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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. ==Design and development== 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 and 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.〔Nathan, Stuart. ("February 1946: the last of the piston-engined bombers." ) ''The Engineer'', 4 February 2015.〕〔Delve 2005, p. 249.〕 The prototype Lancaster IV (Lincoln I) was assembled by Avro's experimental flight department at Manchester's Ringway Airport and made its maiden flight from there on 9 June 1944.〔〔Scholefield 1998, p. 37.〕 Production of the type was primarily performed at Avro's Woodford, Cheshire and Chadderton, Lancashire factories; additional aircraft were also constructed by Armstrong Whitworth at their Coventry facilities. Separate production lines were also set up in Canada and Australia, although with the end of the war, production in Canada (by Victory Aircraft) was halted after only one aircraft had been built. Production in Australia proceeded, the Lincolns that were subsequently manufactured there were operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). One Lincoln B Mk XV pattern aircraft was also completed in Canada by Victory Aircraft; a follow-up order for a total of six RCAF variants was cancelled shortly following the end of hostilities.〔("Avro Lincoln." ) ''airforce.forces.gc.ca.'' Retrieved: 30 August 2010.〕 Along with two additional (Mk I and Mk II) aircraft on loan from the RAF, the type was briefly evaluated postwar by the RCAF.〔("Avro Lincoln." ) ''rcaf.com.'' Retrieved: 30 August 2010.〕 The Lancaster V/Lincoln II differed mainly in that it was fitted with Merlin 68A engines. Before the Lincoln was developed, the Australian government intended its Department of Aircraft Production (DAP), later known as the Government Aircraft Factory (GAF), would build the Lancaster Mk III. In its place, a variant of the Lincoln I, re-designated as Mk 30, was manufactured between 1946 and 1949; it has the distinction of being the largest aircraft ever built in Australia.〔Jackson 1990, p. 412.〕 Orders for a total of 85 Mk 30 Lincolns were placed by the RAAF (which designated the type A-73), although only 73 were ever produced.〔 The first five Australian examples (''A73–1'' to ''A73–5''), were assembled using British-made components. On 17 March 1946, ''A73-1'' conducted its début flight; the first entirely Australian-built Lincoln, ''A73-6'', was formally delivered in November 1946. The Mk 30 initially featured four Merlin 85 engines, this arrangement was later changed to a combination of two outboard Merlin 66s and two inboard Merlin 85s. A further improved later version, designated as Lincoln Mk 30A, featured a total of four Merlin 102s. During the 1950s, the RAAF heavily modified some of their Mk 30 aircraft to perform anti-submarine warfare missions, re-designating them GR.Mk 31. These examples had a longer nose to house acoustic submarine detection gear and its operators, larger fuel tanks to provide the aircraft with a 13-hour flight endurance endurance and a modified bomb bay to accommodate torpedoes. 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. 18 aircraft were rebuilt to this standard in 1952, gaining new serial numbers.〔 Ten were subsequently upgraded to MR.Mk 31 standard, which included an updated radar. These Lincolns served with No. 10 Squadron RAAF at RAAF Townsville; however, the discovery of corrosion in the wing spars leg to the type's premature retirement in 1961.〔''World Aircraft Information Files'', 1997.〕 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 pressurised fuselage. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Avro Lincoln」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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