Aircrafttotal Encyclopedia


Lancaster B.I PA474 of the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight in 460 Squadron (RAAF) colours
Role	Heavy bomber
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Avro
Designer	Roy Chadwick
Built by	National Steel Car / Victory Aircraft (Canada)
First flight	9 January 1941
Introduction	February 1942
Retired	April 1, 1964 Royal Canadian Air Force
Primary users	Royal Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force Royal Australian Air Force
Number built	7,377
Developed from	Avro Manchester
Variants	Avro Lancastrian
Developed into	Avro York Avro Lincoln

The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe and Company (Avro) designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. Of the three V bombers produced, the Vulcan was considered the most technically advanced, hence the riskiest option. Several reduced-scale aircraft, designated Avro 707s, were produced to test and refine the delta-wing design principles.

The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the same era..

Design

The Avro Lancaster was a British four-engined strategic bomber that was used as the RAF's principal heavy bomber during the latter half of the Second World War. The typical aircraft was powered by an arrangement of four wing-mounted Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engines, each of which drove a 13 ft (4.0 m) diameter de Havilland Hydromatic three-bladed propeller. While not optimal, the Lancaster was capable of flying the return journey home on only two operational engines, along with very limited distances on a single running engine. Aviation authors Brian Goulding and M. Garbett have claimed that experienced Lancaster pilots were often able to out-manoeuver Luftwaffe fighters. It possessed largely favourable flying characteristics, having been described by Goulding and Garbett as being: "a near-perfect flying machine, fast for its size and very smooth...such a delightfully easy aeroplane to fly...there are instances of Lancasters having been looped and barrel-rolled, both intentionally and otherwise).

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AVRO Lancaster I

General Info

Crew: 7: pilot, flight engineer, navigator, bomb aimer/nose gunner, wireless operator, mid-upper and rear gunners Length: 69 ft 4 in (21.13 m) Wingspan: 102 ft 0 in (31.09 m) Height: 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m) Wing area: 1,297 sq ft (120.5 m²)

Powerplant

Empty weight: 36,900 lb (16,738 kg) Gross weight: 55,000 lb (24,948 kg) Max takeoff weight: 68,000 lb (30,844 kg) Powerplant: 4 × Rolls-Royce Merlin XX V-12 liquid-cooled piston engines, 1,280 hp (950 kW) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 282 mph (454 km/h, 245 kn) at 63,000 lb (28,576 kg) and 13,000 ft (4,000 m) altitude Cruise speed: 200 mph (320 km/h, Range: 2,530 mi (4,070 km, Service ceiling: 21,400 ft (6,500 m) at 63,000 lb (29,000 kg)

Related development

Guns: Two 0.303-inch (7.7 mm) Browning Mark II machine guns in nose turret, two 0.303-inch Browning Mark II machine guns in upper turret, and four 0.303-inch Browning Mark II machine guns in the rear turret. (Early aircraft had two Brownings in a ventral turret aimed from within the aircraft via a periscope.) Bombs: Maximum normal bomb load of 14,000 lb (6,400 kg)

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Of the 17 surviving and largely intact Lancasters known to exist, two are airworthy: PA474 is operated by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire,

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Avro B.2 Vulcan

n 2014, the two airworthy Lancasters (Canadian FM213 and British PA474) toured the UK in a series of joint aerial and ground displays.

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Immediately following the end of hostilities, the Lancaster was used without any major modifications as a transport aircraft, being used to ferry thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) back to the British Isles from across the continent.

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AVRO Lancaster I