The Avro Manchester originated with an Air Ministry specification dating from November 1936 for a bomber capable of carrying a load in excess of 8,000lbs over more than 2,000 miles. This aircraft would be powered by a Rolls-Royce X-Type engine, which was then still under development. This engine, soon renamed Vulture, was the cause of most of the type’s problems. It was basically two Peregrine engines joined together (one inverted on top of the other) driving a single crankshaft. The engines were prone to overheating and fitted with a complex lubricating system, which also gave constant trouble.
A total of 1,200 aircraft were ordered even before the prototype made its first flight on 25 July 1939. Tests showed that handling was poor, and this was only partially rectified by increasing the wingspan and fin area of later aircraft. The Manchester finally entered service with 207 Squadron in November 1940, but the type’s first bombing missions were not made until February the following year.
The new bombers were highly unpopular. One pilot recalled that: ‘The engines never were and never did become reliable. They did not give enough power for the aeroplane, so we ended up with two extremely unreliable 1,750hp engines having to haul a 50,000lb aircraft. We should really have had 2,500hp engines. You felt that if you’d lost one, that was it – you weren’t coming home.’
