British Bombers and Transport aircrafts

Good stuff, thanks for posting. Sad sight though, those Lancastrians in the various stages of being scrapped.

I agree, great thread!

Agreed Terry. Good stuff!

The Avro Type 694, better known as the Avro Lincoln, was a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were known initially as the Lancaster IV and V, but were renamed Lincoln I and II. It was the last piston-engined bomber used by the Royal Air Force. The Lincoln became operational in August 1945, too late to see action in the Second World War. It was assigned to units of Tiger Force, a British Commonwealth heavy bomber force, intended to take part in Allied operations against the Japanese mainland. However, the Lincoln did see action with the RAF during the 1950s, in the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya and with the RAF and RAAF during the Malayan Emergency.

In the postwar Royal Air Force, the Lincoln equipped many bomber squadrons. Nearly 600 Lincolns were built to equip 29 RAF squadrons, mainly based in the United Kingdom. They were partially replaced by 88 Boeing Washingtons, on loan from the USAF, which had longer range and could reach targets inside the Iron Curtain.

RAF Lincolns were also used in combat during the 1950s, in Kenya against the Mau-Mau, and RAF and RAAF examples served in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency, against insurgents aligned to the Malayan Communist Party. On 12 March 1953, a RAF Lincoln (RF531 "C") of Central Gunnery School was shot down 20 mi (32 km) NE of Lüneburg, Germany by a Soviet MiG-15 as it flew to Berlin on a training flight, resulting in the deaths of the seven crew members.

In November 1955, four Lincolns of No. 7 Squadron RAF were detached for duties in British territories in the Middle East. In Bahrain, they carried out border patrols of the then Trucial States. When 7 Sqn was disbanded in December 1955, the four detached crews and aircraft became No. 1426 Flight RAF, officially a photographic reconnaissance unit. It was later sent to Aden, carrying out patrols in the lead up to the Aden Emergency.

As the RAF Lincolns became unserviceable due to wear and tear they were replaced by jet aircraft. The Lincolns of Bomber Command were phased out from the mid-1950s, and were completely replaced by jet bombers by 1963. The last Lincolns in RAF service were five operated by No. 151 Squadron, Signals Command, at RAF Watton, Norfolk, which were finally retired on 12 March 1963.

Good stuff!

Designed and built as the RAF's first dedicated four-engine long-range maritime patrol aircraft, the Avro Shackleton was the final expression of Avro's classic heavy bombers, the Lancaster and Lincoln. Retaining the wing and landing gear of the Lincoln, the Shackleton had a larger, rounder and shorter fuselage, which provided space for a crew of 10. Armament included two 20mm cannon in the nose, two in a dorsal turret, and two machine guns in the tail plus bombs or depth charges, depending on the mission.

Entering service in 1951, the plane underwent two primary modifications over the years. The MR.2 gained a semi-retractable 'dustbin' radome, allowing a 360-degree scan as well as changes allowing the plane to fly with three engines feathered. The Shackleton MR.3 added greater overall capabilities with improved ailerons, wing tip tanks and better crew quarters. By the late 1960's the Shackleton was being replaced by the Nimrod jet patrol aircraft. However, this grand dame was not finished yet.

Responding to the loss of Airborne Early Warning (AEW) capability with the demise of the Royal Navy's carriers, twelve Shackletons were pressed into service as AEW.2 aircraft in 1971. The radome was replaced by a 'guppy' radar unit forward of the weapons bay, and many internal changes were made to accommodate the electronic gear and radar operators. From 1974 to 1991, the Shackleton AEW.2 flew missions over the North Sea, Arctic Ocean and western Atlantic until relieved by the Boeing E-3D Sentry.

A single Shackleton (WL790) is operated in the USA and, until recently, a second one flew in South Africa as a part of the SAAF "Historic Flight." Another Shackleton, "WR963" (the sister ship to WL790), is based at Coventry Airfield in the UK, and is undergoing a refurbishment program which should make it airworthy again in the next few years. For now, WR963 makes weekly engine runs and is available for tours.

The main production variant, the TT2 naval target tug (TS 475 – TS 498) spent most of its life with No. 728 Squadron at Hal Far, Malta. They also operated with No. 771 Squadron at RNAS Ford in 1950- 1954. Their primary role as a target tug included towing targets for ground-to-air firing practice, photographic marking of ground-to-air firing, target towing for air-to-air practice by night and day, "throw-off," target practice and radar calibration All existing Sturgeon TT2s were modified to a (S.B.9) TT3 standard during the early 1950s. The TT3 variant was intended to meet less stringent requirements. The extended TT2 nose with its synchronised photographic equipment and crew station was removed and replaced by a smaller streamlined nose cone. With the change from carrier operations to ground bases, all deck-landing equipment was also eliminated as well as the wing being modified to have a manual folding gear in place of the TT2's hydraulic system.

Briefly, a Short Sturgeon TT2 (VR363) piloted by "Jock" Eassie was utilised as a glider tow aircraft in the Short SB.1 flight tests. The experimental "tailless" glider, designed by David Keith-Lucas and Professor Geoffrey T.R. Hill, was built by Shorts as a private research venture and intended to test the concept of the aero-isoclinic wing. The first towed launch of the SB.1 piloted by Shorts' Chief Test Pilot, Tom Brooke-Smith ("Brookie") took off from RAF Aldergrove on 30 July 1951. The SB.1 was towed behind to a height of 10,000 ft with the flight completed successfully. On the second flight of the day, the tow rope was extended and Brooke-Smith experienced the problems inherent in flying a light aircraft in the turbulence caused by the towing aircraft. Brooke-Smith had to cast off at low altitude and while attempting to side-slip out of the wake, struck the ground "nose-down" at 90 mph, injuring himself seriously and damaging the aircraft. With the extensive damage to the Short SB.1 necessitating a rebuild, the decision to "power" the modified glider (redesignated the Short Sherpa) meant the end of the use of the Sturgeon tow plane in the program.

That last one looks very strange. Nice shots!

Well that's one I've never heard of before.

Thanks

Very cool!

The company's first aircraft of all-metal stressed-skin construction, the de Havilland D.H.95 Flamingo was designed by R. E. Bishop as a mediumrange passenger transport to carry 12-17 passengers and a crew of three. It featured hydraulically retractable landing gear, split trailing-edge flaps and was powered initially by two 664 kW (890hp) Bristol Perseus XIIc radial engines. The prototype was first flown by de Havilland chief test pilot Geoffrey de Havilland Jr at Hatfield on 28 December 1938; during subsequent flight testing a third, central fin was fitted temporarily. In May 1939 this aircraft was delivered to Guernsey Jersey Airways Ltd for route-proving trials, linking Heston and Southampton's Eastleigh Airport with the two principal Channel Islands.

The outbreak of war precluded commercial use on these services, but the Royal Air Force had ordered two Flamingoes for communications duties with No. 24 Squadron and one for The King's Flight, the last being delivered to RAF Benson on 7 September 1940. It was transferred to No. 24 Squadron in February 1941, the unit having acquired also the prototype, two aircraft ordered by civilian customers and the fifth airframe which had been used by the manufacturer for development of the Bristol Perseus XVI radial. This engine was fitted to all subsequent examples, including one used by the Royal Navy's No. 782 Squadron at Donibristle for communications flights to the Orkney and Shetland Islands and to Northern Ireland, and eight flown by BOAC on Middle East services, based at Cairo. The Royal Navy's Flamingo was the only aircraft to return to civil use after the war, seeing limited service with British Air Transport at Redhill where it was scrapped in 1954. Flamingo production totalled 16 aircraft.

Source: De Havilland D.H.95 Flamingo - medium transport

The Bristol Bombay was a combination of a transport aircraft and a bomber that was developed to serve with RAF squadrons in the Middle East. Partly because of its duel purpose and partly because of the time it took to develop, the Bombay was effectively obsolescent by the time it entered service in 1939, but it did perform some useful service in the Middle East during the Second World War. The Bombay was first designed to fulfil Air Ministry Specification C.26/31 which called for a replacement for the Vickers Valentia. The new aircraft would have to perform as a troop carrier, a cargo carrier and a long range bomber. Two years passed before Bristol received a contract to produce a prototype (March 1933) and the first prototype would not fly for another two years, taking to the air on 23 June 1935. Bristol was awarded a production contract for fifty aircraft under Specification 47/36. The aircraft themselves were produced by Short Brothers Harland, as Bristol's factories were busy building the Blenheim. A new government owned factory was built to produce the Bombay, causing further delay, and the first of the production aircraft did not appear until March 1939. By the time it appeared the Bombay looked outdated. It was a high winged twin engined monoplane with a fixed undercarriage. Even by the standards of 1939 it was under-armed, carrying two 0.303in machine guns in single gun nose and tail turrets. It was a clear advance over the Vickers Valentia, a rather outdated biplane troop transport plane that had itself only entered service in 1934. Although they had the same bomb load (2,200lb) and could carry almost the same number of troops, the Valentia could only reach a top speed of 120mph, compared to the 192mph of the Bombay.

The main user of the Bristol Bombay was No. 216 Squadron in Egypt, which received its first Bombays in October 1939, and retained them until June 1943. At first the squadron operated the Bombay purely as a bomber, retaining the Valentia as a transport. The Bombay took part in the Libyan campaign of 1940, being used as a bomber from June 1940 until the end of the year. It was then replaced as a bomber by the Wellington, but remained in use as a transport aircraft until 1943. Two more Middle Eastern squadrons used the Bombay for short periods. No. 267 Squadron operated a small number of Bombays as transport aircraft between August 1940 and August 1942. No. 117 Squadron borrowed four Bombays from No. 216 squadron between April and November 1941, using them for long range flights from Khartoum, one of the final staging points on the aircraft supply route that led from West Africa to Egypt. No. 271 Squadron was the only unit to operate the Bombay in Britain. It was reformed in May 1940, with a number of Bombays, which it then used to help evacuate British troops from France. Its Bombays were withdrawn by the end of June 1940.

Sources: Bristol Type 130 Bombay

The Hinaidi followed the Hyderabad into RAF service and 12 Mk Is and 33 Mk IIs were built, six of the Mk Is originally being ordered as Hyderabads but built as Hinaidis (not converted after completion). These served from 1930. The RAF also received three examples of the troop-transport version known as the Clive (formerly Chitral). Each could accommodate 17 fully armed troops, or equivalent freight; folding seats being provided on both sides of the cabin and racks for the rifles. Two gun positions were retained (nose and dorsal). The first Clive was later civil registered G-ABYX and named Youth of Australia (subsequently Astra).

The Avro 691 Lancastrian was a British passenger and mail transport aircraft of the 1940s and 1950s developed from the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. The Lancaster was named after Lancaster, Lancashire; a Lancastrian is an inhabitant of Lancashire. The Lancastrian was basically a modified Lancaster bomber without armour or armament and with the gun turrets replaced by streamlined metal fairings. The initial batch was converted directly from Lancasters; later batches were new builds.

In 1943, Avro, through its wartime Victory Aircraft Canadian subsidiary, converted a Lancaster X bomber for civil transport duties with Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA). This conversion was a success resulting in eight additional Lancaster Xs being converted. The "specials" were powered by Packard-built Merlin 38 engines and featured a lengthened, streamlined nose and tail cone. Range was enhanced by two 400 gal (1,818 L) Lancaster long-range fuel tanks fitted as standard in the bomb bay. These Lancastrians were used by TCA on its Montreal–Prestwick route. The modification of abundant military aircraft into desperately needed civil transports was common in the United Kingdom in the immediate post-war period: the Handley Page Halton was a similar conversion of the Halifax heavy bomber.

In 1945, deliveries commenced of 30 British-built Lancastrians for BOAC. On a demonstration flight on 23 April 1945, G-AGLF flew 13,500 mi (21,700 km) from England to Auckland, New Zealand in three days, 14 hours at an average speed of 220 mph (354 km/h). The Lancastrian was fast, had a long range, and was capable of carrying a heavy load, but space inside was very limited as the Lancaster had been designed with space for its 7 crew dispersed through the fuselage, and the 33 ft (10.05 m) long bomb bay. Consequently it was not suited to carry large numbers of passengers, but for mail and a small number of VIP passengers. BOAC used it for flights between England and Australia from 31 May 1945. It also served with the RAF; RAF Lancaster I number PD328, converted to a Lancastrian and renamed Aries, completed the first airborne circumnavigation of the globe, as well as serving with QANTAS and Flota Aérea Mercante Argentina.

Lancastrians were used during the Berlin Airlift to transport petrol; 15 aircraft made over 5,000 trips. Two Lancastrian Is were used by Rolls Royce and the Royal Aircraft Establishment for tests of various turboprop and jet engines. One powered by two Rolls-Royce Nene turbojets in addition to two Merlins is credited with the first international passenger jet flight from London to Paris on 23 November 1946; the flight time was 41 minutes on power from the jets alone.

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