| Avro 508 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Role | Reconnaissance |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | A.V. Roe & Co. Ltd. |
| First flight | April 1915 |
| Number built | 1 |
The Avro 508 was a prototype British reconnaissance aircraft of the 1910s.
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration outside an area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about natural features and other activities in the area.
The Avro 508 was built at Avro's Manchester works in December 1913 and assembled at Brooklands in January 1914. [1] First exhibited in Manchester in January 1914, the 508 was a wooden fabric-covered pusher biplane of unusual shape, resembling a back-to-front Avro 504. Its top and bottom three-bay wings were equal in length, made of fabric-covered wood.
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 545,500 as of 2017. It lies within the United Kingdom's second-most populous built-up area, with a population of 2.7 million. It is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority is Manchester City Council.
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage over a monoplane, it produces more drag than a similar unbraced or cantilever monoplane wing. Improved structural techniques, better materials and the quest for greater speed made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s.
The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind that served in the First World War, in any military capacity, during that conflict. More than 10,000 were built from 1913 until production ended in 1940.
It was completed by March 1914, and shown at the Olympia Aero Show in London, [2] however its first flight was at the start of official testing in April 1915 at Brooklands.[ citation needed ] The Royal Flying Corps showed no interest in the sole prototype and therefore the aircraft remained a training aircraft and engine tester at Hendon Aerodrome until it was dismantled in April 1916.[ citation needed ]
London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
Brooklands was a 2.75-mile (4.43 km) motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, which also became Britain's largest aircraft manufacturing centre by 1918, producing military aircraft such as the Wellington and civil airliners like the Viscount and VC-10.
Data from Avro Aircraft since 1908 [2]
General characteristics
Performance
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Flight International is a weekly magazine focused on aerospace, published in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldest continuously published aviation news magazine.
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.