AVRO SHACKLETON

Written with modelling enthusiasts in mind, this book focuses on extensive visual coverage of the iconic Avro Shackleton, a post-war machine in the RAF coastal command for the defence of friendly maritime trade. Following the end of hostilities, all the wartime long-range American aircraft returned home and as a result several Avro Lancasters with B3 airframes were set aside and adapted for maritime patrol duties, remaining in service until 1956. Meanwhile a purpose-built design was under way, prompted by an increase in the Soviet surface fleet. This was the Shackleton which came into service in 1951, guarding Britain's maritime interests until it was replaced by the Nimrod patrol aircraft. The book starts with the prototypes of the late 1940s, for instance the VW126 powered by four 12-cylinder Rolls Royce engines driving a pair of contra-rotating propellers. Chapters on the MR1, 2 and 3 prototypes describe numerous modifications such as a dorsal fin, nose disc or tail boom. Appendices giving specifications are followed by specially commissioned colour illustrations to assist the modeller, and there is a section on a range of kits in different scales from Frog, Revell and Airfix. 96pp, softback, colour and archive photos and illustrations on every page.