Time to go: Lancasters on dispersal

An RAF Avro Lancaster bomber's crew start the engines on an airfield dispersal to join the stream of other aircraft heading east as the Moon rises over a winter dusk.

Technical note: like many aircraft of the time, Lancasters used an external battery pack on wheels to provide power for starting the engines. Known as a trolley accumulator, or "trolley acc" for short, it was connected for startup then removed before the aircraft taxied out for takeoff.

Some people have questioned my putting the trolley acc in this scene on the starboard side of the Lancaster – because typically the handful of remaining Lancasters are connected via the port wheel well. In fact either side can be used, as you can see in wartime photographs and the celebrated colour film, "Night Bombers".

The normal engine start sequence is 3, 4, 2, 1 (where 1 is the port outer engine).