AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 93 / 165

Plate 93 of 165 · Second World War · Heavy bomber

Avro Lincoln B.2

Lincoln B.2, painted as RF398, the RAF Museum’s Avro Lincoln B.2/4A and the only Lincoln in Britain, built by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and first flown on 11 September 1945, flown by the Bomber Command Bombing School at Lindholme from 1957 and then on electronic-warfare training with the Central Signals Establishment and No. 151 Squadron at Watton until 1963, displayed at Cosford since 1968: a seven-crew heavy bomber of 120 ft span, the Lancaster stretched with a longer fuselage and a wider-span wing, four Packard Merlin 68A engines in redesigned nacelles with deep chin radiators, twin oval fins, an H2S Mk IVA radome under the rear fuselage and a Boulton Paul Type D rear turret, shown standing tail-down with the nose turret position faired over, no dorsal turret, the cowlings closed and the bomb doors hanging open: Medium Sea Grey upper surfaces over a black nose, fuselage sides, undersides, nacelles and fins, Type D roundels on the fuselage and upper wings (no photograph of the upper wings was found, so the wing roundels follow the standard for the scheme), large white RF398 serials on the fuselage sides and under the wings, red, white and blue fin flashes, royal blue spinners from the Bombing School and black propellers with yellow tips.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as RF398, the RAF Museum’s Avro Lincoln B.2/4A and the only Lincoln in Britain, built by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and first flown on 11 September 1945, flown by the Bomber Command Bombing School at Lindholme from 1957 and then on electronic-warfare training with the Central Signals Establishment and No. 151 Squadron at Watton until 1963, displayed at Cosford since 1968: a seven-crew heavy bomber of 120 ft span, the Lancaster stretched with a longer fuselage and a wider-span wing, four Packard Merlin 68A engines in redesigned nacelles with deep chin radiators, twin oval fins, an H2S Mk IVA radome under the rear fuselage and a Boulton Paul Type D rear turret, shown standing tail-down with the nose turret position faired over, no dorsal turret, the cowlings closed and the bomb doors hanging open: Medium Sea Grey upper surfaces over a black nose, fuselage sides, undersides, nacelles and fins, Type D roundels on the fuselage and upper wings (no photograph of the upper wings was found, so the wing roundels follow the standard for the scheme), large white RF398 serials on the fuselage sides and under the wings, red, white and blue fin flashes, royal blue spinners from the Bombing School and black propellers with yellow tips. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.9 MB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (); engine, crew and dimensions are for the Lincoln B.2 modelled here.

History

The Lincoln

The Lincoln began as a Lancaster for the war against Japan. Bomber Command expected to fly much longer missions over the Pacific, and Roy Chadwick’s team at Avro answered with the Type 694, at first called the Lancaster IV and V. It kept the Lancaster’s layout but had a longer fuselage, a wing of 120 ft span with a higher aspect ratio for better performance at height, stronger undercarriage and new two-stage Merlins in redesigned nacelles. The first prototype, PW925, flew from Ringway on 9 June 1944, and the type was so different from the Lancaster that it was renamed the Lincoln that August.

Production was shared between Avro, Metropolitan-Vickers and Armstrong Whitworth, and No. 57 Squadron at East Kirkby received the first service aircraft in August 1945, too late for the war. The B.2, with Packard-built Merlin 68s, became the standard RAF bomber of the late 1940s, armed with twin .50 in guns in the nose and tail turrets and two 20 mm cannon in a dorsal turret, and able to carry 14,000 lb of bombs. In all 604 were built in Britain, and Australia built 73 more for the RAAF. Argentina bought 30, and the Lincoln and the Lancaster were its heavy bombers into the 1960s.

The Lincoln was the last piston-engined bomber in RAF front-line service. It bombed communist guerrillas in the Malayan jungle during the Emergency, Mau Mau positions in Kenya and rebels in the Aden Protectorate, and it stood in as Britain’s main bomber until Canberras and then the V-bombers took over in the mid-1950s. Many were then given radar and radio equipment for bombing training and electronic warfare, and the last RAF Lincolns, flown by No. 151 Squadron on signals work at Watton, were retired in March 1963.

This airframe

Lincoln B.2 RF398

RF398The airframe modelled

RF398 is the only Lincoln in Britain. It was built by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and first flew on 11 September 1945, but it spent its early years in storage and being modified, emerging as a B.2/4A with the H2S Mk IVA radar. In November 1957 it joined the Bomber Command Bombing School at Lindholme, whose royal blue spinners it still wears, and from there it went to the Central Signals Establishment and No. 151 Squadron at Watton for electronic-warfare training. In April 1963 it was flown to Henlow to be kept for the future RAF Museum, and it has been at Cosford, as 8376M, since 1968. Its rear turret was refitted that year and restored in 2000. It is now displayed in the War in the Air hangar. The model shows it as it stands there: Medium Sea Grey upper surfaces over a black nose, fuselage sides, undersides and fins, Type D roundels on the fuselage, large white RF398 serials on the fuselage and under the wings, red, white and blue fin flashes, royal blue spinners and black propellers with yellow tips. The nose turret position is faired over, there is no dorsal turret, the Boulton Paul Type D rear turret is fitted and the bomb doors hang open. No photograph of the upper wings was found, so the roundels there follow the standard for the scheme.

See it at Royal Air Force Museum Midlands

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Lincoln in one UK collection. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 165 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.