The
Roe
Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked in ...
I Biplane (often later referred to as the Avro Biplane) was the first powered aircraft to be designed, built, and flown in England. Designed in an attempt to claim a prize offered by the
Brooklands Automobile Racing Club, it was designed and built by
Alliott Verdon Roe
Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe OBE, Hon. FRAeS, FIAS (26 April 1877 – 4 January 1958) was a pioneer English pilot and aircraft manufacturer, and founder in 1910 of the Avro company. After experimenting with model aeroplanes, he made flight tr ...
, who based it on a powered model with which he had won a ''
Daily Mail'' prize of
£75 at
Alexandra Palace in April 1907. This prize was substantially larger: the club committee was offering £2,500 for the first person to fly a circuit of their three-mile (4.8 km) race track by the end of the year. In addition the ''Daily Graphic'' was offering a £1,000 prize for a flight of more than a mile (1.6 km).
[Jackson 1990 p.2]
The Roe biplane was built in the coachhouse of Roe's brother in Putney and transported to Brooklands for testing in September 1907.
It was an unequal-span
canard configuration two-bay biplane without any vertical stabilising surface or rudder and was originally powered by a 9 hp (7 kW)
JAP engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...
mounted in front of the wing and driving a two-bladed aluminium
pusher propeller mounted behind the wings. This proved insufficiently powerful to get the craft airborne. Roe continued work on his aircraft, borrowing a French
Antoinette
Antoinette is a given name, that is a diminutive feminine form of Antoine and Antonia (from Latin ''Antonius'').
People with the name include:
Nobles
* Antoinette de Maignelais, Baroness of Villequier by marriage (1434–1474), mistress of C ...
engine of 24 hp (18 kW) to use instead. In order to carry the additional weight of this engine, Roe fitted additional lifting surfaces at mid-gap in the inner bay of the wing structure. With this motor, Roe was able to make several short flights in the aircraft; the first on 8 June 1908.
One of the conditions of Roe's occupation of his shed at Brooklands was that it was to be used as a refreshment room on race days and on the first of these the aircraft was damaged when being manhandled over a fence by Brooklands racetrack attendants. Roe repaired the machine and some further short flights were made before he was evicted from Brooklands on 17 July 1907. Roe dismantled the aircraft and returned the engine, since he could not afford to buy it.
[Jackson 190 p.3]
In 1988, a non-flying
replica was constructed for the 80th anniversary of Roe's first flight and is displayed at the
Brooklands Museum. In 2008, a taxiable replica was constructed for the museum to celebrate the flight's centenary.
Specifications (Antoinette engine)
See also
*
I (Triplane)
*
II Triplane
*
III Triplane
*
IV Triplane
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Brooklands Avro Biplane Project
{{Avro aircraft
1900s British experimental aircraft
Roe I Biplane
Biplanes
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1908