Everything about Avro Lincoln totally explained
The Avro
Type 694 Lincoln was a
British four-engined
heavy bomber of the
Second World War, first flying on
9 June 1944 and entering service in August 1945, too late to be used in action. The last piston-engined bomber built for the
RAF. A total of 604 were built.
Design and development
The Avro Lincoln was
Roy Chadwick's development of the
Avro Lancaster, built to the
Air Ministry Specification B.14/43, having longer span, higher aspect ratio (10.30 compared with 8.02) wings with two-stage supercharged
Rolls-Royce Merlin 85 engines, bigger fuselage with bigger fuel and bomb loads. As a result, it could fly higher and further than the Lancaster. The prototype Lincoln was assembled at Manchester's
Ringway Airport and made its maiden flight from there on
9 June 1944.
The type was intended for use in the
Second World War in the
Far East as part of
Tiger Force and was known initially as the Lancaster IV and V (the V having the Merlin 68A engines), but was renamed Lincoln I and II respectively.
Operational history
The Lincoln became operational too late to serve with the Royal Air Force and Commonwealth air forces in World War II. One Lincoln pattern aircraft was completed in Canada by
Victory Aircraft.
No. 75 Squadron RNZAF re-equipped with the type but disbanded shortly after the end of the war. In the postwar Royal Air Force, the Lincoln equipped several bomber squadrons. Nearly 600 Lincolns were built to equip 29 RAF squadrons, but were partially replaced by
Boeing Washingtons which had longer range and could reach targets inside the
Iron Curtain. They were phased out from the late 1950s, and completely replaced by jet bombers by 1963.
The Lincoln was used in combat during the 1950s in
Kenya against the
Mau-Mau, and Malaya during the
Malayan Emergency. One Lincoln B2 (RF531/C) was shot down by a
Soviet MiG-15 on 12 March 1953, killing 7 crew. as it flew to
Berlin on a training flight.
The type later served with
Argentina and the
Royal Australian Air Force. Argentinian models were used several times during its service in several military coups and in Antarctic operations dropping supplies. 73 Lincolns were built in
Australia between 1946 and 1949, the largest aircraft ever built there.
The RAAF heavily modified their aircraft in the 1950s for use in
anti-submarine warfare, giving them a 6' 6" longer nose to house
acoustic submarine detection gear and its operator, larger fuel tanks to give 13 hours endurance, and modifying the bomb bay to accept
torpedoes. The "long-nose" variant, officially the Mk 31, was particularly difficult to land at night, as the bomber used a tailwheel and the long nose obstructed the pilot's view of the runway. Only 20 were built.
The
Avro Shackleton maritime patrol aircraft was derived from the Lincoln, as was the
Tudor airliner, which used the wings of the Lincoln with a new
pressurized fuselage.
Commercial Service
Two Lincoln IIs were operated by
D. Napier & Son Ltd. for icing research from 1948 to 1962.
A transport conversion of the Lincoln II, using the streamlined nose and tail cones of the
Lancastrian and a ventral cargo pannier, was known as the
Avro 695 Lincolnian.
One
Lincoln Freighter converted by Airflight Ltd was used on the
Berlin Air Lift by Surrey Flying Services Ltd. In addition, one Argentine example was converted to a Lincolnian by Avro at Langar. Four Lincolnian conversions by Field Aircraft Services for use as meat haulers in Paraguay were not delivered and subsequently scrapped.
Turbojet and turboprop testbeds
Postwar, Lincolns were frequently employed as testbeds in new
jet engine development.
RF403,
RE339/G and
SX972 flew with a pair of
Armstrong Siddeley Python turboprops outboard in place of the
Merlins.
SX972 was further modified to fly with a pair of
Bristol Proteus turboprops.
RA716/G had a similarly placed pair of
Bristol Theseus turboprops and later also flew with
Avon turbojets replacing the pair of turboprops.
RE530 kept its Merlins but had a
Napier Naiad turboprop in the nose. It later flew, bearing the civilian
registration G-37-1, with a similarly placed
Rolls-Royce Tyne which it displayed at the 1956
Society of British Aircraft Constructors (SBAC) show.
(External Link
) SX973 had a
Nomad turboprop installed in a similar nose-mounted installation.
RA643 flew with a
Bristol Phoebus turbojet in the bomb bay, and
SX971 had an afterburning
Rolls-Royce Derwent mounted ventrally.
Variants
Lincoln I » Long-range bomber version for the RAF. Powered by four 1,750-hp (1305 kW) Rolls-Royce Merlin 85 inline piston engines.
;Lincoln II » Long-range bomber version for the RAF. Powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlin 66, 68A and 300 inline piston engines. Built by Avro, Armstrong-Whitworth and Vickers-Metropolitan
Lincoln III » The Lincoln III was intended to be a maritime reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The aircraft later became the Avro Shackleton.
;Lincoln IV » Lincoln II converted to Merlin 85 power.
Lincoln Mk 15 » This designation was given to one aircraft, built by Victory Aircraft in Canada.
;Lincoln Mk 30 » Long-range bomber version for the RAAF.
Lincoln Mk 30A » Long-range bomber version for the RAAF, fitted with a longer nose.
;Lincoln Mk 31 » Anti-submarine warfare, maritime reconnaissance version for the RAAF.
Operators
Royal Air Force
Survivors
Four aircraft have survived:
Lincoln II B-004 » On display as B-010 at the National Museum of Aeronautics, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
;Lincoln II B-016 » A gate guardian at the Villa Reynolds Military Air Base, San Luis Provence, Argentina.
Lincoln II RF342 » In storage for future restoration at the Australian National Aviation Museum, Melbourne, Australia.
;Lincoln II RF398 » On display at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, United Kingdom.
Specifications (Lincoln I)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Avro Lincoln'.
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