Avro 500

500

Role: Military utility aircraft
Manufacturer: Avro
First flight: 3 March 1912
Number built: 18

The Avro Type E, Type 500, and Type 502 made up a family of early British military aircraft, regarded by Alliott Verdon Roe as his firm's first truly successful design.

The Type E biplane was designed in response to a War Office specification for a two-seat aircraft capable (amongst other things) of carrying a 350 lb (160 kg) payload with a total endurance of 4.5 hours. The Avro submission was based on the Avro Duigan design and was originally named "Military Biplane 1". It was a two-bay biplane with equal-span, unstaggered wings, and a boxy, rectangular-section fuselage. Lateral control was by wing warping.

During initial trials, it soon became apparent that while top speed and rate-of-climb were below the War Office specification, the aircraft excelled in every other way. The second prototype, however, first flew on 3 May 1912 and sufficiently impressed the War Office for them to buy the prototype and place an order for two more examples, which Roe now renamed the 500. The type proved an immediate success, and orders for another four machines plus five single-seat derivatives (designated 502 by Avro) soon followed. Other examples produced included six for the British Admiralty's Air Department, one presented to the government of Portugal (paid for by public subscription), one kept by Avro as a company demonstrator, and one bought by a private individual, J. Laurence Hall (commandeered by the War Office at the outbreak of World War I). The first prototype was destroyed in a crash on 29 June 1913 that killed its student pilot.

Service

Avro 500s were flown by the British armed forces during the first years of the war, mostly as trainers. In service, most were fitted with ailerons and a revised rudder.

Operators

Portugal United Kingdom

Royal Flying Corps
No. 3 Squadron RFC
No. 4 Squadron RFC
No. 5 Squadron RFC
Royal Naval Air Service

Specifications

General characteristics

Crew: one pilot
Capacity: 1 seat for observer, instructor, or passenger
Length: 29 ft 0 in (8.84 m)
Wingspan: 36 ft 0 in (10.97 m)
Height: 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m)
Wing area: 330 ft² (30.7 m²)
Empty weight: 900 lb (408 kg)
Gross weight: 1,360 lb (617 kg)
Powerplant: 1 x— Gnome rotary, 50 hp (37 kW) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 61 mph (98 km/h)
Endurance: 2 hours 30 min
Rate of climb: 440 ft/min (2.2 m/s)

Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. pp. 91.
World Aircraft Information Files. London: Bright Star Publishing. pp. File 889 Sheet 92.

Avro 500 Pictures and Avro 500 for Sale.

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Source: WikiPedia