AVRO York

  Unglamorous, noisy and hastily  cobbled together as wartime  expedience the AVRO York has   never been as popular as the DC3 or C54. However Yorks played a vital part in the Berlin Airlift and the development of post-war civil aviation in the UK. They soldiered on as a cargo hacks during the start of the jet age and were in at the start of package tour flights.  When it came time to break up the Yorks for scrap, coal dust, spilt from sacks carried on the Airlift, was found near the main spars of many  - the very heart of the aircraft, a romantic reminder of past glories. Of the 200+ Yorks built only two are known to exist, One at Duxford Cambridgeshire, UK in Dan - Air colours and the other at the RAF Museum at Cosford disguised as Churchill's personal transport. (above)

During the first three years of the war Britain was poorly served with transport aircraft and when the Americans came into the war it was decided to concentrate British aircraft production on Bomber aircraft and rely on the US for transports arriving under lend-lease. Despite this Ray Chadwick, prolific AVRO designer, came up with the idea of the York using the wings of the Lancaster with a totally redesigned fuselage. As originally planned the aircraft was to be used as an assault troop carrier, belly landing to deliver its passengers straight into combat  as well as a transport. Luckily that plan was dropped at an early stage.

Due to the sheer pressure of work at AVRO and prority given to the production of the Lancaster ment that the York programe moved very slowly, it wasn't until 1944 that more than a handful were built. Production ended in 1948. 258 aircraft were built in total including one one Bristol Hercules powered Mk II and a Mk III by Victory Aircraft in Canada.

 An Airlift York, But where?

Two photos of Yorks, one RAF in wartime camouflage, possably LV629. The other  ZS-DGN, a civil  York belonging to Tropic Airways 

The documents below are extracts from the log book of F/Lt. Raymond P. McKee, RCAF.  kindly sent in by his son  Mike

while they don't cover the Airlift period they do give some idea of the duties of this workhorse

Performance figures (Approx.)

York Squadrons

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