Informații principale
| Producător | Airfix |
| Codul produsului | afx11005 |
| Greutate: | 0.86 kg |
| Ean: | 5055288635494 |
| Scală | 1:72 |
| Adăugat în catalog: | 29.12.2017 |
| Tags: | Avro-Shackleton |
With the ability to mount patrols for up to twelve hours, the Rolls-Royce Griffon powered Avro Shackleton AEW.2 provided Britain’s airborne early warning protection for almost 19 years. Following the withdrawal of HMS Ark Royal and her compliment of Gannet AEW aircraft, the Gannet’s radar units were simply removed and attached under the forward fuselage of the new AEW version of the Shackleton.
Tracing its lineage back to the famous Avro Lancaster bomber, the Shackleton was a long-range maritime patrol aircraft, which was used primarily on anti-submarine operations, but was also required to perform a number of other roles. Entering RAF service in 1951, the majority of Shackletons were powered by the mighty Rolls Royce Griffon engine and were the last aircraft in the illustrious line of four engined propeller powered bomber aircraft to see Royal Air Force service.
As the British government issued plans of their intention to scrap HMS Ark Royal, the navy were concerned that their ships would lose important airborne early warning capability, which was simply not an option. The solution was to put the radar units used on Ark Royal’s Fairey Gannets into the airframe of the trusty Avro Shackletons and although these were obviously land based aircraft, the impressive endurance of the Shackleton would greatly enhance the effectiveness of the navy’s airborne early warning capabilities.
Twelve Shackleton airframes were converted to AEW Mk.2 standard and operated in the colours of No.8 Squadron, originally at RAF Kinloss in early 1972. Following the completion of significant runway strengthening works at nearby RAF Lossiemouth, the Shackletons moved to Lossiemouth in August 1973, where they remained until the unit finally disbanded in 1991.
The Avro Shackleton was a British long-range naval patrol and reconnaissance aircraft and ZOP, metal-structure, spine-wing configuration. The drive was provided by 4 Rolls-Royce Griffon 57A engines with a capacity of 1985 HP each. The flight of the prototype took place in 1949, and serial production continued in 1951-1958, ending with the production of 181 copies of this aircraft. They were armed with two 20mm Hispano-Suiza cannons and up to 4,536 kg of bombs, depth charges or torpedoes.
With the development of Soviet submarine weapons and based on the experience of the Battle of the Atlantic, the British Air Force Command came to the conclusion that it needed a new long-range patrol aircraft and ZOP. The task of creating such an aircraft was entrusted to Avro, which rebuilt the Avro Lincoln bomber for new tasks and using many components from Lancaster and Avro Tudor aircraft. This allowed to shorten the research and development work and led to the creation of a very successful aircraft, with a low failure rate, ensuring good crew comfort, and above all, with a range of over 3600 km, capable of staying in the air for 14 hours. Several versions of this aircraft were created in the course of serial production. The first mass-produced was the Shackleton MR.1, later a version of the Shackleton MR.2 with an elongated nose and slightly changed electronic equipment was created. In 1971, the AEW.2 version, the early warning aircraft, also appeared. There are also two training versions: T.2 and T.4, which were created from rebuilt Shackleton MR.1 and MR.2 machines. Avro Shackleton planes remained in line in Great Britain until 1991! South Africa turned out to be the only foreign recipient.
Greșeală în descriere? Raportează eroarea
...