Avro Lancastrian
Description
Role	Passenger & mail transport
Crew	5
Passengers	9
First flight	1943
Entered service
Manufacturer	A. V. Roe
Dimensions
Length	76 ft 10 in	23.4 m
Wingspan	102 ft 0 in	31.1 m
Height	19 ft 6 in	5.9 m
Wing area	1,297 ft²	120.5 m²
Weights
Empty	30,426 lb	13,800 kg
Loaded	65,000 lb	29,480 kg
Maximum takeoff	lb	kg
Powerplant
Engine	4 × Rolls-Royce Merlin 24
Power (each)	1,250 hp	930 kW
Performance
Maximum speed	310 mph @ 5,000 ft	499 km/h @ 1,520 m
Combat range	4,150 miles	6,680 km
Ferry range	km	miles
Service ceiling	23,000 ft	7,010 m
Rate of climb	750 ft/min	230 m/min

The Avro 691 Lancastrian was a passenger and mail transport aircraft of the 1940s.

In 1943 Avro converted a Lancaster bomber for civil transport duties with Trans-Canada Airlines. This was a success, and further 6 Lancaster X were converted with a lengthened streamlined nose and tailcone, and long-range fuel tanks in the place on the Lancaster's bomb-bay. The conversions were carried out by Victory Aircraft of Toronto, Canada. The power-plants were Packard-built Merlin 38 engines, and these Lancastrians were used by TCA on its Montreal-Prestwick route.

In 1945 deliveries commenced of 30 British-built Lancastrians for BOAC. On a demonstration flight on April 23, 1945 G-AGLF flew from England to Auckland, New Zealand in 3days 14 hours - 13,500 miles (21,700 km) at an average 220 mph (354 km/h).

The Lancastrian had rather limited cubic capcity and was most suited for transport of mail and VIP passengers. BOAC used it on England to Australia flights from May 31, 1945. It also served with the RAF, one of their planes named Aries completing the first airborne circumnavigation of the globe, and with QANTAS and Flota Aerea Mercante Argentina.

Lancastrians were used for tests of various turboprop and jet engines. One powered with Rolls-Royce Nene turbojets is credited with the first international passenger jet flight. from London to Paris on November 23 1946. The flight time was just 41 minutes.

On August 2, 1947 Lancastrian G-AGWH Stardust of British South American Airways crashed in the Argentinean Andes after sending an apparently cryptic radio message, in what became known as the "Stendec incident". The wreckage was found 50 years later but the radio message remains a puzzle.