Avro 584 Avocet

The 584 Avocet was designed to Specification 17/25, issued in June 1926, for an all-metal stressed-skin shipboard fighter with interchangeable wheel and float undercarriages and powered by a 180hp Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IV nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine.

Two prototypes were ordered, identical apart from the vertical tail surfaces. For manufacturer's trials the first prototype was completed as a landplane and the second prototype as a twin-float seaplane, the first flying in December 1927 and the second in April 1928. The second prototype was also fitted with a land undercarriage in June 1928. Armament was two 7.7mm Vickers machine guns synchronised to fire through the propeller disc. Performance during evaluation at Martlesham was unspectacular and no production order was placed.

Engine: Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IV nine-cylinder air-cooled radial, 180 hp.
Take-off weight: 1132 kg / 2496 lb
Empty weight: 735 kg / 1620 lb
Wingspan: 8.84 m / 29 ft 0 in
Length: 7.46 m / 25 ft 6 in
Height: 3.56 m / 12 ft 8 in
Wing area: 28.61 sq.m / 307.96 sq ft
Max. speed: 214 km/h / 133 mph