Avro Lincoln

The Avro Type 694 Lincoln was a British four-engined heavy bomber that first flew on 9 June 1944. Roy Chadwick developed it from the Lancaster to Air Ministry Specification B.14/43, at first calling the variants Lancaster IV and V, with longer-span, higher aspect ratio wings, two-stage supercharged Merlin 85 engines and an enlarged fuselage able to carry up to 11 tons of armament including the Grand Slam bomb. It reached operational status in August 1945, too late for the Tiger Force planned against Japan, and progressively replaced the Lancaster in RAF service. It was the last piston-engined bomber operated by the RAF, was used against guerrillas in the Mau Mau Uprising and the Malayan Emergency, also served with the RAAF and the Argentine Air Force, and the last Lincolns in service, in Argentina, retired in 1967.