The Avro Type 557 Ava was a British twin-engined
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 ...
torpedo bomber of the 1920s. It was developed by
Avro
AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...
to meet a requirement for a
heavy torpedo bomber for the
Royal Air Force but was unsuccessful, only two prototypes being built.
Design and development
The British
Air Ministry produced
Specification 16/22 in 1922 for a long-range land-based torpedo bomber. The specification required that the aircraft be capable of carrying a 21 in (533 mm)
torpedo or an equivalent weight of bombs and produced responses both from
Blackburn Aircraft
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north- ...
(the
Cubaroo) and
Avro
AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...
.
, chief designer of Avro, initially produced a single-engined design, the Avro 556 powered by a
Napier Cub engine, similar to the Cubaroo. This was rejected in favour of a twin-engined aircraft using two
Rolls-Royce Condor engines, the Avro Type 557 Ava and winning an order for two prototypes from the Air Ministry.
Completed in secret (owing to its armament of a 21 in (533 mm) torpedo, thought to be able to sink the largest warships), the first prototype Ava (
serial number
A serial number is a unique identifier assigned incrementally or sequentially to an item, to ''uniquely'' identify it.
Serial numbers need not be strictly numerical. They may contain letters and other typographical symbols, or may consist enti ...
''N171'') flew in mid-1924.
The Ava was a three-bay biplane of wooden construction, with the un-cowled engines between the wings. It had a biplane tail, initially fitted with triple
rudders, of which the centre rudder was soon removed.
The fuselage accommodated two pilots in an open cockpit, with nose and dorsal gun positions and a retractable ventral "dustbin" gun position that could be manned by the navigator/bomb aimer, who otherwise occupied a large enclosed cabin. The 2,000 lb (910 kg) torpedo or equivalent bomb load were carried on external racks under the fuselage.
The Air Ministry dropped its plans to use the 21 in (533 mm) torpedo but Avro continued with construction of the second prototype, which was of all-metal construction but was otherwise similar to the first prototype, flying on 22 April 1927.
While a modified version of the Ava was proposed to meet
Specification B19/27 for a heavy bomber, it was unsuccessful, no further aircraft being built.
Variants
;Ava Mk I
: First prototype. Wooden construction.
;Ava Mk II
: Second prototype. Metal construction.
Specifications (Ava Mk I)
See also
References
External links
Avro Ava– British Aircraft Directory
{{Avro aircraft
557 Ava
1920s British bomber aircraft
Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United Kingdom
Biplanes
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1924