The Shackleton was a maritime reconnaissance aircraft with a stressed skin fuselage and Avro Tudor and Lincoln components. Armament comprised four 20mm cannon, two machine-guns, depth charges and/or bombs, and it carried a nose-mounted ASV scanner. Shackleton MR.I entered service with No 120 Squadron and other Coastal Command squadrons from 1951; and the production run of 77 aircraft included MR.lA with wider outer nacelles.
The first of 69 MR.2, each with a streamlined nose and a 360°-scan radar under the rear fuselage, came into use in the UK and Malta in 1952. Thirty-four MR.3 with tricycle undercarriages, auxiliary Viper 203 turbojet engines, improved cockpit canopies, dorsal turrets deleted and wing tip-tanks (giving a 24-hour endurance) were issued in 1957. Eight were delivered to the South African Air Force. In 1971 No 8 Squadron, RAF, re-formed at Kinloss with MR.3 converted to AEW.2 with large ventral radomes for early warning duty; 11 remained operational in 1979 with 7 MR.3 serving in South Africa
