ADF-SERIALS
Australian & New Zealand Military Aircraft Serials & History

RAAF A76 Avro Tudor

Avro Tudor Image Gallery

Avro had begun design work on the Type 688 Tudor in 1943, following Specification 29/43 for a commercial adaptation of the Lancaster IV bomber (later renamed Lincoln). The type was designed by Roy Chadwick who, due to wartime restrictions, could not design a completely new aircraft, but had to make do with utilising existing parts, tools and jigs. Using the Lincoln's wing, Chadwick designed the Tudor to incorporate a new pressurized fuselage of circular cross-section and a large single fin and rudder.

With the war turning in the allies favour in Europe, the RAF turned its attention to entering the Pacific War and intended to create a dedicated "Tiger Force" consisting of the new Avro Lincoln Bomber, with its improved range and performance relative to the Lancaster allowing the RAF to match the USAF's deployment of their new B-29 Bomber.

With this in mind Australia's the Department of Aircraft Production also shifted its production focus to from a plan to produce Lancasters to the newer Lincoln in February 1944 and in July 1945 the Lincoln program was amended to include 61 Lincoln Bombers and 12 Avro Tudor airliners.

In preparation for Australian production of the Tudor, a wooden engineering mockup was built in 1948 at Fisherman's Bend.

However, the Tudor was dropped from Australian production plans and the order was instead further amended to produce another 12 Lincolns taking the total to 73.

The cancellation of this contract meant that the A76 allocation became available and was subsequently used for the Boeing Washington.

RAF and Civilian operated Tudors were frequent visitors to Australia including Air Charter Ltd, London, on the weekly Air Ministry contract from Blackbushe, Hampshire to the Weapons Research Establishment (WRE) Woomera and Adelaide.