Last Flight of the Lancaster

The Lancaster Bomber was the British RAF's heavy bomber during WWII. It played a crucial role in the bombing of Germany and specific missions, such as the famous Dambusters raid. However over 3,200 were lost in action, each one with a crew of 7 men. This piece is meant as a tribute to the role the plane played in the Allies’ success during WWII To complete the requirements for my master’s degree I rescored an alternate history comedy movie where Germany invaded Britain. This piece forms an Overture to that movie soundtrack. The piece opens with a March in the best British style. Then our heroes make their entrance with a theme to honor the crewmen who flew in the Lancaster during the war. After that we enter an exciting “Dogfight” as the bomber returns from its raid and is intercepted by Nazi fighter planes. There is a musical battle between the Nazi theme in Bb minor and our hero’s theme, which tries to return three times and is finally successful! Fragments of the march theme intrude along with an exciting action theme to convey the excitement and terror of the dogfight these planes were in on a nightly basis. Finally, the March theme returns for a rousing conclusion to the piece.