WOW658 Avro Shackleton AEW Variant Mk.2

Description

The Avro Shackleton was a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft which was used by the RAF. It was developed by Avro from the Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a development of the famous wartime Lancaster bomber.
Developed during the late 1940s as part of Britain’s military response to the rapid expansion of the Soviet Navy, in particular its submarine force. Produced as the primary type equipping RAF Coastal Command, the Type 696 as it was initially designated, incorporated major elements of the Lincoln, as well as the Avro Tudor airliner, and was furnished with an extensive electronics suite in order to perform the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) mission, along with much-improved crew facilities due to the long mission times involved in patrol work. There were 185 built and the type was named Shackleton, after the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.

The Shackleton entered operational service with the RAF in April 1951 and was used primarily in the ASW and MPA roles, but it was also frequently deployed as an aerial search and rescue (SAR) platform and for performing several other secondary roles such as mail delivery and as an ad-hoc cargo and troop-transport aircraft.

As the British government issued plans of their intention to scrap HMS Ark Royal, the navy were concerned that their ships would lose important airborne early warning capability, which was simply not an option. The solution was to put the radar units used on Ark Royal’s Fairey Gannets into the airframe of the trusty Avro Shackletons and although these were obviously land based aircraft, the impressive endurance of the Shackleton would greatly enhance the effectiveness of the navy’s airborne early warning capabilities.

Twelve Shackleton airframes were converted to AEW Mk.2 standard and operated in the colours of No.8 Squadron, originally at RAF Kinloss in early 1972. Following the completion of significant runway strengthening works at nearby RAF Lossiemouth, the Shackletons moved to Lossiemouth in August 1973, where they remained until the unit finally disbanded in 1991.

The intended replacement for the Shackleton, the British Aerospace Nimrod AEW3, suffered considerable development difficulties which culminated in it being cancelled in favour of an off-the-shelf purchase of the Boeing E-3 Sentry, finally allowing the last Avro Shackletons to be retired in 1991.

This 1/32 scale model is priced at $1600 plus postage. Aviation Club members can buy it for $1450 plus postage for the next 5 days. If you insert your ‘discount’ code at checkout you will receive a further 10% discount taking the model to just over $1300 plus postage, surely a bargain for such a great looking iconic model. We only have one model available in this variant.