Avro

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This article is about the British aircraft manufacturer. For the Canadian company see Avro Canada. AVRO is also the name of a Dutch public-service broadcasting organization.
A.V. Roe and Company (Avro)
Fate Subsidiary of Hawker Siddeley 1935

Merged into Hawker Siddeley Aircraft 1963
Successor Hawker Siddeley Aviation
Founded 1910
Defunct 1963
Location Alexandra Park , Woodford
Industry Aviation
Key people A.V. Roe, Roy Chadwick, Roy Dobson
Subsidiary Saunders-Roe (1929)

Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster which was one of the pre-eminent bombers during the Second World War and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

One of the world's first aircraft builders, A.V. Roe and Company was established at Brownsfield Mills, Manchester, by Alliott Verdon Roe and his brother H.V. Roe on 1 January 1910. Alliot had already made a name for himself as a pilot at Brooklands near Weybridge in Surrey and Farnborough in Hampshire. 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 20 years. This was a substantial achievement considering the novelty of powered aircraft in this period.

[edit] The inter-war years

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 in 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. In 1935, Avro became a subsidiary of Hawker Siddeley.

[edit] The Second World War

The Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster

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, and Lincoln 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, many of them built at the Avro factory next to Leeds Bradford Airport (formerly Yeadon Aerodrome), north-west Leeds. The old taxiway from the factory to the runway can still be seen.

[edit] Post-war developments

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 postwar Vulcan bombers, originally designed as a nuclear strike aircraft, was used to maintain the British nuclear deterrent armed with the Avro Blue Steel stand-off nuclear bomb. 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.

The Avro Vulcan
The Avro Vulcan

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 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.

[edit] Avro Canada

Main article: Avro Canada

In the 1950s, Hawker Siddeley Group purchased the former Victory Aircraft firm in Malton, Ontario, and renamed the operation Avro Aircraft Limited (Canada). Commonly known as Avro Canada it was actually a subsidiary of the Hawker Siddeley Group and used the Avro name for trading purposes.

[edit] Amalgamation

When the company was absorbed into Hawker Siddeley Aviation in July 1963, the Avro name ceased to be used. But the brand had a strong heritage appeal, and the marketing name "Avro RJ" (regional jet) was used by British Aerospace to the BAe 146 from 1994 to 2001. This plane is sometimes also called "Avro 146".

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 504s, 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.

Timeline of British aerospace companies, 1955-present
v • d • e
1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
Handley Page
F. G. Miles Beagle Aircraft
Auster
Scottish Aviation [1] British Aerospace BAE Systems
Hawker Siddeley [2] Hawker Siddeley Aviation
Blackburn
Avro
de Havilland
Folland
Vickers-Armstrongs British Aircraft Corporation [4]
English Electric [3]
Bristol
Hunting
The General Electric Company (GEC) The Marconi Company GEC-Marconi/Marconi Electronic Systems
The English Electric Company [5] Marconi plc
  1. Purchased rights for various Beagle and Handley-Page designs from the liquidator.
  2. Comprising Hawker Aircraft, Gloster Aircraft Company and Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft.
  3. English Electric Aircraft, a subsidiary of the English Electric Company.
  4. BAC comprised the aviation interests of the companies that formed it, and wholly-owned Hunting Aircraft.
  5. GEC purchased EE and with it The Marconi Company and EE's shareholding in BAC, through its subsidiary EE Aircraft.

[edit] Avro aeroplanes

  • Avro 730 - planned supersonic bomber, never completed

[edit] References

  • Harlin, E.A, and Jenks, G.A. Avro; An Aircraft Album. Shepperton, Middlesex: Ian Allen, 1973. ISBN 0-7710-0342-4.
  • Holmes, Harry. Avro: The History of an Aircraft Company. Wiltshire, UK: Crowood Press, 2004. ISBN 1-86126-651-0.
  • Jackson, A.J. Avro Aircraft since 1908. London: Putnam, 1965. ISBN 0-85177-797-X.
  • Molson, K. M. and Taylor, H.A. Canadian Aircraft since 1909. Toronto: Putnam, 1982. ISBN 0-09-200211-0.
  • Wood, Derek. Project Cancelled: British Aircraft That Never Flew. New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1975. ISBN 0-672-52166-0.
v • d • e
Lists relating to aviation

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