1919
Avro 548
Engine: 1 x 80hp Renault
Take-off weight: 882 kg / 1944 lb
Empty weight: 607 kg / 1338 lb
Wingspan: 10.97 m / 36 ft 0 in
Length: 8.97 m / 29 ft 5 in
Height: 3.18 m / 10 ft 5 in
Wing area: 30.66 sq.m / 330.02 sq ft
Max. speed: 129 km/h / 80 mph
Cruise speed: 105 km/h / 65 mph
Range: 282 km / 175 miles
A four-passenger cabin transport which unsuccessfully competed in the Air Ministry Small Commercial Aeroplane Competition in 1920.
Avro 547
Engine: 1 x 160hp Beardmore
Take-off weight: 1362 kg / 3003 lb
Empty weight: 943 kg / 2079 lb
Wingspan: 11.35 m / 37 ft 3 in
Length: 9.09 m / 30 ft 10 in
Height: 4.39 m / 14 ft 5 in
Wing area: 46.27 sq.m / 498.05 sq ft
Max. speed: 155 km/h / 96 mph
Cruise speed: 134 km/h / 83 mph
Range: 370 km / 230 miles
Avro 547A
With the UK staging the first post-war Schneider Trophy contest in 1919, Avro decided to build and enter an aircraft, the Avro 539. In order to achieve the highest possible speed, it was the smallest practical single-engined aircraft that could be designed around the selected powerplant, a Siddeley Puma inline engine. An unequal-span biplane, with ailerons on both wings, it was of conventional construction with two single-step floats that were long enough to eliminate the need for a third float beneath the tail. First flown on 29 August 1919, only 12 days before the day of the race, the Avro 539 had performance that was considered to be generally satisfactory. However, when taking off from Cowes to take part in the seaworthiness trials, which were a compulsory preliminary to the speed contest, a float was seriously damaged by floating debris. Avro was given five days to repair, and used this time also to modify the tail unit. When the floatplane appeared again it carried the registration G-EALG, and because of the modifications was re-designated Avro 539A. When tested, its performance was not good enough to warrant selection for the speed contest, with the result it was delegated as the British reserve aircraft. The contest, held at Bournemouth on 10 September 1919 was a fiasco in foggy conditions and was abandoned.
The 539 was converted to a landplane and took part in the Aerial Derby of 1920, but force-landed with a fuel system leak. Then extensively modified, and with a 450 hp / 336 kW Napier Lion engine installed, it was re-designated Avro 539B. During tests before the 1921 Derby, the aircraft overshot on landing and was completely wrecked.
Avro 539
Engine: 1 x 240hp Siddeley Puma
Wingspan: Upper 25 ft 6 in / 7.77 m / lower 24 ft 6 in / 7.47 m
Length: 6.50 m / 21 ft 4 in
Height: 2.97 m / 9 ft 9 in
Wing area: 18.12 sq.m / 195.04 sq ft
Take-off weight: 962 kg / 2121 lb
Empty weight: 758 kg / 1671 lb
Early post-war pleasure flying was booming and a batch of Avro 504Ks were modified at the company’s Hamble factory. The fuselage was widened 9 in / 22.8 cm to accommodate four passengers in two pairs in the rear cockpit. The first conversion flew at Hamble in April 1919 and was later fitted with floats, the only such floatplane.
In all, 25 Avro 536s were built. 10 at Hamble, 12 at Manchester, and three at Croydon, where Surrey Flying Services undertook assembly.
A considerable amount of joy-riding was undertaken with these open-cockpit aircraft, and one was completed as a two-seater with a long range fuel tank. The last 536s were withdrawn from use at the end of 1930, these being the Surrey Flying Services machines, which had been fitted with 130 hp / 99 kW Clerget engines when Bentley rotaries became unavailable.
The Last Hamble-built Avro 536 was finished as the Avro 546 four-seat cabin biplane. The pilot was seated outside, I a cockpit above the three-seat cabin. Registered in December 1919, the 546 flew very little and its registration was cancelled 12 months later.
Avro 536
Engine: 1 x 130hp Clerget or 150hp Bentley B.R.1
Wingspan: 11.20 m / 37 ft 9 in
Length: 8.97 m / 29 ft 5 in
Height: 3.18 m / 10 ft 5 in
Wing area: 31.12 sq.m / 334.97 sq ft
Take-off weight: 1011 kg / 2229 lb
Empty weight: 650 kg / 1433 lb
Max. speed: 145 km/h / 90 mph
Cruise speed: 113 km/h / 70 mph
Ceiling: 3658 m / 12000 ft
Range: 306 km / 190 miles
Seats: 5
After WW1, A.V.Roe entered the light aircraft field with the Avro 534 Baby, a low-powered lightweight single-seat biplane. At the time, the only suitable engine was a 35 hp / 26 kW Green, which was modified by the makers. Designed around this machine, the Baby first flew on 39 April 1919, Just two minutes after take off it crashed at Hamble, the pilot having inadvertently switched off the ignition.
A second Baby flew on 10 May 1919, powered by the original engine, salvaged from the first aircraft, and this machine proved to have reasonable performance.
Records indicate that about nine Babies were built at Hamble, several achieving fame in notable flights.
Bert Hinkler was awarded the Britannia Trophy for 1 650 mile / 1046 km Croydon to Turin flight in 9 hr 30 min, while the third Baby won the 1920 Aerial Derby. One was sold to Russia, but the longest surviving example was probably the first production aircraft, which went to Australia and remained on that country’s civil register until 1936.
Variants
Avro 534A Water Baby
Twin-float seaplane flown in October 1919. Crashed in September 1921
Avro 534B
Version with plywood covered fuselage and shorter span lower wing.
Only one built. Crashed in August 1920.
Avro 534C
Version with reduced span wings for the 1921 Aerial Derby. Crashed in September 1922.
Avro 534D
Special version with modifications, to the order of Colonel E. Villiers, who used it for business trips around Calcutta until 1929.
Avro 543
Two-seat version with forward fuselage lengthened by 2 ft 6 in / 0.76m. later re-engined with 60 hp / 45 kW A.D.C. Cirrus engine and used until 1934.
Avro 554
Photo-survey version mounted on twin floats for the 1921 Shackleton-Rowett South Polr Expedition. Powered by an 80 hp / 60 kW Le Rhone rotary.
Avro 534
Engine: 1 x 35hp / 26 kW Green
Wingspan: 7.62 m / 25 ft 0 in
Length: 5.33 m / 17 ft 6 in
Height: 2.31 m / 7 ft 7 in
Wing area: 16.72 sq.m / 179.97 sq ft
Take-off weight: 395 kg / 871 lb
Empty weight: 280 kg / 617 lb
Max. speed: 129 km/h / 80 mph
Cruise speed: 113 km/h / 70 mph
Service ceiling: 12,000 ft / 3660 m
Range: 322 km / 200 miles
First flown in December 1918, and too late to participate in the war, the Avro 533 Manchester represented a final development of the Avro 523/529 concept. Generally similar to the Avro 529A, with the engines mounted on the lower wing, the design incorporated some refinements including a deeper fuselage, balanced ailerons, and an improved tail unit. The 533 had been designed around the A.B.C. Dragonfly radial engines. When these failed to materialise through development problems, two 300 hp / 224 kW Siddeley Puma were installed, the result being designated Avro 522 Mk.II. Thus, the Mk.II was to fly before the Dragonfly-engined Avro 533 Mk.I.
Both versions flew well in official tests but with the end of the war neither were produced.
A Mk.III was planned with 400 hp / 298 kW Liberty engines, but although the fuselage was completed, the engines were not installed.
Avro 533 Mark I
Engine: 2 x 320hp ABC Dragonfly I
Wingspan: 18.29 m / 60 ft 0 in
Length: 11.28 m / 37 ft 0 in
Height: 3.81 m / 13 ft 6 in
Wing area: 75.53 sq.m / 813.00 sq ft
Take-off weight: 3355 kg / 7397 lb
Empty weight: 2219 kg / 4892 lb
Max. speed: 209 km/h / 130 mph
Climb to 10,000 ft / 3050 m: 14 min 20 sec
Ceiling: 5791 m / 19000 ft
Endurance: 5 hr 45 min
Crew: 3
Armament: 2 x 7.7mm machine-guns, 400kg of bombs
Designed by Roy Chadwick, the Avro 531 Spider was an unsponsored private-venture single-seat fighter. The Spider used a number of Avro 504 components and had a fabric-covered wooden structure with Warren-girder steel-tube interplane struts.
Originally the Spider was powered by a 110hp Le Rhone 9J nine-cylinder rotary engine and flown for the first time in April 1918. Overall performance was not sufficiently in advance of the Sopwith Camel to warrant quantity production. Armament was one fixed synchronised 7.7mm Vickers machine gun, and a 130hp Clerget 9B rotary was later fitted.
The Spider prototype ended its days in the experimental role.
Engine: 130hp Clerget 9B rotary
Wingspan: 8.68 m / 29 ft 6 in
Length: 6.25 m / 21 ft 6 in
Height: 2.38 m / 8 ft 10 in
Wing area: 17.55 sq.m / 188.91 sq ft
Take-off weight: 688 kg / 1517 lb
Empty weight: 437 kg / 963 lb
Max. speed: 193 km/h / 120 mph at SL
Climb to 5000 ft / 1525 m: 4 min
Service ceiling: 19,000 ft / 5970 m
Range: 250 mi
Armament: 1 x Vickers 0.303 in mg
The Avro 530 two-seat fighter was designed in 1916 to compete with the Bristol F.2A, and the first prototype was first flown in July 1917. Powered by a 200hp Hispano- Suiza 8Bd eight-cylinder water-cooled engine, the Avro 530 was of wooden construction with fabric skinning, and mounted an armament of a single fixed and synchronised 7.7mm Vickers gun, a 7.7mm Lewis gun was mounted on a Scarff ring in the rear cockpit.
Performance of the Avro 530 proved to be good, but not sufficiently on that of the Bristol F.2A to warrant production orders and priority in the supply of the Hispano- Suiza engine was being given to the S.E.5a. During 1918, one of the two Avro 530 prototypes was flown with a 200hp Sunbeam Arab engine, revised undercarriage, an extended tail fin and flapless wings of new section with long-span ailerons, but development was subsequently abandoned.
Engine: 200hp Hispano- Suiza 8Bd eight-cylinder water-cooled
Take-off weight: 1216 kg / 2681 lb
Empty weight: 769 kg / 1695 lb
Wingspan: 10.97 m / 36 ft 0 in
Length: 8.69 m / 29 ft 6 in
Height: 2.92 m / 10 ft 7 in
Wing area: 30.23 sq.m / 325.39 sq ft
Max. speed: 183 km/h / 114 mph
Time to 10,000 ft / 3050 m: 15 min
Service ceiling: 18,000 ft
Endurance: 4 hr
Armament: 1 x Vickers 0.303in / 7.7mm mg, 1 x Lewis 0.303in / 7.7mm mg
While the Admiralty had not placed an order for the Avro 523 Pike there was some interest in the Potential of the aircraft. During 1916, two prototypes were ordered for evaluation in a long-range bombing role and were in effect slightly larger version of the 523. Apart from dimensional changes, the wings were made to fold, from jus outboard of the engines, the tail unit was revised, and the powerplant of the first completed, as Avro 529, comprised two counter-rotating Rolls-Royce Falcon engines, mounted between the wings and driving tractor propellers. The second prototype, the Avro 529A, was similar except for the installation of two 230 hp / 172 kW Galloway-built B.H.P. inline engines mounted on the lower wing, and a revised fuel system. Forward-looking features of the design provided the front gunner / bomb aimer with dual controls, plus Gosport tube communication with the pilot so that he could guide him during a bombing attack. However, performance was not good enough, and only the two prototypes were built.
Avro 529
Engine: 2 x 190hp Rolls-Royce Falcon I water-cooled in-line
Take-off weight: 2864 kg / 6314 lb
Empty weight: 2150 kg / 4740 lb
Wingspan: 19.20 m / 63 ft 0 in
Length: 12.09 m / 40 ft 8 in
Height: 3.96 m / 13 ft 0 in
Wing area: 85.70 sq.m / 922.47 sq ft
Max. speed: 153 km/h / 95 mph
Ceiling: 4115 m / 13500 ft
Armament: 2 x 7.7mm machine-guns
Crew: 3
Avro 529A
Engines: 2 x BHP inline piston, 230 hp
Length: 39.67ft (12.09m)
Width: 62.99ft (19.20m)
Height: 12.99ft (3.96m)
Empty Weight: 4,736lbs (2,148kg)
Maximum Take-Off Weight: 6,310lbs (2,862kg)
Maximum Speed: 95mph (153kmh; 83kts)
Maximum Range: 360miles (580km)
Rate-of-Climb: 715ft/min (218m/min)
Service Ceiling: 13,501ft (4,115m)
Armament:
Standard:
1 x 7.7mm (0.303 caliber) Lewis machine gun on trainable mount in nose cockpit.
1 x 7.7mm (0.303 caliber) Lewis machine gun on trainable mount in rear dorsal cockpit.
Optional:
20 x 50lb conventional drop bombs. Up to 1,000lbs of bombs.
Accommodation: 3
The Avro 528 was a two-seat single-engined biplane ordered by the Admiralty in 1915, and not even the task for which it was intended is recorded. It had some similarities with the Avro 519 (a single seater intended for the RFC) and the twin-seat 519A, built for the RNAS, though neither of these were armed and both had 150 hp Sunbeam Nubian engines rather than the 225 hp Sunbeam of the 528. Both the 519s and the 528 had some shared features with the Naval Avro 504.
It was a large three bay biplane with unswept, unstaggered and constant chord wings of unequal span, the lower plane having a span 10 feet 0 inches (3.05 m) less than the upper. Ailerons were carried on the upper wings; both wings folded for storage. The fuselage had similarities with the Naval 504s though the overall length of the 528 was greater by about 4 feet (1.2 m): both had a generous fixed fin in contrast to the all moving, comma shaped rudder of the RFC’s 504s. The vertical stabiliser was also close in size to that of the 504, but the rather rectangular horizontal tail was nearly 60% greater in span. Like the 519s, the top of the fuselage carried a raised decking that provided deeper cockpits for the pilot, placed under the trailing edge of the wing and the observer/gunner, in a separate cockpit close behind equipped with a ring mounted gun. The fixed single axle undercarriage had no central skid.
The Sunbeam engine drove a four-bladed propeller and had a single, central and near vertical exhaust pipe. There were two radiators, mounted edge on (longitudinally) between the wings, rather than the single but similarly mounted radiators of the Avro 519s and the Avro 527. Two tank-like features are shown in both image and diagram on the lower wings just inboard of the innermost interplane struts; they may be fuel tanks.
The first flight was on 19 December 1916 at Avro’s Hamble factory. The aircraft remained troublesome, with a variety of propellers being tried but the Admiralty lost interest and the 528 last flew in April 1917.
Engine: 1 × Sunbeam, 250 hp (187 kW)
Wingspan: 65 ft 0 in (19.82 m)
Length: 33 ft 8 in (10.26 m)
Gross weight: 5,509 lb (2,504 kg)
Crew: 2
Armament: 1× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis machine gun in rear cockpit provision for bombs in nacelles under lower wing
