Lancaster History

[QuePee]

This morning I came acrosss this picture in my fathers photo album, it is believed to have been taken at RAF Watton. I have no date for it but he was there from about 1946 until 1951. The code appears to be W7/? and the serial is TW917. I cannot seem to find anything online regarding its unit, history etc and I also wondered about the colour scheme. Is this normal for post war Lancasters?

If anyone has any information on this aircraft I would be very interested to hear from you.

Thanks

QP

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1293x1170/lancaster_tw917_7d518ed740b3b0054a5f6204b72fc37782083f19.jpg

[longer ron]

Hi QP

If the sqn code is V7
V7 = Central Signals Establishment - which was based at Watton circa 1946.

[goofer3]

One of 15 Lancasters delivered between June & August, 1945. TW917 = CSE, Central Signals Establishment. Sold for scrap 17.06.1954.

[bobward]

The colour scheme was, I think, that planned for Tiger Force Lancasters that would have bombed Japan.
Never used in anger but became common post war.

[India Four Two]

Definitely Tiger Force colour scheme. See the photos of 35 Squadron's Lancasters on their tour of the USA:
https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/410951-operation-goodwill-1946-merged.html

I found another picture of TW917 which indicates that the coding was V7-C:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/692x608/screen_shot_2022_01_03_at_7_21_08_pm_d8d7de4547005e7c48aaf9b 4e215cfdeb40f16f0.png

[QuePee]

Dear fellow PPRuNers,

Many thanks for the info and the speed of the responses. I knew I could rely on this community for help. You have given me exactly what I was looking for and a bit more besides.

I have some other pictures from the same place that might be of interest so I will post in a separate thread.

QP

[India Four Two]

Follow up.

I was discussing Britain’s little-known involvement in Saigon in 1945-1946 with a Vietnam Vet friend and sent him a link of interest:

https://militaryhistorynow.com/2012/11/22/tommy-vs-charlie-britains-six-month-war-in-vietnam/

In the article is this photo which I had seen before but hadn’t paid attention to the Mosquitoes’ colour schemes.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1147x968/e2c2bfee_817f_4735_9946_931357bced2a_1b5cee51ead978881f055a5 0f95cc14ba5e458ba.jpeg

I hadn’t known that the Tiger Force scheme was applied to aircraft other than Lancasters.

[Brewster Buffalo]

If you can get hold of a copy of Chris Gibson's book "Listening In - RAF Electronic Intelligence Gathering since 1945" you will find details of the Lancaster's role at CSE.

[megan]

TW917 15,32MUs; CSE Feb47, Near East Sep43, SS(CC) Jun54 code V7-C (code also carried by RE127, also carried code V7-C2)