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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1692.PDF
PLIGHT AUGUSI JT^TH, 1942 -•^a^,;. w Full DetaiLs of Our Latest and Fastest Heavy Bomber Excellent Controllability and Amazing Two-engined Performance : An Aircraft Without Vices THE impression has got around that the Avro Lan caster heavy bomber is merely a four-engined version of the twin-engined Avro Manchester. This is very far from being the case, and the Lancaster should be regarded as a completely new type. That certain struc tural components from the older machine have been incorporated in the design, where they were suitable, is admitted ; it would have been an inexcusable waste of man-power -not to have done so. That the design has not suffered as a result is amply proved by the fact that the structure weight' of the Lancaster is less than 30 per cent, of the gross weight, a figure which points to a very high degree of structural efficiency. That there is a "family likeness" is but natural, and, indeed, it would have been strange if such had not been the case. The wing form, the placing of the engines, the fuselage form, aad the tail surfaces had all been found extremely suc cessful on the Manchester, so Mr. Roy Chadwick, Avro's chief designer for more than twenty years, would have been very unwise to make changes in these items. His justification, from a structural point of view, has already been mentioned. Aerodynamically. it is to be found in the fact that the Lancaster is the fastest, by a consider able margin, of our heavy four-engined bombers. The qualities of an aircraft are not to be measured in sheer performance alone; controllability, freedom from vices, and the ability to fly with one or-two engines out of action are at least as important. In that respect, too, the Lancaster has already proved its worth. It is on record that on one occasion one of these machines returned from the Baltic with both engines on one side out of action, and the airscrew blades of another badly bent so that the engine had to be throttled down in order to Mr. Roy Chadwick has been chief de signer of Avros for more than twenty years. In that time a great many de signs were pro duced, two of which have been built in greater numbers than any other type : the 504 in the first world war and the Anson in the present. In ad dition to being chief designer he is now a director of the firm. reduce vibration. The aircraft got back safely, virtually on one-and-a-half engines, and both of these on the same side! It is natural to ask what has made the Lancaster prob ably the finest four-engined bomber in the world. The answer cannot be given in a few words. The low structure weight is due partly to the constructional methods adopted, and to a very careful proportioning everywhere of the structure members to the loads they have to carry. Yet this has been achieved without undue complication; in fact, the Lancaster structure is a relatively simple onev- from the manufacturing point of view, as even Mr. R. H.i Dobson, managing director of Avros, admits. We use the word advisedly, for "Dobbie," as he is called throughout
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