The most successful British long-range bomber of the Second World War is considered the Avro "Lancaster", in the course of numerous night raids methodically destroyed the industrial potential of Nazi Germany and terrified its population. But back in 1942, the RAF command began to think about the upcoming large-scale operations in the Far East. For use in this theater of operations, the British bomb carriers clearly did not have enough range. Therefore, the creator of "Lancaster" Roy Chadwick began developing its improved version - the Mk.IV modification (AVRo "model 694").

At the end of 1942, a preliminary design was submitted to the military along with a competing project Vickers "Windsor". The choice was made in favor of the Chadwick machine, and in July 1943 AVRo received a contract for the construction of a prototype, and a month later - an order for the supply of 162 production aircraft that corresponded to the specification (technical assignment) B. 14/43, and in two modifications at once - "Lancaster" B Mk.IV and B Mk.V, distinguished by engines ("Merlin-85" and "Merlin-68" with 1635 and 1315 hp respectively).

In June 1944, due to significant differences between the new modifications from the previous ones, it was decided to separate the "model 694" into a separate type of aircraft. The plane was named "Lincoln" after the city of Lincoln - the capital of the county in the east of England. Thus, Lancaster B Mk.IV and B Mk.V became Lincolns B Mk.I and B Mk.II.

Externally, the aircraft differed from the previous models of "Lancaster" in the shape of the nose. One of the main disadvantages of "Lancaster" was the poor layout of the close, with a poor view of the navigator-bombardier's workplace. Therefore, on the "Lincoln" the design of the nose of the fuselage was changed, making it "two-story" - below was the glazed cockpit of the navigator-bombardier, and above it was a remotely controlled turret.

The Lincoln fuel system consisted of six tanks with a total capacity of 16,278 liters (3580 imp g). It was a large supply of fuel that made it possible, at a speed of 320 km / h, with a bomb load of 1400 kg, at an altitude of 6100 m, to reach a strategic range of 7160 km.

Lincoln first flew on June 9, 1944 from Ringway airfield near Manchester. From July 15 to 23, the aircraft passed preliminary state tests, showing good controllability and satisfactory flight characteristics. The only change made to the design based on the test results was a slight increase in the area of ​​the rudders.

The first modification turned out to be unsuccessful - the Merlin-85 engines lacked power, and in February 1949 several dozen aircraft, already tainted by corrosion, were sold for scrap.

Model B Mk.II with American Packard-Merlin-68 engines, which actually provided the declared power, turned out to be more promising. But the introduction of the "two" into the series was delayed - the first aircraft of this modification was produced only at the beginning of June 1945, and like the first model, these aircraft did not participate in World War II.

The Lincoln Mk.31 was used only by the Australian Air Force (RAAF). Its bow, lengthened by 1.98 m, housed additional crew members for naval reconnaissance. It was balanced by the mass of equipment moved to the rear of the fuselage. 19 of these aircraft were converted from Australian-built Mk. 30A and served with 10 Squadron.

A total of 604 units of various modifications were produced. The plane was the last to be decommissioned in Argentina, in 1967.

Photo	Description
	Drawing AVRo Lincoln B Mk.II

Bibliography

• "Encyclopedia of military engineering" /Aerospace Publising/
• "British warplanes of World War II" /under cor. Daniel March/

Also used by the RAF in the UK as a reconnaissance aircraft. So, on March 12, 1953, a Lincoln reconnaissance aircraft over German territory, performing reconnaissance tasks, was shot down by pilots of the 43rd IAP of the USSR Air Force V. Ivanov and V. Alekseev. Judging by the names, such pilots in the USSR could not be counted ...