Avro lancaster

"Lancaster" is a further development of the design of the twin-engine medium bomber "Manchester" . "Manchester" in its bomb load of 4695 kg can be attributed to heavy bombers, but the Rolls-Royce Walcher engines ( English. Rolls-Royce Vulture ), which he was equipped with and which allowed him to bear such a bomb load, were notable for their low reliability. were brought, and the presence of only two engines did not allow the aircraft to safely return to base in the event of failure of one of them. Avro Chief Designer Roy Chadwick proposed equipping the car with four more reliable, but less powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engines and an extended wing, retaining the old fuselage . The new aircraft received the designation Avro Type 683, January 9, 1941 test pilot H. Thorne took to the air a prototype, which had flight number BT308. The aircraft showed much better performance than its predecessor, and, equipped with more powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin XX engines, soon entered mass production. In addition to the Avro plant in Chadderton , production of a new aircraft began at Vickers-Armstrongs in Chester , Armstrong Whitworth in Coventry , Metropolitan-Vickers in Manchester and Austin Motor Company in Longbridge , Birmingham , and also in Canada, at Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario . Initially, the aircraft was considered one of the modifications of Manchester and was designated as Manchester III, later it received its own name Lancaster . The prototype had a three-tail tail, borrowed from the Manchester, later it was replaced by a two-tail, with which the aircraft went into series. Following the model of Lancaster, the tail of the Manchester was also changed, the production of which was rapidly curtailed with the start of production of the Lancaster.

"Avro Lancaster" - a four-engine freestanding all - metal midplane with an oval fuselage section. The aircraft was assembled from 36 separate modules, which had an alphanumeric designation, which simplified its production. The fuselage - a riveted half -monocoque , consisted of five modules connected by bolts. The front (D1) contained the bombardier’s cockpit and the front rifle turret, the next D2 — the pilot’s cockpit and the front of the bomb compartment, F1 was run along with the center wing and consisted of the navigator’s cabin and the radio operator and the main part of the bomb bay, the upper rifle tower was attached to D3, and tail D4 was designed to install a stabilizer , tail wheel and rear rifle tower. For transportation, the fuselage could be disassembled into 3 parts. The bombing compartment 10.05 m long, inherited from Manchester, was closed by two wings using hydraulics. Along the entire fuselage there was an aisle, which made it possible to provide assistance in injuring crew members and ensured interchangeability.

The wing also consisted of five modules - a central one, integrated with the fuselage, two internal sections with internal engines, and two external consoles with their engines. The wing is a two-spar wing with a working skin. Flaps - two-section, section on the inner and outer consoles, with metal lining and hydraulic drive. The inner sections of the flaps deflected along with the rear of the nacelles . Ailerons with linen sheathing, equipped with trimmers . The tail is two - keel with oval keels, the stabilizer is two-spar. The elevators and directions with metal plating and had weight and aerodynamic compensation.

The chassis is three-post, with a tail wheel. The main racks were retracted hydraulically back and up into the engine nacelles of the internal engines and, after cleaning, were completely closed by sashes. Depreciation - oil-air, pneumatic brakes. Tail stance - non-retractable, additional resistance created by it in flight was compensated by less weight due to failure of the drive.

The first squadron to be adopted by the Lancaster was the 44th Squadron, followed by the 97th Squadron, with only 55 squadrons operating towards the end of the war. The first combat mission "Lancaster" made March 2, 1942 , during which aircraft of the 44th squadron mined Helgoland Bay . The debut of “Lancaster” in the role of a bomber took place on the night of March 10-11 during a raid on Essen , in which the “Lancaster” of both squadrons took part.

With the adoption of heavy four-engine, well-defended bombers, the Bomber Command decided to resume daytime raids, which were forced to cease due to heavy losses of twin-engine bombers. On April 17, 1942, 12 aircraft of the 44th and 97th squadrons made a daily raid on the MAN diesel engine plant. 4 aircraft were lost on the way to the goal, 3 more were shot down on the way back, and all 5 cars that returned were damaged. Despite the losses, the daily raids continued: the latter took place on October 17, 1942, when 90 Lancaster bombed the Schneider factory in Le Creusot . During this raid, only one plane was lost.

Despite the high level of losses from German air defense during the daytime raids, the Bomber Command was forced to continue them because of the low efficiency of night bombing - according to intelligence, only 50% of the dropped bombs fell in the target area, in addition, three out of four crews didn’t even were sure that they discovered the target. The outbreak of hostilities in the 8th Air Force of the US Air Force in August 1942, armed with the more protected B-17 Flying Fortresses , allowed the Royal Air Force to focus on night raids against Germany.

In total, during the war years, of the 7377 vehicles built, about 3000 were lost (on the ground and in the air).

The PA474 (British Air Force Memorial Squadron) is not the only flying instance. Avro Lancaster X - Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Hamilton, Ontario - The Canadian Warplane Museum operates regular Avro Lancaster flights. Flight Schedule Here

Specifications

• Crew : 7 people
• Length : 21.18 m
• Wing span : 31.09 m
• Height : 5.97 m
• Wing area: 120 m²
• Empty weight: 16 705 kg
• Curb weight: 29 000 kg
• Maximum take-off weight : 30,845 kg
• Powerplant : 4 × Piston Rolls-Royce Merlin XX V12
• Engine power: 4 × 1280 l. with.

Flight characteristics

• Maximum speed: 450 km / h
• Practical range: 4600 km
• Practical ceiling : 8160 m
• Rate of climb : 320 m / min
• Wing load: 168 kg / m²
• Dead weight: 130 W / kg

Armament

• Rifle Cannon:

8 Browning machine guns cal. 7.7 mm ( .303 British )

• Combat load: max. 10 000 kg
  normal 6400

• Pe-8
• B-17 Flying Fortress
• Operation Chastise
• Strategic bombing during World War II

• "Lancaster". Combat use
• Avro Lancaster at Sky Corner
• Avro Lancaster on cofe.ru
• Modern (2012) costume photo shoot using the current Just Jane aircraft

• Coulding, Brian, Garbett, M. The Avro Lancaster I (Aircraft in Profile number 65). Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1966.
• Robertson, Bruce. The Avro Lancaster II (Aircraft in Profile number 235). Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications Ltd.
• Kotelnikov V.R. Aviation Lend-Lease. - M .: Russian Knights Foundation, 2015. - 368 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 985-5-9906036-3-9.
• Okolelov N.N., Shumilin S.E., Chechin A.A. Diamonds of the British crown (Rus.) // Model-designer: magazine. - 2007. - No. 2 special issue . - S. 38 - 64 .
• Miles Tripp Air war in the sky of Western Europe. Memoirs of a bomber pilot. 1944-1945
• Tsvetkov S., “Nightmares of Germany”, Model-Designer , 1-1996.3-1996