Avro York prototype - photo
 

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c7ac71116a.jpg
This photo turned up on a local Facebook group. It's the prototype of the Avro York with twin tail fins and the rounded windows.
The question being asked is where was this and when?
Any ideas?

My idea is that it is a standard York C.Mk.1 :)

Yes I think it is too: it has the middle tail and I can't see anything that would indicate it to be the prototype.

The unit code "K" on the nose would support that theory.

Are you able to contact the Facebook person who posted it ?

It looks to me to be a possibly framed photograph and if so it might well have something written on the back.

It might have been at CFS or No.1 FTS.

Possibly RAF Netheravon.

Why CFS or Netheravon? Looks more like (and more likely to be) a transport squadron: background could easily be the area around Lyneham, looking towards Clyffe Pypard.

Because of the code K.

K would be the individual squadron code letter, e.g 242 Sqn KY-K. It might even be a 242 machine.

Oops - Yes I just noticed that it does have a tail fin in the centre ( so a triple fin ). However - reading up on it I learn that the last two of the four prototypes were indeed built with triple fins.

Those were LV633 and LV639. However it could not have been LV633 "Ascalon" ( Churchill's own transport ) as that one was fitted with square windows.

Is there anything else in that photo that would distinguish a prototype from a standard C Mk 1 apart from perhaps the unit code?

Why do you think it could be a prototype? Most likely to be an in-service aircraft surely? I'm not sure where those prototypes went after manufacturer testing so I guess it could be one of those, but the odds are against it.

From my (invariably a bit fuzzy) memory, it looks like a photo taken at Lyneham with the dog-leg part of the pan in the background at left and the escarpment to the (east?) in the background at right.

I think your best bet is to pin down a unit and then try to find out which aircraft was 'K'.

OK thanks Quemerford. I'm convinced now. Probably just a standard C mk1.
The chap whose photo it was had received the photo from a distant relative who had worked on Churchill's own 'York' ( that would have been LV33 "Avalon")
However as the York in the photo is not LV633 as it has 'rounded windows' not 'square' ones then as it not Churchill's I doubt whether that one in the photo was even one of the four prototypes at all.

Interesting photo, whatever it is: it would be interesting to get the full story. Hopefully the York experts out there will have an answer and we'll all be happy :)

I think K is the second letter of a two letter code. There are photos of Yorks with two and three letters on the nose. It is in standard camouflage pattern.

I think that the photo has been taken on a transport base. The Liberator in the background may give a clue as to where.

See Post #10.

It would be reasonable to assume that the inclination and opportunity to stage a photo like that would be most likely to arise at the aircraft's base, rather than somewhere down the line.

If Lyneham, that would make the York almost certainly a 511 Squadron aircraft.

Squadron badge looks similar to the aircraft shown here in NMF:

https://masterbombercraig.wordpress....advance-party/

I'm sure I've seen that photo in 'Flight'; Straight and level; 'Suddenly but not entirely unexpected - TWANG'.

Interesting photo, though I can't see any reference in the article as to which squadron the support aircraft was with at the time (MW234 served with 35, 24, 511, 206 and 511 again before being sold to Aéronavale), and I'm not sure the nose badge helps much either.

Here's a photo of 47 Group (i.e. 511 Squadron) Yorks at Luqa - the second aircraft (in camouflage) looks very similar to the one in the OP's photo, including the black nose which would have had a two-letter "C_" code:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7b72ec5ca1.jpg

Incidentally, MW288 served with 511 Squadron at one stage, and wore the code "CK", so that may be a candidate for the OP's photo.

A totally untechnical thought !

Aircraft prototypes are normally to be found at Aircraft Manufacturers airfields and flight test centres ( in the case of the AVRO York Ringway-Manchester) surrounded by manufacturers workmen.

If this aircraft is a prototype why then are all the people in the photograph in RAF uniform ?