Avro 536
| Avro 536 | |
|---|---|
| Type: | Light aircraft for sightseeing flights |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
April 1919 |
| Number of pieces: |
26th |
The Avro 536 was a single-engine biplane - airplane of the British manufacturer Avro , designed for short journeys. The last machine received a closed cabin and was called the Avro 546 .
history
After the First World War , an increased interest in pleasure flights quickly arose in England . For example, Avro developed an aircraft with space for four passengers and one pilot for the subsidiary Avro Transport Company , which was founded especially for this purpose .
The basis of the design was the extremely successful Avro 504 . The basic design of this machine was used, due to the higher payload, the wings were lengthened, and a more powerful engine was used for the necessary take-off thrust, a Bentley BR1 engine with 152 hp (111.8 kW). Four passengers were seated in two double seats behind the pilot.
The Avro 536 prototype took off on its maiden flight in Hamble in April 1919 , and the first passengers were carried with this machine at the end of the month, one of the first being the British Lord Chancellor on April 29 .
This was followed by the construction of seven machines in Hamble, which were distributed to the Avro Transport Company representatives in the south of the country. A further contingent of twelve aircraft, which had been produced in Manchester , followed shortly afterwards , but only seven of them started their service in Blackpool , where the demand for the pleasure flights was so great that three pilots about 500 passengers on the first day of the mission had to promote.
The first three series machines had problems with the torque of the powerful Bentley engine; therefore the following models were equipped with the large vertical stabilizer of the 504 .
When the Avro Transport Company ceased pleasure flights in 1920, some of the pilots previously employed there bought a 536 in order to set up their own business with the tried and tested aircraft.
In 1923 and 1925 the unused machines were sold to Berkshire Aviation Tours Ltd. and to Surrey Flying Services Ltd. sold and replaced the now outdated 504 .
The Surrey replaced the Bentley engines with somewhat weaker Clerget engines, so the vertical stabilizers could be reduced in size again. Between 1926 and 1927 the "Surrey" built four machines based on the 536 model - but no further information is available about these aircraft. One of these machines was still in service in 1927 for pleasure flights on Jersey Beach and in 1928 as a machine for aerial acrobatics .
variants
The prototype was later equipped with two floats and used as a seaplane for pleasure flights on the Isle of Wight .
The penultimate series machine was converted into a two-seater with a particularly large tank; it served Avro as a test vehicle for a long-range competition aircraft.
The last machine received an enclosed three-passenger cabin (comparable to the Avro 504M) and was designated the Avro 546 , but was only used for a few flights in 1919 and 1920.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| length | 9.07 m |
| height | 3.28 m |
| Wingspan | 11.20 m |
| Wing area | 31.13 m² |
| Empty weight | 649 kg |
| Max. Weight in flight with a full tank | 1010 kg |
| drive |
|
| Top speed | 145 km / h |
| Cruising speed | 113 km / h |
| Rate of climb | 168 m / min |
| Summit height | 3660 m |
| Range | approx. 300 km |
| crew |
|
(The above data does not apply to the seaplane version.)