The Avro 604 Antelope was a British

light bomber A light bomber is a relatively small and fast type of military bomber aircraft that was primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance. The earliest light bombers were intended to dro ...

which was designed and built in the late 1920s to meet a requirement for a light bomber to equip 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 ...

, competing against the

Hawker Hart The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircra ...

and the Fairey Fox II. It was unsuccessful, the Hart being preferred.

Design and development

The Avro 604 Antelope 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 Stat ...

Specification 12/26, for a single-engine light, high-speed day bomber. One prototype was ordered by the Air Ministry, which first flew in July 1928, powered by a 480 hp (360 kW) Rolls-Royce F.XIB (later known as the ''Kestrel'') engine. The prototype Antelope, which was a single-bay

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 a ...

with all-metal construction, was evaluated at the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A & AEE) at

Martlesham Heath Martlesham Heath village is situated 6 miles (10 km) east of Ipswich, in Suffolk, England. This was an ancient area of heathland and latterly the site of Martlesham Heath Airfield. A "new village" was established there in the mid-1970s and t ...

against the

and Fairey Fox II. While it easily met the performance requirements of the specification, it showed poor low-speed handling and spinning characteristics, and was rejected in favour of the Hart owing to the ease of maintenance of the Hart.

Operational history

After rejection for operational service, the prototype Antelope was fitted with dual controls and used by the Royal Aircraft Establishment as an engine and

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

test bed, remaining in use until September 1933.

Operators

; *

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in me ...

Specifications (Antelope)

References

External links

Avro Antelope
– British Aircraft Directory {{Avro aircraft 1920s British bomber aircraft

Antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mamm ...