Alliott Verdon Roe was apprenticed at railway works, studied marine engineering, became engineer on merchant ships and then design draughtsman on cars! Won top newspaper prize 1906 for flying model aircraft, enabling him to build 24-hp man-carrying biplane which made 'hops' at Brooklands 1907. Next built triplane, despite only 9-hp flew well at Lea Marshes summer 1909. Summonsed for 'creating public nuisance', case dropped by Blériot’s flight 25 July 1909, magistrates realizing a conviction (trial date 26 July) would not be popular! A.V. Roe and Co. registered 1 January 1910, and limited company 3 years later. Works moved from Brooklands to Manchester (Bullseye Braces factory), later vastly expanded at Mather & Platt works at Newton Heath, with (1916) second factory at Hamble, near Southampton; also flying school Brooklands 1910, moved 1911 to Shoreham. Prototypes included Types F and G of 1912, respectively world’s first cabin monoplane and cabin biplane. Type 500 tandem trainer biplane of March 1912 led to Type 504 of July 1913, superb basic design and by far most important British trainer pre-1935; numerous versions totalled 8,970 in UK, of which Avro built 3,696 wartime and 630 post-war. Forced 1925 to find new airfield, bought New Hall Farm at Woodford, then Cheshire, major production centre to this day. Numerous 1920s prototypes, virtually no production. Roe sold his interest 1928 to form Saunders-Roe, control passing to J.D. Siddeley (including Armstrong Whitworth), who moved everything to Manchester, Hamble becoming Air Service Training. A few types found customers, including Avian light 2-seater, handful of high-wing transports derived from Fokker F.VII and, above all, powerful biplane trainers Tutor, Cadet and Prefect. All types had numbers beginning 500, thus Tutor was 621 and Prefect 626. Type 652 monoplane airliner of 1935 led to 652A Anson reconnaissance aircraft, built in many marks mainly as crew trainer to total by 1952 of 11,020. Type 679 Manchester heavy bomber was handicapped by unreliable engines (202 built 1939-42) but led to Lancaster, 7,377 built including 3,673 by Avro. This in turn led to York and Lancastrian, Lincoln, Tudor and Shackleton, Tudor leading to Ashton jet research aircraft. Type 707 delta research aircraft underpinned Type 698 Vulcan jet bomber (30 August 1952). Avro built seven prototypes and 15 production examples of Type 701 Athena advanced trainer. Types 720, 730 and 735 supersonic aircraft cancelled, and Type 748 transport (24 June 1960) became Hawker Siddeley. A.V. Roe was founder member 1935 of Hawker Siddeley, moving 1938 to giant shadow factory at Chadderton, north-east Manchester, with experimental department at Ringway and assembly and flight test at Woodford, Newton Heath remaining in full production and being joined by Yeadon, today Leeds Bradford airport, plus repair facilities Langar and Bracebridge Heath. Name retained in Avro Whitworth group 1961, but finally lost 1963.

Avro aircraft

Avro 501; 1913; Number built: 10; Versions: 2
Avro 504; 1913; Number built: 11433; Versions: 12
Avro 504C; 1915; Number built: 153; Versions: 5
Avro 504M; 1919; Number built: 2; Versions: 2
Avro 504N; 1924; Number built: 1202; Versions: 4
Avro 506; 1913
Avro 508; 1913; Number built: 1
Avro 509; 1913; Number built: 1
Avro 510; 1914; Number built: 6; Versions: 1
Avro 511 ‘Arrowscout’; 1914; Number built: 1
Avro 513; 1914
Avro 519 ‘Silver King’; 1916; Number built: 5; Versions: 3
Avro 521; 1915; Number built: 1
Avro 522; 1923; Number built: 1
Avro 523 ‘Pike’; 1916; Number built: 1
Avro 527; 1916; Number built: 1
Avro 529; 1917; Number built: 3; Versions: 3
Avro 530; 1917; Number built: 2; Versions: 1
Avro 530 mod; 1917
Avro 531 ‘Spider’; 1918; Number built: 1
Avro 531A; 1918; Number built: 1
Avro 533 ‘Manchester’; 1918; Number built: 3; Versions: 3
Avro 534 ‘Avro Baby’; 1919; Number built: 9; Versions: 3
Avro 538; 1919; Number built: 1
Avro 539; 1919; Number built: 1
Avro 547; 1920; Number built: 2; Versions: 1
Avro 548; 1919; Number built: 36; Versions: 3
Avro 549 ‘Aldershot’; 1921; Number built: 17; Versions: 2
Avro 555 ‘Bison’; 1921; Number built: 15; Versions: 1
Avro 555 Bison II; 1925; Number built: 41; Versions: 1
Avro 557 ‘Ava’; 1924; Number built: 1
Avro 557 Mk.II ‘Ava’; 1927; Number built: 1
Avro 558; 1923; Number built: 2; Versions: 1
Avro 560; 1923; Number built: 1
Avro 561 ‘Andover’; 1924; Number built: 4; Versions: 2
Avro 562 ‘Avis’; 1924; Number built: 1
Avro 566 ‘Avenger’; 1926; Number built: 1
Avro 567 ‘Avenger II’; 1928
Avro 571 ‘Buffalo’; 1926; Number built: 1
Avro 584 ‘Avocet’; 1927; Number built: 2; Versions: 1
Avro 594 ‘Avian’; 1926; Number built: 199; Versions: 5
Avro 604 ‘Antelope’; 1927; Number built: 1
Avro 610; 1928
Avro 616 ‘Avian IVM’; 1927; Number built: 198; Versions: 2
Avro 619 ‘Five’; 1929; Number built: 7; Versions: 2
Avro 621 ‘Tutor’; 1929; Number built: 911; Versions: 4
Avro 626 ‘Prefect’; 1930; Number built: 216; Versions: 3
Avro 627 ‘Mailplane’; 1930; Number built: 2; Versions: 2
Avro 631 ‘Cadet’; 1932; Number built: 105; Versions: 3
Avro 636; 1935; Number built: 4; Versions: 1
Avro 637; 1933; Number built: 8; Versions: 1
Avro 638 ‘Club Cadet’; 1933; Number built: 26; Versions: 3
Avro 641 ‘Commodore’; 1934; Number built: 6; Versions: 1
Avro 642; 1933; Number built: 1
Avro 642/4m ‘Star of India’; 1934
Avro 652 ‘Anson’; 1935; Number built: 10966; Versions: 12
Avro 679 ‘Manchester’; 1939; Number built: 22; Versions: 2
Avro 679 Mk.IA ‘Manchester’; 1940; Number built: 180; Versions: 1; Photo - Video
Avro 683 ‘Lancaster’; 1941; Number built: 7377; Versions: 6; Photo - Video - Cockpit
Avro 685 ‘York’; 1942; Number built: 258; Versions: 1
Avro 688 ‘Tudor’; 1946; Number built: 36; Versions: 6; Photo - Video
Avro 689 ‘Tudor 8’; 1948; Number built: 1
Avro 691 ‘Lancastrian’; 1943; Number built: 81; Versions: 1
Avro 693; 1946
Avro 694 ‘Lincoln’; 1944; Number built: 624; Versions: 1
Avro 696 ‘Shackleton’; 1949; Number built: 149; Versions: 2
Avro 698 Mk.1 ‘Vulcan’; 1952; Number built: 47; Versions: 2; Photo - Video
Avro 698 Mk.2 ‘Vulcan’; 1958; Number built: 89; Versions: 1; Photo - Video - Cockpit
Avro 701 ‘Athena’; 1948; Number built: 22; Versions: 2
Avro 706 ‘Ashton’; 1950; Number built: 5; Versions: 1
Avro 706 WB493 ‘Ashton’; 1952; Number built: 1
Avro 707; 1949; Number built: 2; Versions: 2
Avro 707A; 1951; Number built: 3; Versions: 2
Avro 716 ‘Shackleton Mk.III’; 1955; Number built: 42; Versions: 1
Avro 720; 1956; Number built: 1
Avro 730; 1957; Number built: 1
Avro 748 ‘Andover’; 1960; Number built: 356; Versions: 5
Avro 780 ‘Andover’; 1965; Number built: 37; Versions: 1
Avro Baby Polyplane; 1920
Avro Biplane; 1908; Number built: 1
Avro D; 1911; Number built: 6; Versions: 3
Avro D (second aircraft); 1911; Number built: 2; Versions: 1
Avro Duigan; 1912; Number built: 1
Avro E; 1912; Number built: 24; Versions: 4
Avro F; 1912; Number built: 1
Avro G; 1912; Number built: 1
Avro H; 1913; Number built: 1
Mercury ‘Avroplane’; 1909; Number built: 2; Versions: 1
Triplane II ‘Mercury’; 1910; Number built: 2; Versions: 1
Triplane III; 1910; Number built: 4; Versions: 1
Triplane IV; 1910; Number built: 2; Versions: 1