The four-engined Lincoln would be the last piston-engined bomber used by the Royal Air Force. Entering service in August 1945, it was intended for the aircraft to serve with Bomber Command's 'Tiger Force', which would
participate in operations leading up to the invasion of Japan. However, the Second World War ended before the Avro Lincoln would begin operations.
Although the Avro Lancaster was proving a success as the mainstay of Bomber Command, due to the speed of
development required during wartime, the Air Ministry released Specification B.14/43 during 1943 to find a successor to the Lancaster. Avro submitted a new design, designated Lancaster B.IV with
power to be supplied by the Rolls-Royce Merlin 85 engine. The new aircraft would be a long-range high altitude version of the Lancaster, although with so many changes including an increased
wingspan and fuselage, the aircraft was renamed the Avro Lincoln I.
The prototype flew for the first time on the 9th June 1944 at Ringway Airport with Captain Harry Albert Brown at the controls, before being sent to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental
Establishment on the 13th June 1944 to undergo testing. A second prototype flew five months later on the 13th November 1944.
The Lincoln I was powered by four 1,680-hp Rolls-Royce Merlin 85 engines which gave the aircraft a top speed of 319 mph, range of 1,470 miles and a service ceiling of 30,500 ft. Armament
was either six 0.50-in machine-guns, two each in the nose, dorsal and tail turrets. Although some examples had two 20mm cannons instead of machine-guns in the dorsal turret. Bomb load was 14,000lb.
The Lincoln II followed and would be powered by either Rolls-Royce Merlin 66, 68A or 300 engines, and had a top speed of 319 mph, range of 2,460 miles with a service ceiling of 22,000ft.
Armament and bomb load was the same as the Lincoln I.
With everything going to plan, 2,254 examples were to be built at various factories around the United Kingdom, with No. 57 Squadron, RAF East Kirkby and No. 75 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force,
RAF Spilsby receiving their first aircraft in August 1945. They wouldn't be used operationally during the Second World War (1939 – 1945), they had been earmarked to be used as part of Bomber
Command's 'Tiger Force' in the Pacific. After the Japanese surrender during September 1945
brought an end to hostilities, only about a quarter of the proposed 2,254 were built.
The proposed Lincoln III ended up becoming the Avro Shackleton, whilst the Lincoln IV was Lincoln IIs powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin 85 engines. Victory Aircraft in Canada built a single aircraft which was known as the
Lincoln Mk 15.
The Avro Lincoln would also be built in Australia and used by the Royal Australian Air Force. This was the Lincoln B Mk 30, which was powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin 85 or 102 engine. Its top
speed was 310 mph with a range of 4,280 miles and a service ceiling of 28,000 ft. Armament was two 20mm cannons and four 0.50-in machine-guns, bomb load was 14,000lb. Some aircraft had their
nose extended by 6ft 6in to enable two radar operators and the required equipment to be housed and these were known as Lincoln Mk 31s. A small number were also used by the Argentine Air Force.
It was a Lincoln II that would make the last flight by a piston engined bomber aircraft for Bomber Command when it flew on the 28th September 1960. Although the type would stay in service with
the RAF elsewhere before eventually being retired on the 12th March 1963, when No. 151 Squadron, RAF Watton, relinquished its remaining examples. With the Argentine Air Force using theirs until
1967.
In total 624 Lincolns were built.
Lincoln II at the Royal Air Force Museum, Midlands
