Avro Types F and G
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Type Description and Production Data
Type F
Wire-braced mid-wing monoplane with a tailskid undercarriage, the first aircraft in the world to fly with a completely enclosed cabin for the pilot as an integral part of the design. The fuselage was teardrop-shaped, with flat sides and cellon windows, of box girder construction with four wooden longerons and cross struts, reinforced by triangular plywood stiffeners in each bay, braced internally with piano wire. The mainplane, constructed in two halves round a built up front spar, was mounted on the centre line of the fuselage, braced by wires to a kingpost under the fuselage and a steel tube pylon above. Lateral control was by wing warping. Oil leakage from the engine had been anticipated to obscure pilot view by coating cabin windows, so two circular windows at the pilot's head level could be opened for the pilot's head to protrude when flying, but their use proved unnecessary. Ingress and egress was via a sheet aluminum trapdoor in the fuselage top. The cabin was quite cramped, being only 2 ft across at its widest point. Structurally similar to the Type 500, it used the same undercarriage and tail unit, with a small balanced rudder, equally disposed above and below the fuselage, with no fixed fin. One 35 h.p. Viale powerplant.
| Type F Specification | |||||||||
| Span | Length | Height | Wing Area | Empty Wt | Max AUW | Cruise Speed | Maximum Speed | Range | Service Ceiling |
| 28 ft | 23 ft | 158 sq ft | 550 lb | 800 lb | 65 mph/ 56 kn | ||||
| 8.53 m | 7.01 m | 14.68 m2 | 249 kg | 363 kg | 105 km/h | ||||
Production Details
| C/n | Initial Registration |
Notes |
| 1 aircraft built by A.V. Roe & Co. Ltd., Miles Platting, Manchester, and assembled at Brooklands. First flew May 1912. | ||
| (none) | (none) | |
| Total Production 1 | ||
Type G
Two-seat two bay biplane designed participate in the 1912 British Military Aeroplane Competition. It featured a fully enclosed crew compartment, and as such was the world's first cabin biplane. Structurally it was similar to the Type F, the box girder fuselage, of streamlined shaped and constructed of wood with fabric covering, filling the gap between upper and lower wings, very narrow with a maximum beam of 2 ft. 3 in. tapering to only 15 in. at the front end. Entry to the cabin was through triangular doors hinged to slanting struts in the sides of the fuselage. Mainplanes, undercarriage and tail unit were identical with those of the Avro 500. There was no vertical fin and the steel shod rudder also acted as tail skid. Lateral control was by wing warping with a maximum warp at the tip of 18 in. Two slim, in line, powerplants were used (see note 1), mounted on steel bearers and enclosed in a louvred cowling with the main exhaust taken over the roof. As on the Type E prototype, cooling was by means of spiral tube radiators on each side of the cabin.
| Type G Specification | |||||||||
| Span | Length | Height | Wing Area | Empty Wt | Max AUW | Cruise Speed | Maximum Speed | Range | Service Ceiling |
| 35 ft 3 in | 28 ft 6 in | 9 ft 9 in | 310 sq ft | 1191 lb | 1792 lb | 62 mph/ 54 kn | 345 mi | ||
| 10.74 m | 8.69 m | 2.97 m | 28.8 m2 | 540 kg | 813 kg | 100 km/h | 555 km | ||
Production Details
| Serial Range | C/n | Batch Qty |
Conv. | Canc'd | Notes |
| 2 aircraft built by A.V. Roe & Co. Ltd., Brownsfield Mills, Manchester, for the Military Aeroplane Competition of 1912. First flew August 1912. | |||||
| 6 (see note 1) | 1 | See note 1. | |||
| 7 (see note 1) | 1 | See note 1. | |||
| Total Production | 1 | 1 | |||
Production Summary
All Aircraft By Type
| Type | Built New | Conv | Canc'd | Total |
| Type F | 1 | 1 | ||
| Type G | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 2 | (0) | 1 |
Notes
- From Jackson [1] : "Two Type G biplanes were laid down. One with a 60 h.p. Green engine to be flown by Wilfred Parke with competition number 6 and a second, numbered 7, for R. L. Charteris of the All-British Engine Co. Ltd. with a 60 h.p. A.B.C. eight cylinder engine. Unfortunately this A.B.C. engine was not ready in time and as a matter of expediency No. 7 was completed with the Green engine in place of No. 6.
There was no time for test flying and the aeroplane was delivered in a crate direct to the competition ground at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain and there flown for the first time by Wilfred Parke. On August 7, 1912 he took off at the start of the 3 hours endurance test but after half an hour turbulent conditions compelled him to give up. Hurriedly landing down wind, he overturned and so damaged the machine that it had to be sent back to Manchester for repair. Exactly a week later on August 14, the machine returned, no doubt incorporating many components of the unfortunate No. 6."
Production References
- Avro Aircraft Since 1908, A.J. Jackson (Putnam, 1965)
- British Aircraft Before The Great War, Michael H. Goodall and Albert E. Tagg (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2001)
Page Revision History
Revised at Version 2.0.0- Moved from Low Production to a new page.
- Improved Type Description and Added Specification details.
- Added Note 1 and corrected production details for Type G.