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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1951.PDF
SEPTEMBER 17TH, 1942 THEIR CHARACTERISTICS Span Length Height DIMENSIONS .. .. .. Wing area .. .. 90ft. lin. \. 68ft. lOin. .. 20ft. .. 1,131 sq.ft. WHEN it first made its appearance, the Avro Man chester was fitted with a fixed vertical central fin in addition to the twin fins and rudders outrigged on the tailplane tips, but after a certain number had been produced, this extra fin was abandoned and the areas of the normal fins and rudders increased. The early "triple tail" models had no dorsal turret, and it seems likely that when this was added the array of three fins was found seriously to interfere with the rearwards field of fire; in the event of the tail turret being put out of action, this would be a particularly unfortunate handicap. It is natural that the Manchester should be regarded as a two-engined version of the Lancaster (and vice versa) because, though there are important differences in its con structional details, the general outlines of fuselage, wing- plan and tail unit are very similar. In fact the fuselage of the Manchester is only six inches shorter than that of its four-engined successor, although the span is some 12ft. less. Designed in a number of sections to facilitate production, transport, maintenance and repair, the Manchester is of all-metal construction and, except for fabric-covered control surfaces, is skinned throughout with flush-riveted alumin ium alloy sheets. The fuselage is built up of transverse formers with continuous longitudinal stringers and the wings have a centre-section of constant chord and thickness to which are attached at a moderate dihedral angle. symmetrically tapered outer panels with rounded tips. Flaps of the split trailing-edge type are fitted. The only one of our recently designed heavy bombers to be powered by two engines, the Manchester has a pair of Rolls-Royce Vulture engines, each with a maximum power rating of 1,843 n-P- a* 3.000 r.p.m. at 5,000ft. This engine has four banks of six cylinders in the form of an "X" and set at 90 degrees to each other. Constructional details in such matters as valve arrangement and valve- gear operation follow well-established Merlin practice, and boost is provided by a centrifugal, two-speed supercharger which delivers the mixture through two main trunk pipes each feeding two banks of cylinders. The swept volume of the Vulture is 2,592 cu. in., and electric starting is employed. The spotter will be chiefly interested, however, in the fact that the engines are carried in underslung nacelles beneath each of which bulge two radiators. Four flame-damping exhaust outlets protrude, two on each side of the nacelle which also has a wide air-intake on top. Altogether, there fore, these nacelles have a somewhat lumpy appearance and are a characteristic of the Manchester. Its armament comprises eight 0.303m. Brownings in its three gun turrets, and its 33ft. bomb bay accommodates more than five tons of bombs. Weighing some 25 tons all up, the top speed is approximately 300 m.p.h. and the maxi mum range about 2,000 miles.
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