The Avro 701 Athena is a British advanced trainer aircraft built 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 ...

in the late 1940s. It was designed to replace the

North American Harvard The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, but was bought only in small numbers, the competing Boulton Paul Balliol being preferred.

Design and development

The Athena was designed to meet the requirements of

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

Specification T.7/45 for a three-seat advanced trainer powered by a

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

engine for the RAF. The Athena was an all-metal low-winged monoplane, with a side-by-side cockpit. The Air Ministry rethought its requirements in 1947 and replaced the original specification with Specification T.14/47, which specified the use of a

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later ...

35 piston engine, large stocks of which were held in store. Despite the change in specification, the first three prototypes were of the turboprop-powered Athena T.1, the first of which, powered by an

Armstrong Siddeley Mamba The Armstrong Siddeley Mamba was a British turboprop engine produced by Armstrong Siddeley in the late 1940s and 1950s, producing around 1,500 effective horsepower (1,100 kW). Armstrong Siddeley gas turbine engines were named after snak ...

engine, flew on 12 June 1948 at

Woodford Aerodrome Woodford Aerodrome is a former airfield and aircraft factory at Woodford, Greater Manchester, England, north of Macclesfield. It was opened by the Avro company after the First World War and became an important production centre for military ...

. The Merlin-powered Athena T.2 first flew on 1 August 1948,Thetford, Owen. Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1918-57, 1st edition London: Putnam, 1957. and was evaluated against the similar Boulton Paul Balliol. A small production run of 15 Athenas was ordered for the RAF, but the Balliol was preferred, and no further Athenas were ordered.

Operational history

The 15 production Athenas were used by the RAF from 1950 for armament training at the RAF Flying College at

RAF Manby Royal Air Force Manby or more simply RAF Manby is a former Royal Air Force station located in Lincolnshire, England The following units were here at some point: * No. 1 Air Armament School (1937–1944) absorbed by the Empire Air Armament School ...

.Taylor, M.J.H., ed. ''Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation''. London: Jane's Publishing Company, 1989. . A single aircraft was loaned back to Avro and given the civil registration ''G-ALWA'' for a demonstration tour of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. No sales resulted and it was returned to the RAF.

Variants

;Athena T.Mk.1 :Turboprop-powered prototype. One Armstrong Siddeley ASM.3 Mamba engine. Two built. ;Athena T.Mk.1A :Single prototype powered by Rolls-Royce RDa.1 Dart engine. Second prototype to fly. ;Athena T.Mk.2 :Trainer to Spec. T.14/47 powered by

Rolls-Royce Merlin 35 The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later c ...

. Four prototypes plus 15 production.

Operators

; *

** Aircraft Instrument Experimental Unit, Martlesham Heath (one T2 in 1951) ** Central Flying School, Little Rissington (two T2s 1949-1950) **

Empire Test Pilot's School The Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type. ...

, Farnborough (one T2 development aircraft) ** Royal Aircraft Establishment (two aircraft) ** RAF College at Manby (ten aircraft 1950-1955)

Accidents and incidents

Two of the 22 aircraft were lost in flying accidents: * T2 ''VR569'' of the Aircraft Instrument Experimental Unit was written off at

Wilby, Suffolk Wilby is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England located around south-east of Diss and south of Stradbroke along the B1118. The population of the parish at the 2001 census was 231 in 99 households. ...

on 27 June 1951. Aircraft broke up in spiral dive after loss of control in cloud, two crew killed. * T2 ''VR570'' crashed before delivery on 20 March 1950.

Specifications (Athena T.2)

References

{{Avro aircraft 1940s British military trainer aircraft

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft