Avro 683 Lancaster

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Contents

Type Description - UK Variants

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.I
• Four engined heavy bomber to meet the requirements of OR.112. Based on the Type 679 Manchester, and originally designated Manchester Mk.III, the prototype was constructed from a production triple-finned Manchester airframe, which was combined with a new wing centre section designed to accommodate the additional engines. Production aircraft featured a 33 ft span tailplane with twin large oval fins, later fitted to the Manchester Mk.IA. In most other respects, the construction of the Lancaster was identical to the Manchester and featured over 70% commonality of parts. Maximum bomb load was increased to 18,000 lb and defensive armament was updated, consisted of three Nash and Thompson hydraulically-operated turrets, the FN-5 or FN-5A two-gun nose turret, the FN-50 two-gun dorsal turret and FN-20 four-gun rear turret (later FN-120 and then FN-121, fitted with "Village Inn" gun-laying radar), all with .303 Browning machine guns. Four 1,280 h.p. Rolls-Royce Merlin X (first prototype only), XX, 22 or 24 powerplants as noted.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.I (Special)
• Mk.I adapted to take first the "Tallboy" and then "Grand Slam" bombs. In order to carry such a large and heavy weapon the BI (Special) had to have it slung externally in a doorless ‘cutaway‘ bomb bay area. Four 1,280 h.p. Rolls-Royce Merlin 22 or 24 powerplants as noted.

• Type 683 Lancaster B.Mk.I (F.E.)
• Mk.I tropicalised for Tiger Force. Completed Mk.I aircraft were shipped to Short Bros. and Harland at Belfast for conversions to F.E. standard, which included removal of mid-upper turret to compensate for extra 400 gallon fuel tank installed in the bomb bay and installation of US SRC-522 receiver in place of the British model.

• Type 683 Lancaster PR.Mk.1
• Mk.I modified for photographic reconnaissance to meet the requirements of OR.205. All armament and turrets removed, a reconfigured nose and a camera carried in the bomb bay.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.I Transport
• Mk.I converted to freighter with all armament removed and a new semi-glazed nose fairing. Four 1300 h.p. Packard Merlin 28 powerplants. See Note 2.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.II
• As Mk.I, fitted with four 1650 h.p. Bristol Hercules Hercules VI or XVI powerplants as noted.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.III
• As Mk.I, fitted with four 1300 h.p. Packard Merlin 28, 1460 h.p. Merlin 38 or 1640 h.p. Merlin 224 powerplants as noted.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.III (Special)
• More correctly designated Mk.III Special (Type 464 Provisioning), Mk.III aircraft modified to carry the "Upkeep" bouncing bomb for Operation Chastise.

• Type 683 Lancaster ASR.Mk.III
• Mk.III modified for air-sea rescue, carrying a Cunliffe-Owen Airborne Lifeboat IIA in the re-configured bomb bay. The mid upper turret was removed and windows added either side of the rear fuselage. All conversions were undertaken by Cunliffe-Owen.

• Type 683 Lancaster GR.Mk.3 / MR.Mk.3
• Mk.III/ASR.Mk.3 modified for maritime reconnaissance to meet the requirements of OR.188. Conversion included installation of ASV radar. All conversions by undertaken by Armstrong Whitworth.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.VI
• Converted Mk.IIIs with four 1750 h.p. Rolls-Royce Merlin 85 or 102 powerplants.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.VII
• As Mk.I with Martin 250CE mid-upper turret re-positioned slightly further forward, Nash and Thomson FN-82 tail turret with twin Browning 0.5 in machine guns and higher all-up weight. Four 1,280 h.p. Rolls-Royce Merlin 22 or 24 powerplants as noted.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.VII (F.E.)
• Mk.VII tropicalised for Tiger Force, similar to Mk.I (F.E.).

Type Description - Canadian Variants

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.X
• Canadian-built Mk.III with Canadian- and US-made instrumentation and electrics. Four 1460 h.p. Packard Merlin 38 or 1640 h.p. Merlin 224 powerplants as noted.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.X Transport
• Initial Mk.X's converted to freighters: all armament removed and front and tail turrets replaced by short plywood fairings, dual controls and additional fuel tankage. See Note 2.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.XMP
• Mailplane conversion, similar to the Mk.X Transport but featuring longer and more streamlined nose and tail fairings. Limited accommodation for 10 passengers. See Note 2.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.XPP
• Similar to the Mk.XMP but featuring improved passenger comfort and amenities. See Note 2.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10AR
• Reconnaissance variant of Mk.X with no armament, equipped with a total of ten camera systems. Similar to the Mk.10P with the addition of a forty inch extension to the nose of the aircraft. The extension allowed a navigation / weather radar to be fitted along with a low-level camera system fitted in the former bomb aimer’s perspex. The Mk.10AR was equipped with a total of ten camera systems. Other airframe modifications included: The addition of two windows in the rear fuselage just forward of the tail (as on the 10MR), UPD search radar, located in the mid lower fuselage, where the former H2S radar was located, pls a wide array of antennas for various radio and passive ECM systems. A normal crew complement of eight (two pilots, two navigators, two radio officers, a flight engineer and camera operator) was often supplemented with additional crew members when electronic surveillance sorties were carried out.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10BR
• General Reconnaissance, Anti Submarine and Light Strike variant of Mk.X. Of 15 aircraft ordered, several were built as a Search and Rescue variant (sometimes referred to as 10SR).

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10C
• Mk.X modified as an Avro Chinook engine test aircraft.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10DC
• Drone Carrying variant of Mk.X fitted to carry two Ryan Firebee drones under the wing.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10MP
• See Mk.10MR.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10MR
• Maritime reconnaissance variant of Mk.X with nose and tail turrets, sonobuoy capacity, rear-facing F-24 camera, extra fuel tanks, depth charges, radio and radar navigation aids.. Originally MR (Maritime Reconnaissance), designation later changed to MP (Maritime Patrol).

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10N
• Navigation trainer variant of Mk.10P.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10O
• Mk.X modified as an Avro Orenda engine test aircraft.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10P
• Photographic reconnaissance variant of Mk.X with no armament; two 400 Imperial gallon bomb-bay tanks.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10S
• Designation used for standard postwar bomber, as the basic Mk.X with mid upper turret removed.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10SR
• See Mk.10BR.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.10U
• Designation used for standard postwar bomber stored for possible conversion, unmodified.

Type 683 Lancaster Mk.I Specification
Span	Length	Height	Wing Area	Empty Wt	Max AUW	Cruise Speed	Maximum Speed	Range	Service Ceiling
120 ft	78 ft 4 in	17 ft 4 in	1421 sq ft	43778 lb	82000 lb	238 mph/ 207 kn	295 mph/ 256 kn	3750 mi	24400 ft
36.58 m	23.88 m	5.28 m	132.02 m2	19857 kg	37195 kg	383 km/h	475 km/h	6035 km	7437 m

Projected Variants

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk.VII (Interim)
• Suggested designation for Mk.I aircraft ordered from Austin with Martin mid-upper turrets. All delivered as Mk.I's with Frazer Nash turrets.

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk. Mk.IV
• Increased wingspan and lengthened fuselage - renamed Lincoln B.Mk.1

• Type 683 Lancaster Mk. Mk.V
• Mk.IV with two-stage Merlin 85s. Later renamed Lincoln B.Mk.2

• (none)
• High Speed Lancaster (see [12])

• (none)
• Lancaster High Speed Mail Plane (see [1])

Production Tables Index

Type 683 Lancaster - U.K. Built
Type 683 Lancaster - UK Built Exports
Type 683 Lancaster - Canadian Built
Type 683 Lancaster Civil Conversions

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Notes

1. T.C.A. Fleet Numbers.
2. According to King [11]: 'Mk.XMP denotes Mk. Ten Mail Plane. Mk.XPP denotes Mk. Ten Passenger Plane (Some sources denoted CF-CMS as a Mk.IT and CF-CMT/CF-CMU as Mk.XT, these designations are incorrect and were not used in CGTAS/TAS records)'. However, he then proceeds to scatter Mk.IT and Mk.XT throughout the narrative!
3. Neither aircraft saw active service with the RAAF. Both were used for various War Loan/Victory Loan tours.
4. Serials given here are from the Lancaster Archive [6], with corroboration and modifications from RAF Movement Cards (Form 78) [13], Robertson [1] and Air Britain RAF Aircraft Registers [2], as indicated below.
   
   
   • Lancaster Archive gives NX633 as delivered 5/52 to Escadrille 55S. However, Form 78 [13] gives NX633 to 60 MU 28/4/50 Cat Scrap; presumably this should be should be NX663, given in Form 78 as delivered to France from 38 MU April 1952.
   • Lancaster Archive gives RT687 as delivered 2/52, unit(s) unknown. Form 78 gives RT687 as sold to Coley and Sons 30/6/54; presumably this should be RT697, delivered to France from 38 MU January 1952.
   • Lancaster Archive gives TW658 as delivered 12/52, unit(s) unknown. Form 78 gives TW658 as crashed, cat E1; presumably this should be TW648, delivered to France from 38 MU November 1952.
   • Lancaster Archive gives TW665 as delivered 3/52, unit(s) unknown. Form 78 gives TW665 as sold for scrap; presumably should be TW655, delivered to France from 38 MU March 1952.
   • Lancaster Archive gives WU-04 as both RT682 and RT687 (RT697 as explained above). Per Form 78, RT682 was converted by Avro for France between March 1951 and February 1952, while RT697 was delivered from 38 MU January 1952. The archive also gives RT682 as WU-04/ WU-41, so possibly initially numered incorrectly then changed to WU-41? Note also there is no indication in the Lancaster Archive list of an aircraft serialed WU-3.
   • A further, and less understandable, duplication occurs with WU-24. Two are given by the Lancaster Archive, Robertson and Air Britain RAF Aircraft Registers: Mk.I PA389, delivered April 1952, and Mk.VII NX668, delivered in October 1952. Possibly a replacement aircraft? But further, the Lancaster Archive also gives Mk.I PA448 as WU-24, delivered in February 1953, though in this case both Robertson and Air Britain RAF Aircraft Registers give PA448 as going to the Aeronavale as WU-45. However, the confusion does not stop there, as all three have WU-45 as TW918, a Mk.I delivered in October 1953. Form 78 gives PA389 to France in April 1952, and appears to correct the delivery to France to February 1953. PA448 is given as going to France in November 1953 in Form 78, with TW918 in October the same year.
     Although the Lancaster Archive gives TW920 as WU-47 and RA800 as WU-51, these are given as WU-48 and WU-52 respectively in both Robertson and Air Britain RAF Aircraft Registers, so I consider this possibly a mis-type in the Archive, and are recorded here accordingly.
   • Finally, there are two further Lancasters recorded in Form 78 as going to France but are unrecorded by the Lancaster Archive. NX775, indicated as sold to France 28 August 1953, and RT674, sold to France 8 October 1953. Their history in France is currently unknown.
   The following corollary should be noted. In a post on the Air Britain Information Exchange (AB-IX) forum on 11 April 2024, Jean-Pierre Dubois of the French Branch of Air Britain wrote ". . . during the sixties, a list of tie-ups between the former British RAF serials and the new WU identities was established by serious aviation historians having apparently access to some industrial archive. They appeared in print and have become the Bible ever since. But, although believed correct (apparently), and NOT official, it is safer to record WU identities only . I once had access (during the early seventies) to the official individual histories of the French Lancasters. And I must insist on the fact that the previous RAF serials were totally unknown to the French authorities, and never ever appeared in any technical paperwork."
5. There is some confusion in official documents concerning this contract number. While the Contract Delivery Cards [15] clearly state Contract 982866/40, Requisition 2/E1/41, the various Form 78s [13] for this serial range either state Contract 982866/39, simply 982866 or nothing. Contract Delivery Cards and Form 78 for the original Manchester contract state 982866/39. As the Contract delivery Cards are neatly typed, with little information other than serial and date, it would appear that these are a transcription of what would most likely have originally been hand written cards, and that the wrong year was introduced with this transcription. Note also that both www.lancaster-archive.com [6] and lancasterbombers.net [13] incorrectly give the contract number as 982266/40
6. Form 78 [13] for PB233 indicates "ASR", but at no point does it show the aircraft being transferred to Cunliffe-Owen for conversion, so it seems most likely that this aircraft was not converted.
7. To the National Steel Car Corporation (later Victory Aircraft) in August 1942 as a pattern aircraft for Canadian production, returning to the UK in October for modifications then returned to Canada. In January 1943, all turrets were removed and faired over. Returned to the UK in May 1943 for modifications, it was fitted with a new glazed nose and Packard Merlin 28 powerplants, making it effectively a Mk.III, as indicated in the aircraft's Form 78, but was known as a Mk.I Transport. On return to Canada, it became CF-CMS.
8. NF936 - NF938 are indicated on Form 78 [13] as powered by Merlin 38s, but are not indicated as Mk.III. This powerplant definition has been ignored here as probably erroneous.
9. On 17 March 1948, five countries, the United kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States, signed the Brussels Treaty establishing Western Union, designed to guard against any armed aggression in Europe (i.e. not including the overseas territories), no longer just from Germany, against any of its members.

Production References

1. Lancaster - the Story of a Famous Bomber, Robertson and Russell (Harleyford Publications, 1964)
2. Air Britain RAF Aircraft Register Series, Various Volumes (Air-Britain Publications)
3. Avro Aircraft Since 1908, A.J. Jackson (Putnam, 1965 and 1990)
4. http://atlanticcanadaaviationmuseum.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/mar2003.pdf
5. https://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/aircraft/the-lancaster-bomber/
6. http://www.lancaster-archive.com/
7. http://www.amilarg.com.ar/avro-lancaster.html
8. http://www.ffaa.net/aircraft/lancaster/fleet.htm
9. http://www.ffaa.net/aircraft/lancaster/carriere-individuelle.htm
10. Air Arsenal North America, Phil Butler with Dan Hagedorn (Midland Publishing, 2004)
11. Lancaster to York - Civil Lancasters, Lancastrians and Yorks, Derek A. King (Air Britain, 2018)
12. https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,642.0.html
13. RAF Air Historical Branch: Aircraft Movement Cards, Form 78 (Dept of Archive and Aviation Records, RAF Museum, Hendon, Records MFC-77-15), and available at, available at https://www.lancasterbombers.net/form-78-aircraft-movement-cards/
14. RAF Air Historical Branch: Serial/Delivery Ledger (Dept of Archive and Aviation Records, RAF Museum, Hendon, Records MF-1 thru -5)
15. RAF Air Historical Branch: Contract Delivery Cards (Dept of Archive and Aviation Records, RAF Museum, Hendon, Records MFC-78-8-2)