Avro Lincoln The Avro Type 694 , better known as the Avro Lincoln , was a British four - engined heavy bomber , which first flew on 9 June 1944 . Developed from the Avro Lancaster , the first Lincoln variants were known initially as the Lancaster IV and V , but were renamed Lincoln I and II . It was the last piston - engined bomber used by the Royal Air Force . The Lincoln became operational in August 1945 . It had been assigned to units of Tiger Force , a British Commonwealth heavy bomber force , intended to take part in the Second World War Allied operations against the Japanese mainland , but the war ended before the Lincoln was operational . The Lincoln was used in action during the 1950s , by the RAF in the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya , and with the RAF and RAAF during the Malayan Emergency . In all , 604 Lincolns were built . The type also saw significant service with the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) and " Fuerza Aérea Argentina " ( Argentine Air Force ) , as well as some civil aviation usage . Design and development . The Avro Lincoln was Roy Chadwick ' s development of the Lancaster , built to the Air Ministry Specification B . 14 / 43 , having stronger , longer span , higher aspect ratio ( 10 . 30 compared with 8 . 02 ) wings with two - stage supercharged Rolls - Royce Merlin 85 engines , and a bigger fuselage with increased fuel and bomb loads . As a result , the Lincoln had a higher operational ceiling and longer range than the Lancaster . The prototype Lancaster IV ( Lincoln I ) was assembled by Avro ' s experimental flight department at Manchester ' s Ringway Airport and made its maiden flight from there on 9 June 1944 . Main production was at Avro ' s Woodford , Cheshire and Chadderton , Lancashire factories . Additional aircraft were built by Armstrong Whitworth at Coventry . Production lines were also set up in Canada and Australia although with the end of the war production in Canada ( at Victory Aircraft ) was halted after one aircraft had been built . Production in Australia went ahead and Lincolns were subsequently manufactured there for the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) . One Lincoln B Mk XV pattern aircraft was also completed in Canada by Victory Aircraft with an order for six RCAF variants cancelled when hostilities ended . Along with two additional ( Mk I and Mk II ) aircraft on loan from the RAF , the type was briefly evaluated postwar by the RCAF . The Lancaster V / Lincoln II differed mainly in that it was fitted with Merlin 68A engines . Before the Lincoln was developed , the Australian government intended its Department of Aircraft Production ( DAP ) , later known as the Government Aircraft Factory ( GAF ) would build the Lancaster Mk III . Instead , a variant of the Lincoln I , renamed Mk 30 was built between 1946 and 1949 , the largest aircraft ever built in Australia . Orders for 85 Mk 30 Lincolns were placed by the RAAF ( which designated the type A - 73 ) , although only 73 were ever built . The first five Australian examples ( " A73 – 1 " to " A73 – 5 " ) , were assembled from British - made components . " A73 - 1 " made its debut flight on 17 March 1946 and the first entirely Australian - built Lincoln , " A73 - 6 " , was delivered in November 1946 . The Mk 30 initially featured four Merlin 85 engines , but was later equipped with a combination of two outboard Merlin 66s and two inboard Merlin 85s . The later Lincoln Mk 30A featured four Merlin 102s . The RAAF heavily modified some Mk 30 aircraft for anti - submarine warfare during the 1950s , re - designating them GR . Mk 31 . These examples had a longer nose to house acoustic submarine detection gear and its operators , larger fuel tanks to give 13 hours endurance , and a bomb bay modified to accept torpedo es . The Mk 31 was particularly difficult to land at night , as the bomber used a tailwheel and the long nose obstructed the pilot ' s view of the runway . 18 aircraft were remanufactured to this standard in 1952 , gaining new serial numbers . Ten were subsequently upgraded to MR . Mk 31 standard , to include an updated radar . These Lincolns served with No . 10 Sqn RAAF at RAAF Townsville , until the discovery of corrosion in the wing spars forced the type ' s premature retirement in 1961 . The Avro Shackleton maritime patrol aircraft was derived from the Lincoln , as was the Tudor airliner , which used the wings of the Lincoln with a new pressurised fuselage . Operational history . Royal Air Force . The first RAF Lincolns joined No . 57 Squadron at East Kirby in 1945 . No . 75 ( New Zealand ) Squadron RAF began re - equipping with Lincolns at RAF Spilsby during August 1945 . However , 75 ( NZ ) Sqn received just three aircraft before VJ Day . In the postwar Royal Air Force , the Lincoln equipped many bomber squadrons . Nearly 600 Lincolns were built to equip 29 RAF squadrons , mainly based in the United Kingdom . They were partially replaced by 88 Boeing Washingtons , on loan from the USAF , which had longer range and could reach targets inside the Iron Curtain . Small numbers remained in use with Nos 7 , 83 and 97 Squadrons until the end of 1955 when they were replaced by the first of the V bombers . RAF Lincolns were used in combat during the 1950s , in Kenya against the Mau - Mau , operating from Eastleigh , and also served in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency , against insurgents aligned to the Malayan Communist Party . In Malaya , Lincolns operated from Changi and Tengah , More than 3 , 000 sorties were flown during their seven and a half year time in - theatre , with half a million pounds of bombs dropped . This equated to 85 % of the bomb tonnage dropped during the Malayan emergency . On 12 March 1953 , a RAF Lincoln ( " RF531 " " C " ) of Central Gunnery School was shot down 20 mi ( 32 km ) NE of Lüneburg , Germany by a Soviet MiG - 15 as it flew to Berlin on a training flight , resulting in the deaths of the seven crew members . In November 1955 , four Lincolns of No . 7 Squadron RAF were detached for duties in British territories in the Middle East . In Bahrain , they carried out border patrols of the then Trucial States . When 7 Sqn was disbanded in December 1955 , the four detached crews and aircraft became No . 1426 Flight RAF , officially a photographic reconnaissance unit . It was later sent to Aden , carrying out patrols in the lead up to the Aden Emergency . As the RAF Lincolns became unserviceable due to wear and tear they were replaced by jet aircraft . The Lincolns of Bomber Command were phased out from the mid - 1950s , and were completely replaced by jet bombers by 1963 . The last Lincolns in RAF service were five operated by No . 151 Squadron , Signals Command , at RAF Watton , Norfolk , which were finally retired on 12 March 1963 . Royal Australian Air Force . From late 1946 , Australian - built Lincolns were phased into No . 82 Wing RAAF at RAAF Amberley , replacing the Consolidated Liberator s operated by 12 , 21 and 23 Squadrons . In February 1948 , these units were renumbered 1 , 2 and 6 Squadrons respectively ; a fourth RAAF Lincoln squadron , No . 10 was formed on 17 March 1949 at RAAF Townsville as a reconnaissance unit . RAAF Lincolns took part in operations in Malaya in the 1950s , operating alongside RAF examples . The RAAF permanently based the B . Mk 30s of No . 1 Squadron at Tengah for the duration of operations in Malaya . The RAAF Lincolns were retired in 1961 , with the MR . Mk 31 ' s of No . 10 Squadron being the final variant to see service in Australia . Argentine Air Force . The Lincoln served with the " Fuerza Aerea Argentina " from 1947 : 30 aircraft were acquired ( together with 15 Lancasters ) , giving Argentina the most powerful bombing force in South America . Eighteen of these were newly built , along with twelve ex - RAF aircraft . The Lincolns entered service with I Grupo de Bombardeo of V Brigada Aérea in 1947 . Eleven remained in use at the beginning of 1965 , but most were retired during the next year . The last examples were retired in 1967 . The Argentine aircraft were used in bombing missions against rebels during the attempted military coup of September 1951 and by both the government and rebel forces during the 1955 " Revolución Libertadora " coup that deposed Juan Perón . Lincolns were also used to drop supplies in support of Argentine operations in the Antarctic . One of the bombers was returned to Avro in the United Kingdom in 1948 for modification to allow it to operate Antarctic support flights , including the addition of a Lancastrian nose and tail cone , removal of armament and additional fuel tanks . The aircraft was civilian registered and named " Cruz del Sur " ; it undertook its first airdrop supply flight to the Antarctic San Martín Base in December 1951 . Use in aero - engine research . Lincolns were frequently employed as testbed s in new jet engine development . " RF403 " , " RE339 / G " and " SX972 " flew with a pair of Armstrong Siddeley Python turboprops outboard in place of the Merlins , and was used for the ballistic casing drop - test programme for the Blue Danube atomic weapon . " SX972 " was further modified to fly with a pair of Bristol Proteus turboprops . " RA716 / G " had a similarly placed pair of Bristol Theseus turboprops and later also flew with Rolls - Royce Avon turbojets replacing the pair of turboprops . Lincoln Test Bed " RF533 " kept its Merlins but had a Napier Naiad turboprop in the nose . It later flew , bearing the civilian " Class B " test registration " G - 37 - 1 " , with a similarly placed Rolls - Royce Tyne which it displayed at the 1956 Society of British Aircraft Constructors ( SBAC ) show , making a low level flypast on just the nose Tyne , the four Merlins being shut down and propellers feathered . " SX973 " had a Napier Nomad diesel turbo - compound installed in a similar nose - mounted installation . " RA643 " flew with a Bristol Phoebus turbojet in the bomb bay , and " SX971 " had an afterburning Rolls - Royce Derwent mounted ventrally . Commercial service . Two Lincoln IIs were operated by D . Napier & Son Ltd . for icing research from 1948 to 1962 . A transport conversion of the Lincoln II , using the streamlined nose and tail cones of the Lancastrian and a ventral cargo pannier , was known as the Avro 695 Lincolnian . One Lincoln Freighter converted by Airflight Ltd was used on the Berlin Air Lift by Surrey Flying Services Ltd . One Argentine example was converted to a Lincolnian by Avro at Langar . Four Lincolnian conversions by Field Aircraft Services for use as meat haulers in Paraguay were not delivered and subsequently scrapped . Survivors . Four aircraft have survived :