Editing Avro Shackleton (section)

{{Short description|British long-range maritime patrol aircraft}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox aircraft
|name= Shackleton
|image= File:Avro Shackleton MR3 in flight c1955.jpg
|image_border= yes
|caption= Avro Shackleton MR3, in 1955
|type= [[Maritime patrol aircraft]]
|national_origin= United Kingdom
|manufacturer= [[Avro]]
|designer=
|first_flight= 9 March 1949
|introduction= April 1951
|retired= 1991
|status=
|primary_user= [[Royal Air Force]]
|more_users= [[South African Air Force]]
|produced= 1951–1958
|number_built= 185
|unit cost=
|variants=
|developed_from= [[Avro Lincoln]]
}}

The '''Avro Shackleton''' was a British long-range [[maritime patrol aircraft]] (MPA) which was used by the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) and the [[South African Air Force]] (SAAF). It was developed by [[Avro]] from their [[Avro Lincoln|Lincoln]] [[bomber]], which itself had been a development of the famous wartime [[Avro Lancaster|Lancaster]] bomber.

The Shackleton was developed during the late 1940s as part of Britain's military response to the rapid expansion of the [[Soviet Navy]], in particular its submarine force. Produced as the primary type equipping [[RAF Coastal Command]], the ''Type 696'' as it was initially designated, incorporated major elements of the Lincoln, as well as the [[Avro Tudor]] airliner, and was furnished with an extensive electronics suite in order to perform the [[anti-submarine warfare]] (ASW) mission, along with much-improved crew facilities due to the long mission times involved in patrol work. The type was named ''Shackleton'', after the polar explorer Sir [[Ernest Shackleton]].{{#tag:ref|The name of the aircraft came about due to the influence of [[Roy Chadwick]], Chief Designer at Avro, who had initially worked alongside, and later became a close friend, of Ernest Shackleton.<ref name = "Jones 6-7">Jones 2002, pp. 6–7.</ref> The name was also in line with an Air Ministry policy of naming new general reconnaissance aircraft after explorers.<ref name = "flight 612">''Flight'' 18 May 1950, p. 612.</ref>|group=N}}

The Shackleton entered operational service with the RAF in April 1951 and was used primarily in the ASW and MPA roles, but it was also frequently deployed as an aerial [[search and rescue]] (SAR) platform and for performing several other secondary roles such as mail delivery and as an ad-hoc cargo and troop-transport aircraft. In addition to its service with the RAF, [[South Africa]] also procured the Shackleton to equip the SAAF. In South African service, the type was operated in the maritime patrol capacity between 1957 and 1984. During March 1971, a number of SAAF Shackletons were used during the [[SS Wafra oil spill|SS ''Wafra'' oil spill]], intentionally sinking the stricken oil tanker using [[depth charge]]s to prevent further ecological contamination.

During the 1970s, the Shackleton was replaced in the maritime patrol role by the [[jet propulsion|jet-powered]] [[Hawker Siddeley Nimrod]], however a small number of the RAF's existing Shackletons received extensive modifications in order to adapt them to perform the [[Airborne early warning and control|airborne early warning]] (AEW) role. The type continued to be used in this role until 1991, when it was replaced by the [[Boeing E-3 Sentry]] AEW aircraft. These were the last examples of the type remaining in active service.