PLIGHT

AUGUSI JT^TH, 1942

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Full DetaiLs of Our Latest and Fastest Heavy Bomber Excellent Controllability and Amazing Two-engined Performance : An Aircraft Without Vices

H E impression has got around t h a t t h e Avro Lancaster heavy bomber is merely a four-engined version of the twin-engined Avro Manchester. This is very far from being t h e case, a n d t h e Lancaster should be regarded as a completely new t y p e . T h a t certain structural components from the older machine have been incorporated in t h e design, where t h e y were suitable, is admitted ; it would have been a n inexcusable waste of man-power -not to have done so. T h a t t h e design has n o t suffered as a result is amply proved by the fact t h a t the structure weight' of the Lancaster is less t h a n 30 per cent, of the gross weight, a figure which points to a very high degree of structural efficiency. T h a t there is a " f a m i l y l i k e n e s s " is b u t n a t u r a l , a n d , indeed, it would h a v e been strange if such had not been t h e case. The wing form, the placing of the engines, the fuselage form, a a d the tail surfaces h a d all been found extremely successful on the Manchester, so Mr. Roy Chadwick, Avro's chief designer for more t h a n 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 t h a t t h e Lancaster is t h e fastest, by a considerable margin, of our heavy four-engined bombers. The qualities of an aircraft are not t o be measured in sheer performance a l o n e ; controllability, freedom from vices, and the ability t o fly with one o r - t w o engines o u t of action are a t least as i m p o r t a n t . In t h a t respect, too, the Lancaster has already proved its worth. I t is on record t h a t on one occasion one of these machines returned from t h e Baltic with b o t h engines on one side o u t of action, and the airscrew blades of another badly bent so t h a t t h e engine had to be throttled down in order to

Mr. Roy Chadwick has been chief designer of Avros for more than twenty years. In that time a great many designs were produced, 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 addition 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! I t is n a t u r a l t o ask what has made the Lancaster probably t h e finest four-engined bomber in t h e world. The answer cannot be given in a few words. T h e low structure weight is due p a r t l y to t h e constructional methods adopted, a n d to a very careful proportioning everywhere of the structure members to the loads they have t o carry. Yet this has been achieved without undue complication; in fact, t h e Lancaster structure is a relatively simple onevfrom t h e manufacturing point of view, as even Mr. R. H.i Dobson, managing director of Avros, admits. W e use t h e word advisedly, for " D o b b i e , " as he is called throughout