British bomber arrived at Pima Air & Space Museum Dec. 16 Published Dec. 17, 2007 By 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- A Royal Air Force Avro Shackleton Bomber landed at D-M Dec. 16 and will be donated to the Pima Air & Space Museum. Built in 1952, the historic Shackelton, is the only plane of its type that still flies. The aircraft was donated to the museum by Air Atlantique of Coventry, England, by Michael Collett. The plane's final ferry flight was from the Commemorative Air Force in Midland/Odessa, Texas to Davis-Monthan. From Davis-Monthan, the plane will be towed to its permanent home at the Pima Air & Space Museum. The warbird flew many forms of wartime missions as a bomber in the Suez crises in the mid 1950s', Aden and Malaya in 1958, Belize in 1960 and Indonesia in 1962. In 1971, 12 of the Shackleton MK2 aircraft were fitted with radar for early warning marine reconnaissance patrol duty as a safeguard against the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. The plane was one of the last six Shackletons in service when it retired from the Squadron Eight of the Royal Air Force in 1991. It was sold to Air Atlantique in 1991. It arrived in the Unites States in 1994 and was used in air shows. The Shackleton was designed with four 2,490 HP Rolls Royce Giffon, MK-58 V-12 piston engines. Each engine has two contra-rotating propellers. Maximum speed was 302 mph. and service ceiling was 19,000 feet, with a range of 3660 miles and a flight crew of 10. The aircraft has a wingspan of 119 feet, 10 inches and a length of 92 feet, six inches, with a gross take-off weight of 96,000 pounds.