Avro Lincoln
| Lincoln | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| The only Canadian built Avro Lincoln | |
| Role | Heavy bomber |
| Manufacturer | A V Roe (168), Metropolitan-Vickers (80) and Armstrong Whitworth (281) |
| First flight | 9 June 1944 |
| Introduction | 1945 |
| Retired | 1967 Argentine Air Force |
| Primary users |
Royal Air Force Argentine Air Force Royal Australian Air Force |
| Number built | 624 |
| Developed from | Avro Lancaster |
| Developed into |
Avro Shackleton Avro Tudor |
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. It had been assigned to units of Tiger Force, a Commonwealth heavy bomber force, intended to take part in the Second World War Allied operations against the Japanese mainland but the war ended before the Lincoln was used in combat. The Lincoln was used in action during the 1950s, by the RAF in the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya and with the RAF and RAAF during the Malayan Emergency.
The type also saw significant service with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the Argentine Air Force (Spanish: Fuerza Aérea Argentina), as well as some civil aviation use.
In RAF service, the Lincoln was replaced by jet bombers, chiefly the English Electric Canberra, as well as the three strategic bombers of Britain's V Force – the Vickers Valiant, Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan. In Argentine service it was also replaced by the Canberra.
The Avro Lincoln was Roy Chadwick's development of the Lancaster, built to the Air Ministry Specification B.14/43, having stronger, longer span, higher aspect ratio (10.30 compared with 8.02) wings with two-stage supercharged Rolls-Royce Merlin 85 engines in Universal Power Plant (UPP) installations and with a bigger fuselage with increased fuel and bomb loads, allowing it to carry up to 4.5 tons of various armaments and equipment fittings. As a result of these changes, the Lincoln had a higher operational ceiling and longer range than the Lancaster, having a maximum altitude of 35,000 ft (6.5 miles) and a maximum range of 4450 miles.
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