Avro
This article is about the aircraft manufacturer. AVRO is also the name of a Dutch public-service broadcasting organization.Avro was a
British aircraft manufacturer, well known for planes such as the
Avro Lancaster which served in
World War II.
 |
Avro 504K. |
One of the world's first aircraft builders,
A.V.Roe and Company was established at Brownsfield Mills,
Manchester,
England by
Alliot Verdon Roe and his brother H.V.Roe on 1st January
1910. Alliot had already made a name for himself as a pilot at
Brooklands near
Weybridge in
Surrey and
Farnborough in
Hampshire, England. The company built the world's first totally enclosed
monoplane in
1912 but it was the well-proportioned, wooden
biplane known as the
Avro 504 that kept the firm busy throughout the
First World War and beyond. Production totalled 8,340 at several factories: Hamble, Failsworth, Miles Platting and Newton Heath and continued for almost twenty years. This was a substantial achievement considering the novelty of powered aircraft in this period.
In the
1920s the Company left
Alexandra Park aerodrome in south Manchester where test flying had taken place during its early years. A rural site to the south of the growing city was found at New Hall Farm, Woodford,
Cheshire which continues to serve aviation builders
BAE Systems to this day. In
1928 A.V.Roe formed the
Saunders-Roe company that developed several radical designs for combat jets and, eventually, a range of powerful
hovercraft.
Maintaining their skills in designing
trainer aircraft, the company built a more robust biplane called the
Avro Tutor in the
1930s that the
RAF also bought in quantity. A twin piston-engined airliner called the
Anson followed but as tensions rose again in Europe the firm's emphasis returned to combat aircraft. The Avro
Manchester,
Lancaster,
Lincoln and post-war
Vulcan bombers were particularly famous Avro designs. Over 7,000 Lancasters were built and their bombing capabilities led to their use in the famous
Dam Busters raid. The
Vulcan was used to maintain the British nuclear deterrent using the
Avro Blue Steel stand-off nuclear bomb.
The civilian
Lancastrian and maritime reconnaissance
Shackleton were derived from the successful Lancaster design. The
Tudor was a pressurised but problematic post-war Avro airliner that faced strong competition from designs by
Bristol,
Canadair,
Douglas,
Handley Page and
Lockheed. With the same wings and engines as the Lincoln, it achieved only a short (34 completed) production run following a first flight in June 1945 and the cancellation of an order from
BOAC. The older
Avro York was somewhat more successful in both the RAF and in commercial service, being distinguished by a fuselage square in cross-section. Both Tudors and Yorks played an important humanitarian part in the
Berlin Airlift. The
Vulcan saw service as a conventional bomber during the British campaign to recapture the
Falkland Islands in 1982. Although none has flown since 1992, several are prized as museum exhibits.
A twin turboprop
airliner, the
Avro 748, was developed during the 1950s and sold widely across the globe, powered by two
Rolls Royce Dart engines. The
Royal Flight of the United Kingdom bought a few and a variant with a rear-loading ramp and a "kneeling" main undercarriage was sold to the RAF and several members of the
Commonwealth as the
Andover, named after a town in Hampshire.
In the 1950s A.V.Roe's
Canadian Division designed three aircraft - the C-102
Avro Jetliner (North America's first passenger jet), the
Avro CF-100 Canuck jet fighter (the only Canadian designed fighter to go into production) and the CF-105
Avro Arrow (an advanced supersonic fighter interceptor). The Arrow never went into full production and the Canadian government's decision to scrap the project due to cost overruns and the perceived obsolescence of the fighter interceptor role contributed to the demise of Avro Canada as a company.
When the company was absorbed into
Hawker Siddeley Aviation in July 1963 the Avro name seemed to have disappeared forever but the brand had such a strong heritage appeal that the marketing name "Avro RJ" (regional jet) was applied to the
British Aerospace 146 from 1994 to 2001. This plane is sometimes also called "Avro 146", or "Jumbolino" due to its 4 jet engines.
The
BAe ATP (Advanced Turbo Prop) design evolved from the
Avro 748 and examples continue in use on shorter, mainly domestic, scheduled air services. A few Avro 504, Tutors, Ansons and Lancasters are lovingly maintained in flying condition as reminders of the heritage of this influential English company. At 39 years, the noisy but impressive Shackleton held the distinction of being the aircraft with the longest period of active RAF service, until overtaken by the
English Electric Canberra in 1998.
*
Avro Triplane*
Avro 146: see
BAe 146*
Avro 504*
Avro 534 Baby*
Avro 555 Bison*
Avro 594 /
616 Avian*
Avro 618 Ten*
Avro 619 Five*
Avro 621 Tutor*
Avro 626 Prefect*
Avro 631 / 643 Cadet*
Avro 636 (1935)
*
Avro 638 Club Cadet (1933)
*
Avro 641 Commodore (1935)
*
Avro 652A Anson (1935)
*
Avro 679 Manchester (1939)
*
Avro 683 Lancaster (1941)
*
Avro 685 York (1942)
*
Avro 688 / 689 Tudor (1945)
*
Avro 691 Lancastrian (1943)
*
Avro 694 Lincoln (1944)
*
Avro Athena (1948)
*
Avro 696 Shackleton (1949)
*
Avro 698 Vulcan (1952)
*
Avro 707 (1949)
*
Avro CF-100 (1950) under Avro's Canadian subsidiary
*
Avro CF-105 Arrow (1958) also
Avro Canada*
Avro C-102 Jetliner - also Avro Canada
*
Avro Ashton (1950)
*
Avro 748 (1960) - became the
Hawker Siddeley Andover,
HS 748 and
BAe 748*
Avro 730 - planned supersonic bomber, never completed
-
Avro Canada
