Civil Lancs & Lincolns
I don’t have a copy of Arthur Pearcy’s book, but for what it’s worth, I think that the aircraft you describe is indeed Lincoln G-ALPF/RE290. The nose fairing on G-ALPF was built on the original Lincoln fuselage, not the deepened fuselage developed later for the failed meat carrier conversion of the Lincoln. Consequently the appearance of the fairing on G-ALPF was closer to that of the Lancastrians. And the fuselage pannier was a very obvious bolt-on underneath, not faired into the nose. ‘Lincoln at War’ pages 154/5 have a couple of good shots of G-ALPF before and after conversion. It was converted in 1949 and went on to complete 46 operations on the Airlift, 1 freight and 45 hauling fuel oil.
Yes indeed, many thanks Allan and to those posting the pic’s. On Google theres a pic of ZP-CBR with the deeper bomb bay (sealed ?) and also deeper Lancastrian nose fairing blended in to suit. Is this the same as G-ALPF ?
I’ve also seen quoted the following registrations: RE376, RF417, RF458, ZP-CBQ and ZP-CBS. Perhaps the civil & miltary reg’ is one & the same a/c ? But just how many ‘meat hauler’ type conversions were there ?
Going back to the Berlin Airlift, the pic i saw (of G-ALPF ?) showed just the standard Lancastrian type nose/tail fairings but with a square type pannier.
Perhaps this ~was~ a Halifax/Halton pannier grafted on ? But i also recall the text saying it only made one or two flights in this configuration so perhaps it is a pic of ‘LPF ? (Thinx: time to purchase both books perhaps 😮 )
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