THE AIRFORCE - AIRCRAFT - SHACKLETON MR.3
Aircraft Stats:
1000 lb Bomb, 20 lb Fragmentation Bomb, 250 lb Bomb, 250 Pound Depthcharge, 500 lb Bomb, Mk 30 Torpedo, Mk 44 Torpedo, Mk 5 20mm Hispano Cannon
Squadrons:
None specified
Attrition:
4 incidents recorded
Shackleton MR.3
As a replacement for the Short Sunderland, eight Avro Shackleton MR Mk3 were ordered in 1954, and delivery took place in 1957.
One Shackleton was lost on operations when it crashed in the Stettynsberg range of mountains during poor weather conditions on 8th August 1963 with the loss of life of all 13 crew. The Shackletons were finally withdrawn from service at the end of 1984 as their "time" had run out.
Shackleton 1716 was re-furbished to flying condition for the SAAF Museum, but had the unfortunate experience to crash land in the Sahara desert near the border with Mauritania on 13 July 1994 whilst on a flight to Great Britain to take part in a number of air shows. It suffered a number of engine failures and was forced to land in the dark, without any loss of life to the 19 crew on board. Another Shackleton 1722 has been re-conditioned to flying status and flies as part of the SAAF Historical Flight in Cape Town.
Armament consisted of two 20-mm cannon in the nose, plus up to 10,000lb (4 536kg) of weapons in the underfuselage bay.
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