RAF NASWF AVRO 696 Shackleton

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The AVRO Shackleton was a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was developed by Avro from their AVRO Lincoln bomber which had been developed from the famous WWII AVRO Lancaster bomber.

The Shackleton was developed during the late 1940s and entered operational service with the RAF in April 1951. Produced as the Type 696, as it was initially designated, the aircraft was furnished with extensive electronics suites in order to perform the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions. The Type 696 would be named the Shackleton after the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.

The Royal Air Force’s Costal Command brought the Shackleton, number XF-706, to the US Navy Air Special Weapons Facility (NASWF) at Kirtland Air Force Base for weapons suitability tests in 1958.

A Shackleton, N790WL, is currently on display in the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, Arizona.

The Standard Oil Company of California flew this Ford Tri-motor, No. NC 5092, to Albuquerque in 1928 on company business. The aircraft was also used to evaluate new aviation fuels developed by Standard oil.