Just finished my Avro Lancaster, the most important British heavy bomber in World War 2.
However, this is not a standard Lancaster for the usual bombing British practiced (dropping several conventional bombs from a single aircraft): This one was a modified version for “Operation Chastise”, the bombing of the dams in the Ruhr Valley in Germany (one of the most important industrial areas in the country).
Each airplane (out of a task force of 19 airplanes) carried a single bomb that look like a barrel (see the attached picture). As they approached the dam, the bomb started spinning backwards with the help of an electric motor. When the bombardier released it, it started bouncing on the water, and when it reached the dam, on its way to the bottom fell and triggered by the water pressure, it exploded at a depth of 27 feet/8 meters, making the dam wall to break and therefore flooding the valley.
On the night of May 15, 1943 they attacked the Möhne, Eder, Sorpe and Ennepe dams, destroying the first two ones listed here, and losing 8 aircraft of the attacking force in the process.
The main damage, however, was to German food production.
To give you an idea of the size of this aircraft, I’m standing next to a tire of one of them in a museum in Great Britain (back in 2000). Those airplanes are huge!