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English Electric Canberra T.4

English Electric Canberra T4

The T.4 was a dual-control trainer variant of the Canberra, which was originally a twin-engined light bomber, with a crew of three, of all-metal stressed-skin construction, powered by two Rolls-Royce Avon 109 turbojets of 7,500 lb thrust each. It had an initial rate of climb of 3,800 feet per minute, with a service ceiling of 60,000 feet and a maximum speed of 620 mph (Mach 0.94) at 40,000 feet. The range was 4,500 miles.

The first Canberra flew at Warton on 13 May 1949, and entered service with the Royal Air Force in 1951. The prototype T.4 first flew on 6 June 1952. The type equipped 231 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) at Bassingbourne, where it was used for the conversion of pilots destined for operational versions of the Canberra. Over seventy were built. In addition, some 250 Canberras were built by the Martin Aircraft Company in the USA, under licence, as the B-57A.

The Museum’s aircraft was with 231 OCU, then 3 Squadron at Geilenkirchen (2nd Tactical Air Force), on the Station Flight at Laarbruch and with 100 Squadron at Wyton, until storage at St Athan in 1977. It returned to British Aerospace on 29 January 1982 and was in storage at Samlesbury before coming to Elvington in May 1988.

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Blackburn Mercury Monoplane 1911 (Replica) AH (BAPC) 130 YAM Jan.1995

The Blackburn Mercury Monoplane is regarded as the first truly successful aircraft made by Blackburn at their factory in Leeds. The Mercury I, powered by a 50 hp Isaacson radial engine, was displayed at the Olympia Aero Show in March 1911 and made its debut flying from the beach at Filey with the newly formed Blackburn Flying School. In May 1911, it flew from Filey to Scarborough and back in 19 minutes at an average speed of 50 mph, reaching an altitude of 1200 feet.
This aircraft crashed the next day when the engine seized and the propeller flew off! The Mercury I was followed by two Mercury II aircraft powered by 50 hp Gnome engines, and six Mercury III aircraft, with a number of different engines. Sadly, a Renault powered Mercury crashed at Filey in December 1911, killing an instructor and passenger.
The Museum’s replica was built for Yorkshire Television in 1979 for the Edwardian drama series ‘Flambards’, and was taxied with a car engine. It came to YAM on 10th January 1995 and after a long period in storage it was painstakingly restored to a superb display standard, and was unveiled in June 2000 by Professor Robert Blackburn, grandson of Robert Blackburn, the aviation pioneer.

AVRO 504K ‘H1968’ (Replica) AH (BAPC) 42 YAM Oct. 1994

The Avro 504 first flew in 1913. In the opening phases of the First World War, it served with front-line squadrons in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service for bombing and reconnaissance, but from 1915 onwards the aircraft entered the training role for which it is most celebrated.

Over 8,000 Avro 504s were built. In 1918, the Royal Air Force had about 3,000, of which 2,276 were trainers.

The Avro 504 was stationed at many Yorkshire airfields, including Tadcaster near the A1/A64 junction, where a period hangar can still be seen.

The Yorkshire Air Museum’s replica was built by apprentices at RAF Halton and appeared at the Royal Tournament in 1968 to commemorate what was then fifty years since the end of the First World War. The aircraft was refurbished in early 2015 to be transported to Thiepval, Northern France, for the Somme Centenary commemoration event, on request of the British Government. In May 2018, it was also displayed at the impressive Hotel Les Invalides in central Paris for a joint RAF / French Air Force event to mark the Centenary of the Royal Air Force and over 100 years of British and French Air Force collaboration.