Avro Andover
The Avro 561 Andover was a single-engined biplane of the British manufacturer Avro, which was used as a passenger aircraft.
History
Beginning of the 1920s, wrote the British Air Force, the Royal Air Force (RAF ), a successor model for the obsolete Airco DH10, which operated scheduled services Cairo - Baghdad on the so -called " Desert Air Route". Thus one constructed at the Avro 561 Andover, a dreistieligen biplane. It was designed so that it could be used in addition to the passenger service as ambulance machine.
The fuselage was a complete redesign, but the foldable wings, landing gear and the tail were already used in the Avro 549 Aldershot components. Divided into three sections hull construction was a fabric-covered steel tube frame construction and adopted a total of twelve passengers (six on each side of the center aisle ) or six stretchers. The passenger section of the fuselage was covered with plywood. The pilot and navigator sat in an open cockpit just below the wing leading edge; there existed a passage from the cockpit to the passenger cabin. The most noticeable features of Andover were the two large -clad fuel tanks on the upper wing and the two large-volume exhaust pipes of the Condor III engine.
The first flight of Andover was probably in June 1924, the first machine was introduced to the public on June 28, 1924. Since the " Desert Air Route" was delivered to Imperial Airways, was adopted by the RAF ultimately no order for the series production of Andover, therefore presented Avro ago, only three specimens of this type, which were delivered to the RAF Halton.
Version Avro 563 Andover
Despite the lack of commercial success, the 561 is a modified machine is designed as a single piece with the type designation Avro 563 Andover at Avro. These were a minimally modified 561 with an additional laundry room and a luggage compartment.
After test flights in March 1925 in Gosport Hamble and the twelve passengers comprehensive machine was awarded to Imperial Airways and flew in the service of this company tentatively in the summer of 1925 in canal traffic. Thus, the 563 was the first aircraft of the company Avro, which was used in scheduled service. The 563 was released in January 1927 by Imperial Airways to the RAF.
Military use
- Royal Air Force