The Avro Type E, Type 500, and Type 502 made up a family of early British military aircraft, regarded by
Alliott Verdon Roe
Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe OBE, Hon. FRAeS, FIAS (26 April 1877 – 4 January 1958) was a pioneer English pilot and aircraft manufacturer, and founder in 1910 of the Avro company. After experimenting with model aeroplanes, he made flight tr ...
as his firm's first truly successful design. It was a forerunner of the
Avro 504
The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...
, one of the outstanding aircraft of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Development
The Type E
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
was designed in parallel with the slightly earlier
Avro Duigan
The Avro Type E, Type 500, and Type 502 made up a family of early British military aircraft, regarded by Alliott Verdon Roe as his firm's first truly successful design. It was a forerunner of the Avro 504, one of the outstanding aircraft of the ...
, differing principally in being slightly larger and having a more powerful () water-cooled
E.N.V. engine. Both were two-bay tractor biplanes with unstaggered parallel-chord wings with rounded tips, a deep rectangular section fuselage bearing rectangular steel-framed stabilisers, elevators and rudder with no fixed fin, and an undercarriage with a pair of wheels on a transverse
leaf-spring
A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, i ...
and a long central skid projecting forward of the propeller. This aircraft layout dominated aircraft design for twenty years: the Avro 500 and the contemporary
B.E.1 are among the first truly practical examples built.
Avro Duigan
The Avro Duigan was single seat tractor biplane built by
A.V. Roe for the pioneer Australian aviator
John Robertson Duigan
John Robertson Duigan MC (31 May 1882 – 11 June 1951) was an Australian pioneer aviator who built and flew the first Australian-made aircraft.
Family
Duigan was born in Terang, Victoria, and grew up in Melbourne
He married nurse Ka ...
in 1911. Roe's first biplane design, the
Avro Type D had first flown in April 1911. The Avro Duigan was a major refinement of this fundamentally successful aircraft. It had a square rather than triangular cross section fuselage, simplifying construction and allowing the crew seats to be lower down, giving more protection. The wings were supported using an aerodynamically cleaner ordinary
two-bay layout, replacing the two and a half bay arrangement of its predecessor, which had a third pair of
interplane strut
In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...
s close to the fuselage. The undercarriage was simpler, a V-strut below the wing leading edge bearing a
leaf-spring
A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, i ...
axle whose wheels had the refinement of covered spokes, and under this a single long skid supported by a second V-strut below the trailing edge and a single strut from the extreme nose of the aircraft. The tailplane was steel framed, with a rectangular fixed stabiliser and elevator and rudder. Other details were as previous aircraft.
The fuselage was constructed of wire-braced ash metal covered forward of the cockpits. The observer sat in front with the pilot sitting behind the cut away trailing edge, an arrangement which positioned the front cockpit close to the
centre of gravity
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...
of the aircraft and allowed it to be flown without a passenger with no change its balance. The
wire-braced high
aspect ratio two-bay wings had ash spars and poplar ribs with the curved ends formed from cane. Lateral control was by
wing warping
Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite direc ...
. A sprung tailskid was mounted below the rudder and small hoops were fitted below the outer interplane struts to protect the wingtips. The aircraft had dual controls and was fitted with small "Cellon" window to improve downward vision.
The aircraft was initially powered by a 40 hp (30 kW) two-cylinder horizontally opposed
Alvaston
Alvaston (/ˈɒlvəstən/ or /ˈælvəstən/) is a village and ward of Derby, England. Alvaston is situated on the A6, three miles south-east of Derby city centre and probably owes its name to Allwald. It is bordered to the north by the ...
but soon replaced by a 35 hp (26 kW)
E.N.V. V-8 motor.
[This features i]
''Flight'' 1/4/1911 page 286
rated at 35 hp continuous at 1,260 rpm. Both were water-cooled engines, with pairs of large coiled tube radiators positioned parallel to the fuselage on either side of the front cockpit.
Trials with the Alvaston engine at
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...
race course were not successful, the aircraft barely lifting off. On his return to
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...
, the
E.N.V. motor was fitted and on 10 March 1912 Duigan, flying solo managed some long, straight flights in his too-evidently underpowered machine. Some intensive engine tuning, together with a new propeller resulted in more success that April, with solo circuits, figures of eight, and an hour-long series of circuits at about 500 ft (150 m).
Nonetheless, Duigan won his
Aviator's Certificate and returned to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. His aircraft, without its engine, was sold to the
Lakes Aircraft Co.
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
who rebuilt it as the
Lakes Sea Bird
The Lakes Sea Bird was a two-seat floatplane built during 1912 by the Lakes Flying Company using the fuselage of the Avro Duigan which had been built by Avro for John Robertson Duigan. It gave many visitors to Windermere their first flight in t ...
floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
in October 1912, powered by a 50 h (37 kW ) Gnome engine. In this form, it performed well. The slightly larger Avro 500, powered by a 60 hp (45 kW)
E.N.V. was the first Avro aircraft type to be built in any quantity.
Specifications (Type E)
Avro 500
The aircraft was first flown on 3 March 1912 by
Wilfred Parke
Lieutenant Wilfred Parke RN (1889–1912) was a British aviator who was the first pilot to make an observed recovery from a spin.
Family
Parke was the son of Alfred Watlington Parke, the Rector of Uplyme, and Hilda Fort, and the grandson of C ...
,
[Jackson 1990, p. 32.] and while top speed and rate of climb did not meet expectations, the aircraft excelled in every other way. However, its performance was not up to Roe's expectations, and a second example was built, modified to take the much lighter 50 hp (37 kW) Gnome air-cooled rotary engine. This first flew on 8 May 1912, and a height of was reached in five minutes.
[Jackson 1990, p. 33.] The next day the aircraft was flown from Brooklands to
Laffan's Plain, covering the 17 miles (28 km) in 20 minutes. The same day it demonstrated its ability to meet the requirements laid down by the War Office in the requirements for a "Military Aircraft" that had been published in connection with the forthcoming
Military Aeroplane Competition, and the authorities were impressed enough to buy the aircraft and placed an order for two more examples of the aircraft, which Roe now renamed the Avro 500.
Service
The type proved an immediate success in service, and orders for another four machines plus five single-seat derivatives (designated the Type 502 by Avro) soon followed.
Other examples produced included six for the
British Admiralty
The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...
's
Air Department
The Air Department of the British Admiralty later succeeded briefly by the Air Section followed by the Air Division was established prior to World War I by Winston Churchill to administer the Royal Naval Air Service.
History
In 1908, the Briti ...
, one presented to the government of
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
(paid for by public subscription), one kept by Avro as a company demonstrator, and one bought by a private individual, J. Laurence Hall, which was commandeered by the War Office at the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
). The first prototype was destroyed in a crash on 29 June 1913 that killed its student pilot.
Avro 500s were flown by the British armed forces during the first years of the war, mostly as trainers. In service, most were fitted with ailerons and a revised rudder.
Operators
;
*
Portuguese Air Force
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 1 July
, equipment =
, equipment_label ...
;
*
Royal Flying Corps
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colors =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, decorations ...
**
No. 3 Squadron RFC
**
No. 4 Squadron RFC
**
No. 5 Squadron RFC
*
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...
Specifications
See also
References
Bibliography
* Jackson, A. J. ''Avro Aircraft since 1908''. London:Putnam, 1990. .
* Lewis. P. ''British Aircraft 1809-1914''. London: Putnam, 1962.
*
* ''World Aircraft Information Files'', File 889 Sheet 92. London: BrightStar
External links
{{Avro aircraft
1910s British military utility aircraft
500
Biplanes
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1912