Avro Lincoln

infobox Aircraft
name = Lincoln
type = bomber
manufacturer = A V Roe

---

caption = A lineup of Avro Lincoln B.2s
designer =
first flight = 9 June 1944
introduced = 1945
retired = 1963
status =
primary user = Royal Air Force
more users = Royal Australian Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force Argentine Air Force
produced =
number built = 604
unit cost =
developed from = Avro Lancaster
variants with their own articles = Avro Shackleton Avro Tudor

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.

It was known initially as the Lancaster IV and V (the V having the Merlin 68A engines), but these were renamed Lincoln I and II.

There were plans to use the type in the Japan campaign, from late 1945, as part of the British Commonwealth strategic bomber unit known as Tiger Force; this was rendered unnecessary by the Surrender of Japan.

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 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF 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 seven 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 ft 6 inch 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. [ [http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/CollierMaurice/4610.htm] ] "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. [ Franks 2000, pp. 97–99.]

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

;ARG
*Argentine Air Force
** I Grupo de Bombardeo of V Brigada Aerea.;AUS
*Royal Australian Air Force
** No. 1 Squadron RAAF
** No. 2 Squadron RAAF
** No. 6 Squadron RAAF
** No. 10 Squadron RAAF;flag|Canada|1921
*Royal Canadian Air Force
** Three Avro Lincolns were in service with the RCAF from 1946 to 1948.

;UK
*Royal Air Force
** No. 7 Squadron RAF
** No. 9 Squadron RAF
** No. 12 Squadron RAF
** No. 15 Squadron RAF
** No. 35 Squadron RAF
** No. 44 Squadron RAF
** No. 49 Squadron RAF
** No. 50 Squadron RAF
** No. 57 Squadron RAF
** No. 58 Squadron RAF
** No. 61 Squadron RAF
** No. 75 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF
** No. 83 Squadron RAF
** No. 90 Squadron RAF
** No. 97 Squadron RAF
** No. 100 Squadron RAF
** No. 101 Squadron RAF
** No. 115 Squadron RAF
** No. 116 Squadron RAF
** No. 138 Squadron RAF
** No. 148 Squadron RAF
** No. 149 Squadron RAF
** No. 151 Squadron RAF
** No. 192 Squadron RAF
** No. 199 Squadron RAF
** No. 207 Squadron RAF
** No. 214 Squadron RAF
** No. 527 Squadron RAF
** No. 617 Squadron RAF
** No. 1426 Flight RAF

urvivors

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.

pecifications (Lincoln I)

aircraft specification
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
ref=

crew=7 (pilot, flight engineer/co-pilot, navigator, wireless operator,front gunner/bomb aimer, dorsal and rear gunners)
capacity=
length main= 78 ft 3.5 in
length alt=23.86 m
span main=120 ft
span alt=36.58 m
height main=17 ft 3.5 in
height alt=5.27 m
area main= 1421 ft²
area alt= 132.01 m²
airfoil=
empty weight main= 43,400 lb
empty weight alt= 19,686 kg
loaded weight main= 75000 lb
loaded weight alt= 34100 kg
useful load main= 14,000 lb
useful load alt= 6360 kg
max takeoff weight main= 75,000 lb
max takeoff weight alt= 34,019 kg
more general=

engine (prop)=Rolls-Royce Merlin 85
type of prop= piston engines
number of props=4
power main= 1,750 hp
power alt=1,305 kW
power original=

max speed main= 295 mph (at 15,000 ft)
max speed alt= 475 km/h (at 4,750 m)
cruise speed main= 215 mph at 20,000 ft
cruise speed alt= 346 km/h at 6100 m
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
range main= 2,930 miles (1,470 miles with maximum bomb-load)
range alt= 4720 km (2370 km with maximum bomb-load)
ceiling main= 30,500 ft
ceiling alt= 9,295 m
climb rate main= 800 ft/min
climb rate alt= 245 m/min
loading main=
loading alt=
thrust/weight=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=
guns=2 .50 in (12.7 mm) MGs in nose, dorsal and tail turrets, alternatively twin 20 mm Hispano cannon in dorsal turret
bombs=Up to 14,000lb of bombs.
avionics=

ee also

aircontent

related=
*Avro Lancaster
*Avro Tudor
*Avro Shackleton

similar aircraft=
*B-29 Superfortress
*B-32 Dominator
*B-50 Superfortress
*Tupolev Tu-4
*Messerschmitt Me 264

lists=
*List of aircraft of the RAF

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Franks, Richard A. "The Avro Lancaster, Manchester and Lincoln". Bedford, United Kingdom: SAM Publications, 2000. ISBN 0-9533465-3-6.
* Jackson, A.J. "Avro Aircraft since 1908, 2nd edition". London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1990. ISBN 0-85177-834-8.
* Thetford, Owen. "Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1918-57". London: Putnam 1957.

External links

* [http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-air-support/malay-korea/lincoln.htm diggerhistory.info]
* [http://www.jaapteeuwen.com/ww2aircraft/html%20pages/avro%20694%20lincoln.htm British Aircraft of World War II]