Avro Shackleton
The last gasp of the design process that began with the Avro Manchester, the Shackleton ended up serving the RAF until the early 1990s, marking some fifty-plus years of service by four-engined Avro aircraft.The Shackleton was designed in response to an early postwar need for a maritime patrol aircraft – this was originally known as the Lincoln 3, but emerged with an entirely new fuselage design – the Lincoln wings were kept, but with Griffon 57/57A engines mounted.
GR.1/MR.1: Initial variant, first flown in March 1949. Heavy defensive armament in the form of nose and dorsal turrets, each with a pair of 20mm cannon and two .50-cal MGs in a tail position.
MR.1A: Griffon 57As in all nacelles
MR.2: Revised nose, ventral radome, and with the tail guns deleted
MR.3: Considerably revised model with tricycle gear, altered wing, no dorsal turret, and with the capability to carry rockets underwing. Viper turbojets were later fitted in the outboard nacelles for supplemental thrust on takeoff.
Avro Shackleton Bibliography:
Photo: Shackletons nearing completion, including VW135 Flight 27 April 1950 p.527
Chris Ashworth “The ‘The Shack’…Forty years On – and Serving Still” Air International May 1989 Includes close-ups of the 1st aircraft’s nose (with barbette guns), MR Mk 3 cutaway, MR Mk 1 and Mk3 3-views, MR Mk2 and AEW.3 side-view diagrams
Photo: “Shackleton Concerns” FlyPast January 1998 p.19 AEW.2 WL757
Photo: Shackleton N790WL Mr. McHenry FlyPast May 1999 p.112
"New Home for Cornwall's Shackleton" FlyPast March 2016 p.7 WL795 partially dissambled for move.