Avro Shackleton Bomber at the Newark Air Museum

Did you know the Avro Shackleton was developed from the Avro Lancaster?

The Shackleton first flew the same year East and West Germany were officially formed, in 1949. It was operated by both the Royal Air Force and the South African Air Force and was developed from the Avro Lincoln, which itself was developed from the iconic Avro Lancaster.

The Shackleton was born from a need to protect British waters from soviet submarines and was fitted with a whole range of equipment to help them in the Anti Submarine Warfare role. The Shackleton entered service with the RAF in 1951 and would remain in service for 40 years until it was retired in 1991. It was also used extensively in the Search and Rescue role. Interestingly in 1971 a number of South African Shackletons were deployed I the SS Wafra Oil Spill disaster. The oil tanker ran aground, leading to approximately 200,000 barrels of oil leaking into the ocean. The ship was refloated, tugged-out to sea and then sunk with depth charges, dropped from Shackletons.

The Shackleton’s role as an Anti Submarine platform was gradually taken-over by the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod and a number of aircraft were adapted to an Airborne Early Warning role. They were to be replaced in this role by the Boeing E3 Sentry.

I wanted to show you inside this particular aircraft, however the chap at the door was asking me for 50p and I didn’t have any spare change on me!