My dad Sq. Ldr. Norman H Walker was Navigator on this aircraft (you can see him in the navigator's dome standing up. I also have these pictures in my late dad's photo album.



I just happened upon this website when looking for some history to link to.

A bit of “flying on one” drift. Aged 11 I was taken to the 1958 Battle of Britain Day at Benson. The programme included a flypast by a Lincoln - on four, then three, then two, and then one. I was impressed! A Polish pilot, I recall the commentator saying.

Almost certainly Joe Kmiecik. I believe his party-piece on the Lancaster was to fly past on 4, shut down 2 on the same side, perform a steep wing-over (almost a stall-turn), and land off it.

Some (but by no means all) of the comments above seem to be of the opinion that over-locking of rudder was somehow only a problem with aircraft having multiple (more than one) vertical tail surfaces. This is most certainly not true. One type of aircraft that had considerable trouble with this type of design defect was the well-known (well it used to be in the good old days!) Bristol Freighter (model 170), with one in fact being destroyed during a normal flight, having lost its entire fin and rudder (from memory). I think I read this in the Putnam book on Bristol Aircraft, so check that out for confirmation. This accident occurred in late 1940s, or very early 50s, and I have an idea it was an early model, and thus lacked the later modification of an additional amount of fixed fin located forward of main fin, which was typical of all later-built Bristol Freighters.

This one;
https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/cras...tland-7-killed

I don't have the AAIB report (EW/C540) for that Freighter accident in my collection, but I believe the wreckage was never recovered and the precise sequence of the break-up wasn't conclusively established.

Two things occur to me (sitting comfortably in an armchair of course): (1) If the rudder was hard over and unmovable, would it be possible to kill the power on one side to create asymmetric thrust to at least somewhat counteract the problem and (2) In the first picture, why chose an outboard engine to be the only one running? Wouldn't it have been better to have chosen an inboard engine? (maybe there were necessary services like a hydraulic pump attached to that engine)

Question: what are the things that stick up from the middle of the upper wing surfaces? (the squareish things, not the aileron balance horns)

Fuel tank breather.