BIRTH OF A LEGEND
The only foreign customer for the A.V. Roe & Company's Shackleton Mk.3 - the grand old lady of the sky, was the SAAF. Until it's retirement, Cape Town had always been the Shackleton's home. Although, built as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft, the local Cape Town newspaper - the Argus, best described the type as the St. Bernard of our skies. Many stricken seamen, refugees, etc. owe their lives to these workhorses. The aircraft also contributed considerably towards peace - being responsible for the safe-guarding of the shipping lanes around South Africa, during the Cold War. Today, South Africa has the only airworthy Shackleton Mk.3 in the world!

In 1946 the Royal Air Force realized that not one of the landplanes then in use for long range maritime reconnaissance, were actually designed for the role. The best aircraft for these flights were the Consolidated Liberator, but had to be returned to the US under the lend lease scheme. The only British aircraft that could attempt to fly these missions were versions of the Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster. These aircraft simply had not enough volume to carry the equipment needed for maritime reconnaissance. In 1946 a production order was placed with Avro for a new model, the Shackleton, combining a wider fuselage with the older Avro Lincoln's wings and undercarriage. Development time was quite long, and in 1949 the prototype, known as the Avro 696 Shackleton GR-1, finally made its first flight. This aircraft with its distinctive WWII bomber look had four Griffon engines turning contra-rotating propellers and a short, fat fuselage with chin-mounted radar and dorsal turret. To ensure maximum reliability over open water, the engines were designed to operate at constant speed, driving the massive six blade contra-rotating propellers. The pilot feathered the props to regulate airspeed. Seven RAF squadrons were equipped with the Mk 1 and Mk 1A.

The Mk 2 - with its ventral radar installation, longer fuselage, twin 20 mm cannon and extended tail-cone - made its first flight in June 1952. At this time the SAAF was seeking replacements for its ageing Short Sunderland flying-boats - which No.35 Squadron was operating out of Congella sea-base near Durban. South Africa became part of the Shackleton story when four RAF Mk2s visited SA from May to June 1953. The aircraft was thoroughly evaluated and in January 1954, AVRO announced that eight were to be acquired for the SAAF -the only export order ever placed for this aircraft! Partly as a result of the SAAF order, the A.V. Roe factory (AVRO, later part of Hawker Siddeley and currently part of BAe) undertook some redesign of the aircraft, and the result was the Mk 3, which had a nose-wheel undercarriage due to the higher weight and to improve cross-wind landings; a stronger main undercarriage, with dual main wheels; permanent wingtip fuel tanks (due to the long range of the SA coast line); clear-vision cockpit canopy; and improved equipment and crew facilities. Interesting to note that scale aircraft modeling was part of the Shackleton story from the start - AVRO presented (what apears to be) 1/144 scale models of the aircraft to the SAAF.

In February 1957, a 41-man team from No. 35 Squadron was sent to the A.V. Roe factory at Woodford for an intensive training programme. Meanwhile the first of the redesigned Mk 3s had flown, and on 21 May 1957, No. 35 Squadron took delivery of the first two Mk 3 Shackletons, No. 1716 and No. 1717, at Woodford.This was some three months before any of this variant were taken into RAF service. Soon joined by a third, the SAAF Shacks took part in a combined British-American-Dutch exercise in the North Sea and then flew to their new home. The first two arrived at Waterkloof air base near Pretoria on 18 August 1957. The next day 1718 arrived as well, and together they flew to Cape Town.

A SHAKY START