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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1700.PDF
-178 FLIGHT AUGUST I3TH, 194a AVRO LANCASTER The Lancaster fuel tanks are of remarkably simple construction. Joints are made by shot welding, and the ends are welded on. Attachment of fin to tailplane on the Avro Lancaster. A rudder hinge and portion of the horn balance can also be seen. simple and effective and can be operated by the feet. The elevator and rudder control leads are in the form of push-pull tubes, but the ailerons and the trim ming tabs are operated by cables and chains over sprockets. Short lengths of chain are also used for the engine controls, and all backlash is eliminated by pre tensioning the chains. Where it has been necessary the chains are twisted through an angle of go degrees. This is accomplished by inserting a small link in which the holes at the two ends are bored at the desired angle. Obviously, such an arrangement could not be used for continuous chains, but for the to and from motion of throttles and the like, the arrangement works well and is simple and positive. Electrical Installation The hydraulic, pneumatic and electric services are very neatly arranged, the leads running along the roof of the bomb bay, under the floor. There they are readily acces sible, and altogether the Lancaster strikes one as being remarkably easy to service and maintain. Power for the hydraulic operation of the undercarriage units, wing flaps, bomb door jacks, and fuel jettisoning is obtained from a single pump in each of the inboard engine nacelles. Each of the four engines has a single pump for supplying power to each of the four gun turrets. On the port inboard REAR SPAR ATTACHMENT FRONT SPAR ATTACHMENT A Lancastrian nose. The bomb-aimer's windscreen and optical flat, with the front gun turret (two .303 Brownings) and pilots' cockpit roof. Note how the underslung Rolls-Royce Merlin engines leave the upper wing surface clear. The outboard engines of the Lancaster are very simply supported from three pick-up points, two on the front spar and one on the rear. engine is mounted an R.A.E. air compressor which operates the automatic pilot, and a Heywood compressor operates the pneumatic brakes and the radiator shutter, system. Vacuum pumps on each of the inboard engines operate the gyroscopic instruments. Engine starting is electric, from ground accumulators or from the aircraft's own batteries. The electrical installation works on 24 volts, the power being supplied by two 1,500-watt generators, one in each inboard engine nacelle. The fuel system is so arranged that the engines on each side are normally fed from the tanks on that side, but transfer pipe systems permit of feeding any engine from any tank. The tanks, by the way, have a total capacity of 2,154 gallons. The Merlin XX engines are pressure cooled and drive De Havilland constant-speed, fully feathering airscrews. The airscrews are provided with slinger rings for de-icing, and, in addition, equipment is installed lor spraying de-icing fluid over the pilot's and bomb-aimer's windows. Cabin Heating •\-?' The cabin heating arrangement is „ extremely simple. Branch pipes are taken from the cylinder jackets to & radiator in the leading edge. This radiator is placed in the middle of an air duct, one end of which is turned forward to the leading edge while the other enters the cabin wall opposite a baffle plate. In addition to the posi tive hot-air feed thus provided there is an extractor louvre on each side of the nose of the fuselage. By sucking air out of the cabin, these louvres assist the entry of the hot air. A list of the equipment carried in the Lancaster would occupy a great - deal of space, and in any case it is obviously very similar to that carried in other aircraft of the same class. There is, however, one item in the equipment, or rather the installation ( of it, which deserves special mention. The usual inflatable dinghy is, of
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