marvinthemartian Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Today is the 70th anniversary of the first flight of the Avro Manchester III, serial BT308, otherwise known as the Lancaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiomike7 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Absolutely correct, it was already called Lancaster but AVRO were instructed to refer to it as a Manchester III. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero-Five-Two Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Wonder if they had any idea of what they were starting on that day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antarmike Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Never has an aircraft looked so right, when it started out as something different. The stretch in the wings to add two extra engines looks far better than the original Manchester. It was a wonderful aircraft to fly, it was never done but there are many accounts by test pilots etc, in which they say they just wished they had clearance to do a barrel roll because everyone thought it was possible. The only RAF heavy not to have a co-pilot, indeed no flight tuition was given to the flight engineer, who it was expected would be able to fly it , get it home and land it, should the pilot be killed or seriously wounded. And of course, like the spitfire was capable of further development. Essentially the York and the Lincoln retained much of the Lanc. And ultimately able to loft a ten ton bomb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivor Ramsden Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 .... Essentially the York and the Lincoln retained much of the Lanc. And don't forget the Shackleton! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trustmeimamechanic Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 "It was a wonderful aircraft to fly, it was never done but there are many accounts by test pilots etc, in which they say they just wished they had clearance to do a barrel roll because everyone thought it was possible." Alex Henshaw barrel rolled lancs on more than one occasion , it was a kind of party piece of his to do so.... he stated that a pair of gloves left on top of the dash in the cockpit would gently rise to the top of the windscreen before just as gently landing back where they came from :-) His other trick was to do a roll with an interested observer standing between and just behind both seats .... Alex says the mans feet would gentley leave the ground as the roll progresed and again touch the floor as he leveled out again. Speaking to an ex Lanc pilot of some repute a few years ago he also claimed to have performed a kind of roll while taking violent evasive action from night fighters.... not to mention getting told off for bringing a bomb back to base ..... stuck in his wing where it had lodged after being dropped by one of the stream above .:wow: He also flew Lanc 2's fitted with radial engines ... said they climbed as hard as they could all the way to the target and never achieved half the hight of the merlin engined Lancs.... a truly brave man who compleated 2 tours and a short tour as an instructor where he asked to be put back on op's because he felt safer with jerry shooting at him than he did with some of his pupils Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antarmike Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 "It was a wonderful aircraft to fly, it was never done but there are many accounts by test pilots etc, in which they say they just wished they had clearance to do a barrel roll because everyone thought it was possible." Alex Henshaw barrel rolled lancs on more than one occasion , it was a kind of party piece of his to do so.... he stated that a pair of gloves left on top of the dash in the cockpit would gently rise to the top of the windscreen before just as gently landing back where they came from :-) His other trick was to do a roll with an interested observer standing between and just behind both seats .... Alex says the mans feet would gentley leave the ground as the roll progresed and again touch the floor as he leveled out again. Speaking to an ex Lanc pilot of some repute a few years ago he also claimed to have performed a kind of roll while taking violent evasive action from night fighters.... not to mention getting told off for bringing a bomb back to base ..... stuck in his wing where it had lodged after being dropped by one of the stream above .:wow: He also flew Lanc 2's fitted with radial engines ... said they climbed as hard as they could all the way to the target and never achieved half the hight of the merlin engined Lancs.... a truly brave man who compleated 2 tours and a short tour as an instructor where he asked to be put back on op's because he felt safer with jerry shooting at him than he did with some of his pupils Nice for the "irk" who had to clean up the Elsan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trustmeimamechanic Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 " Nice for the "irk" who had to clean up the Elsan! " Indeed .... probably better than cleaning up the remains of the tail gunner though :-( some of the storys he told were more than a little hair raising ... the loss rate of the Lanc 2's was appalling ... he spoke of going to a squadron reunion during the war and not knowing anyone else there .... they were all dead . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 " Nice for the "irk" who had to clean up the Elsan! " Indeed .... probably better than cleaning up the remains of the tail gunner though :-( some of the storys he told were more than a little hair raising ... the loss rate of the Lanc 2's was appalling ... he spoke of going to a squadron reunion during the war and not knowing anyone else there .... they were all dead . A zombie reunion? You wouldn't have got me in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trustmeimamechanic Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 It made sense in my mind when I typed it :blush: , Translation is - the officers he had served with in that squadron were all now dead .... he was the only original still alive . The zombie version would make a better story though . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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