Avro Lancaster: Flight

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A U G U S T 13TH,

1942

FLIGHT

175

AVRO

LANCASTER

The Lancaster is characterised by underslung engines, a fairly thin wing, and twin rudders. the British aircraft industry, has graduated to his present position through t h e hard school of works managership, and has retained his insistence upon the manufacturing aspect being k e p t prominently in mind during t h e design stage. I t would be fair t o say that the Lancaster was virtually designed around a c h a s s i s ' ' formed h y t h e bomb bay roof, the wing centre section, and the unLength dercarriages. T h e floor is Span - of great length to aecorr.modate t h e bomb load, which may include the largest b o m b visualised a t present, a n d is slung from the spars of the wing centre section, so that these two frames form t h e foreand-aft and transverse limbs of the cross-shaped chassis which is t h e backbone of the whole aircraft. * I n its t u r n , the main structure of ^-the roof of the b o m b b a y are two extruded double-channel or "pi" sections. If one adopts the latter name, the arrangement can be visualised as the Greek letter pi lying on its side (see sketches). This extrusion is a very fine piece of work, a n d practically no machining is necessary, even the shallow- recesses for the skin plating of t h e fuselage being formed during the extrusion process, a n d not by subsequent machining. The Centre Section The centre section of the wing is of equally simple construction. T h e spars are, somehow, reminiscent of the old d a y s of wooden aircraft, when it was common practice to gouge o u t the spar flanges on spindle machines. In t h e Lancaster these flanges are light alloy channels of impressive dimensions, a n d t h e manner of using them is interesting. Instead of placing t h e channel sections with their backs towards the wing covering, they lie on their sides, and the solid sheet spar web plating is riveted t o t h e closed sides of the channels. I t will be seen that this arrangement greatly facilitates the a t t a c h m e n t (by bolting) of other structure members, equipment, etc. The similarity t o wood construction goes farther. The spar flange channels a t e routed out in much the same way, and t h e taper ia Height - - 20ft. 6in t h e spar flanges from centre Weight - - 60,000 lb section to wing tips is obtained by milling away portions of the channel walls. Centresection ribs are in t h e form of Ngirders, the limbs ol the N being simple channels, with the free edges turned inwards so t h a t there is only a fairly narrow gap left between them. Such sections can be very simply joined together by plain gusset plates and rivets. U s e of C a s t i n g s When it came to attaching t h e undercarriages t o the ends of t h e centresection front spars the metal founders came to the aid of the Avro designers. T h e Northern Aluminium Company produced some rather remarkable castings in a new light alloy, and these, with a minimum of machining of faces for t h e pick-up points, sup p o r t the undercarriage units a n d the inner engines. To have built u p these large brackets would h a v e entailed a very complicated and heavy structure. T h e castings are light a n d the job greatly simplified. Reference has been m a d e t o t h e girder ribs ef the wing centre section. I n t h e outer wing portions the ribs h a v e L-section flanges a n d sheet webs, with spanwise stringers bracing t h e m laterally and stiffening t h e skin covering. The leading edge is a

69ft. 6in. - 102ft.

Fuselage construction and the " pisection " longeron of the bomb bay.

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