January 25, 1945 - Lancaster Ground Crews

From the Operations Record Book:  

The Squadron was again stood down from operations.  Frost and fog prevailed throughout the day preventing any flying training and the day was again devoted to ground training, sawing logs for the mess fires and lectures by the Specialist Officers.

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If the cold, snowy weather was miserable for the Lancaster crews, it must have been infinitely more miserable for the ground crews who maintained the aircraft.

Many personnel were required to keep the Lancasters flying in addition to the crew.  This photo, taken at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, demonstrates how many personnel it took to keep a Lancaster flying: 

The personnel required to keep a Lancaster operating
Source: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205210717

Front row (left to right): flying control officer, WAAF parachute packer, a meteorological officer, seven aircrew (pilot and captain, navigator and observer, air bomber, flight engineer, wireless operator/air gunner and two air gunners)

Second row: twelve flight maintenance crew (left to right): two NCO fitters, flight maintenance mechanic, five flight maintenance mechanics, electrical mechanic, instrument repairer, and two radio mechanics

Third row: bombing up team; WAAF tractor driver with a bomb train of 16 Small Bomb Containers (SBC), each loaded with 236 x 4-lb No. 15 incendiaries and, behind, three bombing-up crew

Fourth row: seventeen ground servicing crew (left to right; corporal mechanic, four aircraft mechanics, engineer officer, fitter/armourer, three armourers, radio mechanic, two instrument repairers, three bomb handlers, machine gunbelt fitter)

Back row (left to right); AEC Matador petrol tender and two crew, Avro Lancaster B Mark I heavy bomber, mobile workshop and three crew.