Planes and Choppers Photos

Alliott Verdon Roe’s interest in aircraft developed before WW1. His first design was the Roe I Biplane of 1907, which lacked a powerful enough engine to take off without assistance, until one was loaned in 1908. On 8 June 1908 Roe successfully took to the air, although only for a series of short hops. In 1910 A.V.Roe and Company was founded, with factories being established at Newton Heath and Hamble. Early Avro aircraft were produced in very small numbers, but then 8,340 of the Avro 504 model were built over 20 years, with this aircraft becoming the standard training aircraft for the young R.A.F. By the time the immortal Lancaster appeared the company was part of the Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Group, while A.V.Roe himself had moved on to form Saunders-Roe Ltd. After some Lancaster derivatives, civil airliners and the Vulcan nuclear bomber were produced, the Avro name disappeared in 1963 when the company became part of Hawker Siddeley Aviation.