Avro Type E, 500 and 502 (Es)

Two seat tractor biplane, a larger version of the Duigan Biplane, which had been designed at the same time. The fuselage was constructed of wire-braced ash, metal covered forward of the cockpits and fabric covered aft. The observer sat in front with the pilot sitting behind the cut away trailing edge, and there was a small "Cellon" window in the floor to improve downward vision. The wooden wings were of two-bay layout, with English ash spars and poplar ribs, with rounded wingtips formed of rattan cane. They were of a new section compared to the Type D and covered in Pegamoid fabric. Lateral control was by wing warping. The tailplane was steel framed, with a rectangular fixed stabiliser and elevator and a rectangular balanced rudder with no fixed fin. The undercarriage was as the Duigan, a V-strut below the wing leading edge bearing a leaf-spring axle, and under this a single long skid supported by a second V-strut below the trailing edge and a V-strut from the extreme nose of the aircraft. A sprung tailskid was mounted below the rudder and small hoops were fitted below the outer interplane struts to protect the wingtips. One 60 h.p. ENV Type F powerplant, mounted directly on the upper longerons, driving a 10 ft Avro propeller. The main fuel tank was in front of the passenger, with twin gravity tanks fixed to the centre section struts. Radiators were located on each side of the front fuselage, with two smaller units on the centre section struts.

Improved type E with 50 h.p. Gnome powerplant. The prototype had no tail skid, but relied on a steel shoe attached to the bottom of the rudder. This arrangement was replaced with a rudder redesigned to absorb shock loads by sliding vertically up the kingpost against the action of a coiled spring. This was eventually replaced with an ordinary tail skid and what was to become an Avro signature for many years, a 'comma' shaped rudder, no longer protruding below the fuselage. Although all aircraft were initially supplied with wing warping, many had their outer wing panels replaced with ones incorporating inversly tapering ailerons.

Type 500 Specification
Span	Length	Height	Wing Area	Empty Wt	Max AUW	Cruise Speed	Maximum Speed	Range	Service Ceiling
36 ft	29 ft	9 ft 9 in	330 sq ft	900 lb	1300 lb		61 mph/ 53 kn
10.97 m	8.84 m	2.97 m	30.66 m2	408 kg	590 kg		98 km/h

Single seat derivative of the Type 500. One 50 h.p. Gnome powerplant. Improvements made to Type 500 also applied to the Type 502.