The Avro 641 Commodore was a British single-engine five-seat cabin biplane built by Avro in the mid-1930s for private use. A total of only six were built, including the prototype.

Design and development

After building the three seat Avro 639 Cabin Cadet, Avro then designed a larger, five seat cabin biplane, the Avro 641 Commodore. The Commodore had a similar steel tube structure to the

Tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in ...

, with heavily staggered single bay wings and a spatted undercarriage. The first Commodore was delivered to its owner on 24 May 1934.

Operational history

Only six Commodores were built, with one being sold to the

Maharajah of Vizianagram The name is derived from its founder Raja Vijayaram Raj who established a sovereign kingdom by claiming independence from the Kingdom of Jeypore in 1711. It formed alliances with the French and British East India Company to conquer the neighbouri ...

. This was found to be unsuitable for Indian conditions and was returned to Britain and scrapped. Two were sold to private owners in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and were later taken over by the Egyptian Army Air Force. The two Commodores that remained in service in England on the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

were impressed into service with 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) an ...

and the

Air Transport Auxiliary The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factori ...

. One crashed fatally in 1941, with the last being struck off charge in 1942.

Operators

;: * Egyptian Army Air Force ; *

Specifications (Commodore)

References

{{Avro aircraft 1930s British civil utility aircraft

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1934

Design and development

Operational history

Operators

Specifications (Commodore)

See also

References