hermes/horus?

Which one, the Lancastrian or the York?

-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger

what was the first, direct conversion? wasn't the york very different?

The first was the Lancastrian. The York had a totally different fuselage, but as far as I can remember (my Harleyford book about the Lancasters is downstairs) everything else was pretty much pure Lancaster.

-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger

I think that depends on what variant you're looking at; the Halifax Mk.1 and Mk.II apparently suffered from stability issues with the original fin design, weren't quite powerful enough and suffered from engine cooling problems (such that the radiators went through three iterations). Once the bugs were mostly ironed out in the Mk.III, which started squadron use in November 1943, the reputation started to improve. I think Avro got rid of most of the Lancaster airframe bugs with the Manchester, so when the Lancaster went into operation in March 1942 it was relatively well developed.

In term of passenger carrying, the 12 Halifax C.Mk.VIIIs converted for passenger carrying in 1945 to become the Halton fleet at BOAC were fitted with 10 seats and could carry up to 8000 lbs freight in the underfuselage pannier. Range was 2,050 miles. The purpose designed Hermes airliner, which was similar to the Hastings military transport and used a wing design based on the Halifax, could carry

74 passengers in it's 1948 Hermes IV form, and had a range of 3,080 miles.

The initial version of the Avro Lancastrian could carry 9 passengers, the

1946 Lancastrian 3 could carry 13. The range I have for the Mk.1 is 4,150 miles, and 2,820 miles for the Mk.3. BOAC started operating them in 1945. The Avro York, a Lancaster with a redesigned fuselage, could carry between 24 and 30 passengers, or 12 passengers plus freight, and had a range of 2700 miles. They started a limited operation in 1944. The purpose designed Tudor airliner, using a wing design based on that of the Avro Lincoln, could carry 24 passengers in it's Tudor 1 form, with 3,360 mile range, and 60 as the Tudor 2 with 1,760 mile range. The Tudor also gained a bad reputation due to prolonged development and sub-spec performance, ultimately resulting in BOAC rejecting it.

Jon.

wish i could get a 1/72 york to make a french navy one Ken

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Forthcoming Czechmaster conversion:

in Miniature / Historic Wings vacform kit: And remember that the York had the same wing (and wingspan) as the Lancaster. Therefore, as the fuselage is wider, there is less clearance between the propeller arcs of the inboard engines and the fuselage than on the Lancaster.

And if anyone is interested: Handley Page Halton conversion

Page Hastings vacform kit Lancastrian conversion Contrail / Sutcliffe did a vacform for the Avro Tudor, but it's difficult to find now. No one does a Handle Page Hermes kit. I have a long term project to kit bash one from two Hastings (same wings, more streamlined engines, longer fuselage, pointier nose and nose gear undercarriage. Doubt if I'll ever get around to it though.

Jon.

isn't there a self help group for that? oh wait...that's herpes...

this is why my bookmark file is 39 pages......

thanks jon ken