developed Messerschmitt Me 262, the first jet-powered fighter aircraft, sometimes flying in formations of up to 40 aircraft.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: During early 1945, a total of 33 Lancaster B.Is were modified so that they could deploy the Grand Slam bomb, the heaviest conventional bomb to be used during the conflict. On 13 March 1945, the first operational use of the Grand Slam was performed by a Lancaster of No. 617 Sqn against the Bielefeld viaduct in North Rhine-Westphalia; this target had not yet been rendered inoperable despite being damaged by prior conventional bombing. The Tallboy strike successfully destroyed roughly 100 yards of the viaduct's length; additional viaducts, such as at Arnsberg, were promptly targeted by the squadron thereafter.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: By April 1945, there were in excess of 1,000 Lancasters in frontline service, dwarfing the numbers of Halifaxes and Mosquitos operated by Bomber Command at that time. Key industrial sites, such as the Auguste Viktoria benzol factory, were struck, while oil installations continued to be a prominent target of bombing raids in the hope of exacerbating the German fuel shortage. Amongst the final wartime operations performed by the Lancaster was the Bombing of Obersalzberg, aimed at the destruction of "Eagle's Nest", the extensive holiday home complex used by German leader Adolf Hitler. Unusually, the BBC were permitted to announce the raid before it was completed.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: RAF Lancasters dropped food into the Holland region of the occupied Netherlands, with the acquiescence of the occupying German forces, to feed people who were in danger of starvation. The mission was named 'Operation Manna' after the food manna which is said to have miraculously appeared for the Israelites in the Book of Exodus. The aircraft involved were from 1, 3, and 8 Groups, and consisted of 145 Mosquitos and 3,156 Lancasters, flying between them a total of 3,298 sorties. The first of the two RAF Lancasters chosen for the test flight was nicknamed "Bad Penny" from the old expression: "a bad penny always turns up." This bomber, with a crew of seven men (five Canadians including pilot Robert Upcott of Windsor, Ontario), took off in bad weather on the morning of 29 April 1945 without a ceasefire agreement from the German forces, and successfully dropped its cargo.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Lancaster conducted a total of 156,000 sorties and dropped of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Only 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations and was ultimately retired from service and scrapped in 1947. From 1942 onwards, the Lancaster became the mainstay of the British heavy bomber fleet; by the end of the war in Europe, there were roughly 50 squadrons equipped with the Lancaster, the majority of these being the Lancaster B.I model. From its entry into service, the original model of the Lancaster was operated in almost every major bombing raid of the European conflict.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Adolf Galland (commander of the Luftwaffe fighters) considered the Lancaster to be "the best night bomber of the war", as did his adversary, Arthur "Bomber" Harris, who referred to it as Bomber Command's "shining sword". Goulding and Garbett wrote that: "The achievements of the Lancaster and the men who flew it have been widely acclaimed, and the aircraft has been described as the greatest single factor in winning WWII, an exaggeration but a pardonable one".


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Lancasters from Bomber Command were to have formed the main strength of Tiger Force, the Commonwealth bomber contingent scheduled to take part in Operation Downfall, the codename for the planned invasion of Japan in late 1945. Aircraft allocated to the Tiger Force were painted in white with black undersides and outfitted with additional radio units and navigational aids to facilitate their use in the Pacific theatre. The addition of large saddle-type external fuel tanks was considered and trialled in Australia and India, but this was discontinued due to their perceived vulnerability to attack. Together with the new Avro Lincoln and Liberators, the bombers would have operated from bases on Okinawa; the envisioned invasion did not happen when such action was made unnecessary by the surrender of Japan.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Prior to the decision to carry out extensive modifications under Silverplate to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress to allow it to deliver atomic bombs over Japan, serious consideration was given to using the Lancaster with its cavernous bomb bay instead. Using the Lancaster would have required much less modification to the aircraft itself, but would have necessitated additional crew training for the USAAF crews. Major General Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project, and General Henry H. Arnold, the Chief of United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), wished to use an American plane if this was at all possible.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: As a byproduct of its sound design and operational success, various developments and derivatives of the Lancaster were produced for both military and civilian purposes. One of these was the Avro Lincoln bomber, initially designated Lancaster IV and Lancaster V which became the Lincoln B.1 and B.2 respectively. A civilian airliner was converted from the Lancaster with the addition of nose and tail fairings and seats, as the Lancastrian and a similar aircraft was derived from the Lincoln as the Lincolnian. Other developments included the York, a transport with a much larger square section fuselage, and via the Lincoln, the Shackleton maritime patrol aircraft which continued in RAF service in that role until replaced by the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod in the early 1970s, but saw further service as an airborne early warning (AEW) system until finally retired in 1991. The Tudor airliner also used the Lincoln wings, but with a new tubular fuselage.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Lancaster remained in use for several years after the end of the war, during which a number of high-profile operations were conducted.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: During the summer of 1946, No. 35 Squadron Lancasters toured the United States and were autographed by various American movie stars, and retained these until their retirements. A pair of Lancasters, "PD328" and "PB873", performed several long-distance flights, including round-the-world and trans-polar trips.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Lancaster remained at the forefront of RAF Bomber Command while the Lancaster B.I was gradually replaced by the improved Lancaster B.I (F/E) and B.VII (F/E) models. During 1947–1948, No. 82 Squadron received new PR.1 dedicated photo-reconnaissance model derived from the Lancaster B.1 which was painted silver and lacked defensive turrets. These carried out aerial surveys of Central and East Africa and at least one was operated by the Ministry of Aviation. RAF Coastal Command received a small number of grey-painted Lancaster MR.1s, which were normally based at RAF Kinloss, Moray Firth.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Lancaster continued to be operated in significant numbers until the introduction of the Avro Lincoln, a development of the Lancaster. The Lincoln was not available in quantity for several years following the end of the conflict, and it took until December 1953 for the final Bomber Command Lancaster to be retired. The last Lancaster in active service with the RAF, a reconnaissance aircraft, is believed to have been retired in late 1954.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Avro overhauled 59 Lancaster B.Is and B.VIIs at Woodford and Langar which were delivered to the French "Aéronavale" during 1952/53, which were flown until the mid-1960s by four squadrons stationed in France and New Caledonia in the maritime reconnaissance and search-and-rescue roles.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Between 1948 and 1949, 15 former RAF Lancasters were overhauled at Langar for use by the Argentine Air Force. During its Argentine service, Lancasters were used offensively in suppressing and supporting military coups.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Beginning in 1946, Lancaster Mk Xs were modified for service with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Fourteen were modified to perform aerial and photo-reconnaissance missions; these would go on to perform much of the mapping of northern Canada until as late as 1962. Throughout the 1950s, the RCAF operated seventy modified Lancasters, designated "Lancaster 10MR/MPs", as Maritime Reconnaissance and Patrol aircraft in an anti-submarine role. Modifications involved the installation of radar and sonobuoy operators' positions, removal of the rear and mid-upper gun turrets, installation of a 400-gallon fuel tank in the bomb bay to increase the patrol range, upgraded electronics, radar, and instrumentation, and a cooking stove in the centre section. They served throughout the 1950s, when they were supplemented by the Lockheed Neptune and finally replaced by the Canadair Argus.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Immediately following the end of hostilities, the Lancaster was used without any major modifications as a transport aircraft, being used to ferry thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) back to the British Isles from across the continent. Repatriation flights returning POWs and ordinary troops continued until November 1945.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Civil conversions of the type continued during the initial postwar years. In 1946, four Lancasters were converted by Avro at Bracebridge Heath, Lincolnshire as freighters for use by British South American Airways, but proved to be uneconomical, and were withdrawn after a year in service. In addition, four Lancaster IIIs were converted by Flight Refuelling Limited as two pairs of tanker and receiver aircraft for the development of in-flight refuelling. In 1947, one aircraft was flown non-stop from London to Bermuda. Later on, these two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster; these saw use during the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: From 1943 to 1947, the Canadian Government Trans-Atlantic Air Service (CGTAS) provided a trans-Atlantic military passenger and postal delivery service using a modified long-distance transport version of the Lancaster Mark X. Nine of these aircraft were produced, referred to as Lancaster XPPs (for Lancaster Mk.X Passenger Planes), and each was equipped with rudimentary passenger facilities. The inaugural flight from Dorval (Montreal) to Prestwick, Scotland on 22 July 1943, was completed non-stop in a record 12:26 hours; the average crossing time was about 13:25 hours. By the end of the war, these aircraft had completed hundreds of trips across the Atlantic. CGTAS ushered in the era of commercial air travel across the North Atlantic, and in 1947 the service became part of Trans-Canada Air Lines, which carried paying civilian passengers in the Lancaster XPPs until they were replaced by Douglas DC-4s in 1947.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Of the 17 surviving and largely intact Lancasters known to exist, two are airworthy; one, PA474, based at Coningsby (in Lincolnshire, UK), is operated by The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and the other, named "Vera" (coded VR-A, FM213), is in Canada, operated by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, a suburb of Hamilton, Ontario. Another Lancaster, "Just Jane", NX611, a B MkVII, based in East Kirkby Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre is able to taxi but is not currently airworthy, though there are plans to return it to flight in the future. The fourth Lancaster with working engines and able to taxi is Bazalgette FM159 based at the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta. It has been carefully restored from a vandalised state and is now a main tourist attraction.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: In 2017, formally retired after its Cold War service and more than 50 years on display in Edmundston, New Brunswick, Lancaster KB 882 moved to its new home at the National Air Force Museum of Canada in Trenton, Ontario, where it is to be restored and placed alongside the museum's restored RAF Handley Page Halifax heavy bomber. NA 337


title: Avro Lancaster

text: For the 2018 flying season, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Operation Chastise, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Lancaster was painted in the markings of Guy Gibson's 617 Squadron aircraft (Code AJ-G, ED932) when he commanded the "Dambusters" raids.


title: Avro Lancaster

text: Many Lancaster crew members were highly decorated for their actions while flying the aircraft. Amongst those who received the Victoria Cross were:


title: Avro Lancaster

text: The Avro Lancaster featured prominently in the 1955 film "The Dam Busters", and a number of B VII Lancasters in storage were modified to the original configuration of the B.III (Special) for use on screen. Lancasters play a prominent part in "Appointment in London" with Dirk Bogarde.


title: Sally Struthers

text: Sally Anne Struthers (born July 28, 1947) is an American actress and activist. She played Gloria Stivic, the daughter of Archie and Edith Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton) on "All in the Family", for which she won two Emmy awards, and Babette on "Gilmore Girls". She was also the voice of Charlene Sinclair on the ABC sitcom "Dinosaurs" and Rebecca Cunningham on the Disney animated series "TaleSpin".


title: Sally Struthers

text: Sally Anne Struthers was born July 28, 1947, in Portland, Oregon, the second of two daughters born to Margaret Caroline (née Jernes) and Robert Alden Struthers, a surgeon. She has an older sister, Sue. Her maternal grandparents were Norwegian immigrants.


title: Sally Struthers

text: Her father abandoned the family when Struthers was approximately nine years old, after which she was raised by her single mother in the Concordia neighborhood of northeast Portland. Her mother, who supported herself and her two daughters working at Bonneville Power Administration, suffered from significant depression during Struthers' childhood.


title: Sally Struthers

text: In "Five Easy Pieces" (1970) Struthers was cast opposite Jack Nicholson. She appeared as a restless wife of a veterinarian in "The Getaway" (1972). Around that time Struthers debuted as Gloria Stivic on the 1970s sitcom "All in the Family". Producer Norman Lear had found the actress dancing on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour".


title: Sally Struthers

text: According to a WPTT radio interview with Doug Hoerth in 2003, Struthers thought that Reiner's then-fiancée and later wife, Penny Marshall, would get the role of Gloria, as Marshall more resembled Jean Stapleton, who played Edith Bunker. Actress Candice Azzara had played the role of Gloria in a pilot episode, but was soon dropped. After a shaky start, the series became a hit beginning with its summer reruns, giving tens of millions of viewers the chance to see "Gloria" defending her liberal viewpoints about negative stereotypes and inequality. Struthers won two Emmy Awards (in 1972 and 1979) for her work on the show. In 2012, Struthers recalled the serendipity that helped her land the role:


title: Sally Struthers

text: In 1977 she portrayed a housewife who was physically abused by her husband (portrayed by Dennis Weaver) in the made-for-TV movie "Intimate Strangers", one of the first network features to depict domestic violence.


title: Sally Struthers

text: On the short-lived "Archie Bunker's Place" spin-off "Gloria" (1982–1983), Struthers reprised Gloria as a new divorcée (she became an "exchange student", when husband Mike exchanged her for one of his students). The series co-starred Burgess Meredith as the doctor of an animal clinic with Gloria as his assistant. From 1985 to 1986 Struthers starred as Florence Ungar in the female version of "The Odd Couple". Struthers later stated in an interview on "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast", that it was an unpleasant experience until Rita Moreno, who was mean-spirited towards Struthers, left the play and was replaced by Brenda Vaccaro.


title: Sally Struthers

text: She was a semi-regular panelist on the 1990 revival of "Match Game" and an occasional guest on "Win, Lose or Draw" (even filling in for Vicki Lawrence as host for a week). She also had a recurring role as Bill Miller's manipulative mother, Louise, on "Still Standing" and regularly appeared on "Gilmore Girls" as Babette Dell. She also provided voices for a number of animated series such as "The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show" (as a teenage Pebbles Flintstone), "TaleSpin" (as Rebecca Cunningham) and was one of the voice stars on ABC's "Dinosaurs" produced by Walt Disney and Henson Productions (as Charlene Sinclair).


title: Sally Struthers

text: Struthers starred in the stage production of "Annie" at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, and in the national tour of the production in the late 1990s. She has been a regular since the early 2000s at the Ogunquit Playhouse, in Ogunquit, Maine.


title: Sally Struthers

text: Struthers has been a spokesperson for Christian Children's Fund (later renamed ChildFund), advocating on behalf of impoverished children in developing countries.


title: Sally Struthers

text: Struthers has been a spokesperson for International Correspondence School (ICS) in television ads, pitching the famous line "Do you want to make more money? Sure, we all do!" ICS was a school with a diverse curriculum that, at the time, had fields of study going from brick laying to personal computers.


title: Sally Struthers

text: Struthers married psychiatrist William C. Rader on December 18, 1977, in Los Angeles. After having one child, daughter Samantha, the couple divorced on January 19, 1983.


title: Pejorative

text: A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a term is regarded as pejorative in some social or ethnic groups but not in others, or may be originally pejorative but later adopt a non-pejorative sense (or vice versa) in some or all contexts.


title: Pejorative

text: The word "pejorative" is derived from a Late Latin past participle stem of "peiorare", meaning "to make worse", from "peior" "worse".


title: Pejorative

text: In historical linguistics, the process of an inoffensive word becoming pejorative is a form of semantic drift known as pejoration. An example of pejoration is the shift in meaning of the word "silly" from meaning that a person was happy and fortunate to meaning that they are foolish and unsophisticated. The process of pejoration can repeat itself around a single concept, leaping from word to word in a phenomenon known as the euphemism treadmill, for example as in the successive pejoration of the terms "bog-house", "privy-house", "latrine", "water closet", "toilet", "bathroom" and "restroom" (US English).


title: Pejorative

text: When a term begins as pejorative and eventually is adopted in a non-pejorative sense, this is called "melioration" or "amelioration". One example is the shift in meaning of the word "nice" from meaning a person was foolish to meaning that a person is pleasant. When performed deliberately, it is described as reclamation or reappropriation. An example of a word that has been reclaimed by portions of the community that it targets is "queer", which began being re-appropriated as a positive descriptor in the early 1990s by activist groups. However, due to its history and – in some regions – continued use as a pejorative, there remain LGBT individuals who are uncomfortable with having this term applied to them.


title: Nylon

text: Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides (repeating units linked by amide links).


title: Nylon

text: Nylon polymers have found significant commercial applications in fabric and fibers (apparel, flooring and rubber reinforcement), in shapes (molded parts for cars, electrical equipment, etc.), and in films (mostly for food packaging).


title: Nylon

text: Researchers at DuPont began developing cellulose based fibers, culminating in the synthetic fiber rayon. DuPont's experience with rayon was an important precursor to its development and marketing of nylon.


title: Nylon

text: DuPont's invention of nylon spanned an eleven-year period, ranging from the initial research program in polymers in 1927 to its announcement in 1938, shortly before the opening of the 1939 New York World's Fair. The project grew from a new organizational structure at DuPont, suggested by Charles Stine in 1927, in which the chemical department would be composed of several small research teams that would focus on "pioneering research" in chemistry and would "lead to practical applications". Harvard instructor Wallace Hume Carothers was hired to direct the polymer research group. Initially he was allowed to focus on pure research, building on and testing the theories of German chemist Hermann Staudinger. He was very successful, as research he undertook greatly improved the knowledge of polymers and contributed to science.


title: Nylon

text: Nylon was the first commercially successful synthetic thermoplastic polymer. DuPont began its research project in 1927.


title: Nylon

text: The first nylon, nylon 66, was synthesized on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Hume Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station. In response to Carothers' work, Paul Schlack at IG Farben developed nylon 6, a different molecule based on caprolactam, on January 29, 1938.


title: Nylon

text: Nylon was first used commercially in a nylon-bristled toothbrush in 1938, followed more famously in women's stockings or "nylons" which were shown at the 1939 New York World's Fair and first sold commercially in 1940, whereupon they became an instant commercial success with 64 million pairs sold during their first year on the market. During World War II, almost all nylon production was diverted to the military for use in parachutes and parachute cord. Wartime uses of nylon and other plastics greatly increased the market for the new materials.


title: Nylon

text: In the spring of 1930, Carothers and his team had already synthesized two new polymers. One was neoprene, a synthetic rubber greatly used during World War II. The other was a white elastic but strong paste that would later become nylon. After these discoveries, Carothers' team was made to shift its research from a more pure research approach investigating general polymerization to a more practically focused goal of finding "one chemical combination that would lend itself to industrial applications".


title: Nylon

text: It was not until the beginning of 1935 that a polymer called "polymer 6-6" was finally produced. Carothers' coworker, Washington University alumnus Julian W. Hill had used a cold drawing method to produce a polyester in 1930. This cold drawing method was later used by Carothers in 1935 to fully develop nylon. The first example of nylon (nylon 6.6) was produced on February 28, 1935, at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station. It had all the desired properties of elasticity and strength.


title: Nylon

text: However, it also required a complex manufacturing process that would become the basis of industrial production in the future. DuPont obtained a patent for the polymer in September 1938, and quickly achieved a monopoly of the fiber. Carothers died 16 months before the announcement of nylon, therefore he was never able to see his success.


title: Nylon

text: The production of nylon required interdepartmental collaboration between three departments at DuPont: the Department of Chemical Research, the Ammonia Department, and the Department of Rayon. Some of the key ingredients of nylon had to be produced using high pressure chemistry, the main area of expertise of the Ammonia Department. Nylon was considered a "godsend to the Ammonia Department", which had been in financial difficulties. The reactants of nylon soon constituted half of the Ammonia Department's sales and helped them come out of the period of the Great Depression by creating jobs and revenue at DuPont.


title: Nylon

text: DuPont's nylon project demonstrated the importance of chemical engineering in industry, helped create jobs, and furthered the advancement of chemical engineering techniques. In fact, it developed a chemical plant that provided 1800 jobs and used the latest technologies of the time, which are still used as a model for chemical plants today. The ability to acquire a large number of chemists and engineers quickly was a huge contribution to the success of DuPont's nylon project. The first nylon plant was located at Seaford, Delaware, beginning commercial production on December 15, 1939. On October 26, 1995, the Seaford plant was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society.


title: Nylon

text: An important part of nylon's popularity stems from DuPont's marketing strategy. DuPont promoted the fiber to increase demand before the product was available to the general market. Nylon's commercial announcement occurred on October 27, 1938, at the final session of the "Herald Tribune"s yearly "Forum on Current Problems", on the site of the approaching New York City world's fair. The "first man-made organic textile fiber" which was derived from "coal, water and air" and promised to be "as strong as steel, as fine as the spider's web" was received enthusiastically by the audience, many of them middle-class women, and made the headlines of most newspapers. Nylon was introduced as part of "The world of tomorrow" at the 1939 New York World's Fair and was featured at DuPont's "Wonder World of Chemistry" at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco in 1939. Actual nylon stockings were not shipped to selected stores in the national market until May 15, 1940. However, a limited number were released for sale in Delaware before that. The first public sale of nylon stockings occurred on October 24, 1939, in Wilmington, Delaware. 4,000 pairs of stockings were available, all of which were sold within three hours.


title: Nylon

text: Another added bonus to the campaign was that it meant reducing silk imports from Japan, an argument that won over many wary customers. Nylon was even mentioned by President Roosevelt's cabinet, which addressed its "vast and interesting economic possibilities" five days after the material was formally announced.


title: Nylon

text: However, the early excitement over nylon also caused problems. It fueled unreasonable expectations that nylon would be better than silk, a miracle fabric as strong as steel that would last forever and never run. Realizing the danger of claims such as "New Hosiery Held Strong as Steel" and "No More Runs", DuPont scaled back the terms of the original announcement, especially those stating that nylon would possess the strength of steel.


title: Nylon

text: Also, DuPont executives marketing nylon as a revolutionary man-made material did not at first realize that some consumers experienced a sense of unease and distrust, even fear, towards synthetic fabrics. A particularly damaging news story, drawing on DuPont's 1938 patent for the new polymer, suggested that one method of producing nylon might be to use cadaverine (pentamethylenediamine), a chemical extracted from corpses. Although scientists asserted that cadaverine was also extracted by heating coal, the public often refused to listen. A woman confronted one of the lead scientists at DuPont and refused to accept that the rumour was not true.


title: Nylon

text: DuPont changed its campaign strategy, emphasizing that nylon was made from "coal, air and water", and started focusing on the personal and aesthetic aspects of nylon, rather than its intrinsic qualities. Nylon was thus domesticated, and attention shifted to the material and consumer aspect of the fiber with slogans like "If it's nylon, it's prettier, and oh! How fast it dries!".


title: Nylon

text: After nylon's nationwide release in 1940, production was increased. 1300 tons of the fabric were produced during 1940. During their first year on the market, 64 million pairs of nylon stockings were sold. In 1941, a second plant was opened in Martinsville, Virginia, due to the success of the fabric.


title: Nylon

text: While nylon was marketed as the durable and indestructible material of the people, it was sold at almost twice the price of silk stockings ($4.27 per pound of nylon versus $2.79 per pound of silk). Sales of nylon stockings were strong in part due to changes in women's fashion. As Lauren Olds explains: "by 1939 [hemlines] had inched back up to the knee, closing the decade just as it started off". The shorter skirts were accompanied by a demand for stockings that offered fuller coverage without the use of garters to hold them up.


title: Nylon

text: However, as of February 11, 1942, nylon production was redirected from being a consumer material to one used by the military. DuPont's production of nylon stockings and other lingerie stopped, and most manufactured nylon was used to make parachutes and tents for World War II. Although nylon stockings already made before the war could be purchased, they were generally sold on the black market for as high as $20.


title: Nylon

text: Once the war ended, the return of nylon was awaited with great anticipation. Although DuPont projected yearly production of 360 million pairs of stockings, there were delays in converting back to consumer rather than wartime production. In 1946, the demand for nylon stockings could not be satisfied, which led to the Nylon riots. In one instance, an estimated 40,000 people lined up in Pittsburgh to buy 13,000 pairs of nylons. In the meantime, women cut up nylon tents and parachutes left from the war in order to make blouses and wedding dresses. Between the end of the war and 1952, production of stockings and lingerie used 80% of the world's nylon. DuPont put focus on catering to the civilian demand, and continually expanded its production.


title: Nylon

text: As pure nylon hosiery was sold in a wider market, problems became apparent. Nylon stockings were found to be fragile, in the sense that the thread often tended to unravel lengthwise, creating 'runs'. People also reported that pure nylon textiles could be uncomfortable due to nylon's lack of absorbency. Moisture stayed inside the fabric near the skin under hot or moist conditions instead of being "wicked" away. Nylon fabric could also be itchy, and tended to cling and sometimes spark as a result of static electrical charge built up by friction.


title: Nylon

text: Also, under some conditions, stockings could decompose turning back into nylon's original components of air, coal, and water. Scientists explained this as a result of air pollution, attributing it to London smog in 1952, as well as poor air quality in New York and Los Angeles.


title: Nylon

text: The solution found to problems with pure nylon fabric was to blend nylon with other existing fibers or polymers such as cotton, polyester, and spandex. This led to the development of a wide array of blended fabrics. The new nylon blends retained the desirable properties of nylon (elasticity, durability, ability to be dyed) and kept clothes prices low and affordable.


title: Nylon

text: As of 1950, the New York Quartermaster Procurement Agency (NYQMPA), which developed and tested textiles for the Army and Navy, had committed to developing a wool-nylon blend. They were not the only ones to introduce blends of both natural and synthetic fibers. "America's Textile Reporter" referred to 1951 as the "Year of the blending of the fibers". Fabric blends included mixes like "Bunara" (wool-rabbit-nylon) and "Casmet" (wool-nylon-fur). In Britain, in November 1951, the inaugural address of the 198th session of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce focused on the blending of textiles.


title: Nylon

text: DuPont's Fabric Development Department cleverly targeted French fashion designers, supplying them with fabric samples. In 1955, designers such as Coco Chanel, Jean Patou, and Christian Dior showed gowns created with DuPont fibers, and fashion photographer Horst P. Horst was hired to document their use of DuPont fabrics. "American Fabrics" credited blends with providing "creative possibilities and new ideas for fashions which had been hitherto undreamed of."


title: Nylon

text: In 1940, John W. Eckelberry of DuPont stated that the letters "nyl" were arbitrary, and the "on" was copied from the suffixes of other fibers such as cotton and rayon. A later publication by DuPont ("Context", vol. 7, no. 2, 1978) explained that the name was originally intended to be "No-Run" ("run" meaning "unravel"), but was modified to avoid making such an unjustified claim. Since the products were not really run-proof, the vowels were swapped to produce "nuron", which was changed to "nilon" "to make it sound less like a nerve tonic". For clarity in pronunciation, the "i" was changed to "y".


title: Nylon

text: A persistent urban legend exists that the name is derived from "New York" and "London"; however, no organisation in London was ever involved in the research and production of nylon.


title: Nylon

text: In spite of oil shortages in the 1970s, consumption of nylon textiles continued to grow by 7.5% per year between the 1960s and 1980s.


title: Nylon

text: Overall production of synthetic fibers, however, dropped from 63% of the worlds textile production in 1965, to 45% of the world's textile production in early 1970s. The appeal of "new" technologies wore off, and nylon fabric "was going out of style in the 1970s". Also, consumers became concerned about environmental costs throughout the production cycle: obtaining the raw materials (oil), energy use during production, waste produced during creation of the fiber, and eventual waste disposal of materials that were not biodegradable.


title: Nylon

text: Synthetic fibers have not dominated the market since the 1950s and 1960s. , the worldwide production of nylon is estimated at 8.9 million tons. As one of the largest engineering polymer families, the global demand of nylon resins and compounds was valued at roughly US$20.5 billion in 2013. The market is expected to reach US$30 billion by 2020 by following an average annual growth of 5.5%.


title: Nylon

text: Although pure nylon has many flaws and is now rarely used, its derivatives have greatly influenced and contributed to society. From scientific discoveries relating to the production of plastics and polymerization, to economic impact during the depression and the changing of women's fashion, nylon was a revolutionary product. The Lunar Flag Assembly, the first flag planted on the moon in a symbolic gesture of celebration, was made of nylon. The flag itself cost $5.50, but had to have a specially designed flagpole with a horizontal bar so that it would appear to "fly".


title: Nylon

text: One historian describes nylon as "an object of desire", comparing the invention to Coca-Cola in the eyes of 20th century consumers.


title: Nylon

text: In common usage, the prefix "PA" (polyamide) or the name "Nylon" are used interchangeably and are equivalent in meaning.


title: Nylon

text: The nomenclature used for nylon polymers was devised during the synthesis of the first simple aliphatic nylons and uses numbers to describe the number of carbons in each monomer unit, including the carbon(s) of the carboxylic acid(s). Subsequent use of cyclic and aromatic monomers required the use of letters or sets of letters. One number after "PA" or "Nylon" indicates a homopolymer which is "monadic" or based on one amino acid (minus HO) as monomer: