Description
Avro Shackleton Poster A3 over St Mawgan, sketched in Pencil.
The Avro Aircraft Company Avro 696 Shackleton is a long-range maritime patrol aircraft, first flown (VW126) at Woodford on 9th March 1949, in the hands of Chief Test Pilot JH ‘Jimmy’ Orrell.
It was designed in response to Air Ministry Specification R 5/46 by a team led initially by Lancaster designer Roy Chadwick. Tragically, Chadwick was killed in a crash in 1947, although the project continued on unabated. The type was developed as Britain’s response to the growing threat of the Soviet Navy, and its submarine fleet, which could be found in and around UK waters.
The prototype Avro 696 Shackleton G.R.1 (VW126) was later re-designated as a Marine Reconnaissance MR.1. It differed from the later production variants, in so far as it featured gun turrets, and the capability for air-to-air refuelling.
Initially produced as the Avro Type 696 Shackleton ASR3 for RAF Coastal Command, it was evolved predominantly from the Avro 694 Lincoln, although it also drew on a number of Avro 688 Tudor assemblies.
The Avro 696 Shackleton MR.1 featured a chin-mounted search radar, as well as two 20mm cannon in the nose. Two more cannons were sited in a mid-upper dorsal turret, as well as two 0.5in machine guns in the tail. Engine power was provided by a pair of Rolls-Royce Griffon 57A engines (inboard) and a pair of Rolls-Royce Griffon 57 engines (outboard).
Artworks from the collection of the late Artist Barry Wallond, from St Mawgan in Cornwall. Barry’s artwork included a wide range of WW2 and Post War Royal Air Force aircraft, drawn in Pencil. Barry also created a over 150 computer designed images of aircraft, with details of the individual aircraft portrayed.
