This article is about the Second World War bomber. For the First World War biplane, see Avro 533 Manchester.
Manchester
Avro Manchester Mk.1A 'L7486' (note extended tail fins)
Role
Heavy bomber
Type of aircraft
National origin
United Kingdom
Manufacturer
Avro
First flight
25 July 1939
Introduction
November 1940
Retired
1942
Primary users
Royal Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force
Produced
1940–1941
Number built
202
Developed into
Avro Lancaster
The Avro 679 Manchester was a British twin-engine heavy bomber developed and manufactured by the Avro aircraft company in the United Kingdom. While not being built in great numbers, it was the forerunner of the more famed and more successful four-engined Avro Lancaster, which was one of the most capable strategic bombers of the Second World War.
Avro designed the Manchester in conformance with the requirements laid out by the British Air Ministry Specification P.13/36, which sought a capable medium bomber with which to equip the Royal Air Force (RAF) and to replace its inventory of twin-engine bombers, such as the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, Handley Page Hampden and Vickers Wellington. Performing its maiden flight on 25 July 1939, the Manchester entered squadron service in November 1940, just over twelve months after the outbreak of the war.
Operated by both RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), the Manchester came to be regarded as a complete operational failure, primarily as a result of its Rolls-Royce Vulture engines, which were underdeveloped and hence underpowered and unreliable, and production was terminated in 1941. However, the Manchester was redesigned into a four-engined heavy bomber, powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine instead, which became known as the Lancaster.
The Avro 679 Manchester was a British twin-engine heavy bomber developed and manufactured by the Avro aircraft company in the United Kingdom. While not...
during the same era. The Lancaster has its origins in the twin-engine AvroManchester which had been developed during the late 1930s in response to the Air...
The Avro 533 Manchester was a First World War-era twin-engine biplane photo-reconnaissance and bomber aircraft designed and manufactured by Avro. Designed...
Hale Avenue Avro Reserves Bolton Borough Bolton Lads and Girls Bolton United Boothstown East Manchester Elton Vale Govan and Uni of Manchester Hindley Juniors...
Metropolitan-Vickers made AvroManchester and Avro Lancaster bombers and Ford built the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines to power them. Manchester was thus the target...
Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine AvroManchester. The Halifax has its origins in the twin-engine H.P.56 proposal of...
Leslie Manser who sacrificed himself so his crew could abandon the AvroManchester aircraft. The Blitz – German air raids on British cities in which at...
Avro RJ family of aircraft was assembled at the Avro International (BAE Systems Regional Aircraft Centre) at Woodford Aerodrome in Greater Manchester...
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Avro Reserves Bolton Borough Bolton Lads & Girls Club Bolton United Boothstown East Manchester Elton Vale Govan Athletic Hindley Juniors Manchester Central...
The Avro Type 688 Tudor was a British piston-engined airliner based on Avro's four-engine Lincoln bomber, itself a descendant of the famous Lancaster...
factory at Woodford, Greater Manchester, England, 6 NM (11 km; 6.9 mi) north of Macclesfield. It was opened by the Avro company after the First World...
designer Roy Chadwick had done in similarly converting the AvroManchester. The Manchester, like the A-series Greif, had depended on two very powerful...
new high-powered engines and multiple defensive turrets, such as the AvroManchester and Halifax bombers, de Havilland promoted the concept of a compact...
are recorded as manufacturing the Avro 504 under licence. A. V. Roe and Co Ltd., Park Works, Newton Heath, Manchester; and at Hamble Aerodrome, near Southampton...
late 1938. The Vulture, which had also been intended for the rival AvroManchester, was subsequently determined to be unlikely to be available in sufficient...
designed from the start with four engines - the Avro Lancaster was a re-engined, stretched-wingspan AvroManchester while the Halifax was planned to be powered...
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