The Avro 528 was an unsuccessful large span single-engined biplane built to an

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

contract in 1916. It carried a crew of two; only one was built.

Development

Very little is known about the Avro 528 apart from a photograph and a general arrangement diagram. It was a two-seat single-engined biplane ordered by the

in 1915, and not even the task for which it was intended is recorded. It had some similarities with the

Avro 519 The Avro 519 was a British bomber aircraft of the First World War, a development of the Avro 510 seaplane. They were two-bay biplanes of conventional configuration with greatly uneven span. Two single-seat examples, powered by a single 150&nb ...

(a single-seater intended for the Royal Flying Corps (RFC)) and the twin-seat 519A, built for the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), though neither of these were armed and both had 150 hp

Sunbeam Nubian The Sunbeam Nubian, also called the Sunbeam 155 hp, was a British 8-cylinder aero-engine that was first run in 1916. Design and development In March 1916 Louis Coatalen, the chief designer at Sunbeam, responded to the Admiralty's request ...

engines rather than the 225 hp Sunbeam of the 528. Both the 519s and the 528 had some shared features with the Naval

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 ...

. It was a large three-bay biplane with unswept, unstaggered and constant-chord wings of unequal span, the lower plane having a span less than the upper. Ailerons were carried on the upper wings; both wings folded for storage. The fuselage had similarities with the RNAS 504s though the overall length of the 528 was greater by about : both had a generous fixed fin in contrast to the all moving, comma shaped rudder of the RFC's 504s. The vertical stabiliser was also close in size to that of the 504, but the rather rectangular horizontal tail was nearly 60% greater in span. Like the 519s, the top of the fuselage carried a raised decking that provided deeper cockpits for the pilot, placed under the trailing edge of the wing and the observer/gunner, in a separate cockpit close behind equipped with a ring-mounted gun. The fixed single-axle undercarriage had no central skid. The Sunbeam engine drove a four-bladed propeller and had a single, central, and nearly vertical exhaust pipe. There were two radiators, mounted edge on (longitudinally) between the wings, rather than the single but similarly mounted radiators of the Avro 519s and the Avro 527. Two tank-like features are shown in both image and diagram on the lower wings just inboard of the innermost interplane struts; they may be fuel tanks.

Operational history

The first flight was on 19 December 1916 at Avro's

Hamble Hamble may refer to: * The River Hamble in Hampshire, England * Hamble aerodrome on the banks of the River Hamble. ** Hamble-Warsash Ferry, a ferry service on the River Hamble * Hamble-le-Rice, a village on the river Hamble, close to the city of Sou ...

factory. The aircraft remained troublesome, with a variety of propellers being tried but the Admiralty lost interest and the 528 last flew in April 1917.

Specifications

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{Avro aircraft Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft

528 Year 528 ( DXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sabbatius without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1281 '' Ab ...

1910s British military aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1916