The Avro 531 Spider was a British fighter aircraft built by Avro during 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 ...

. It did not proceed past the prototype stage.

Design and development

The Spider was a sesquiplane with a largely conventional configuration, but it used

Warren truss Warren Errol Truss, (born 8 October 1948) is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the Abbott Government and the Turnbull Governm ...

-type

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, hence the appellation "Spider". In tests, the aircraft demonstrated exceptional performance, handling, and pilot visibility. By the time it flew, the War Office had already selected the

Sopwith Snipe The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War, and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of th ...

for mass production. A second, refined version, the Avro 531A, apparently never was completed, but some of its components seem to have been used to build a derivative design, the Avro 538. This had standard interplane struts and was intended as a racing aircraft. It was never used for this purpose, however, because it was discovered that it had a faulty wing spar, so the Avro firm used it as a hack instead from May 1919 to September 1920.Donald, p. 77.

Specifications (531)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Donald, David, ed. ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft''. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, . * Jackson, A.J. ''Avro Aircraft since 1908''. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1990. . * Taylor, Michael J. H. ''Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation''. London: Studio Editions, 1989, p. 93. * ''World Aircraft Information Files''. London: Bright Star Publishing, File 889, Sheet 94. {{Avro aircraft 1910s British fighter aircraft

Spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

Single-engined tractor aircraft Sesquiplanes Aircraft first flown in 1918 Rotary-engined aircraft Biplanes