Avro 621 Tutor Two-Seat Basic Trainer Biplane Aircraft

Specifications

Year: 1933
Status: Retired, Out-of-Service
Manufacturer(s): Avro / A. V. Roe - UK
Production: 852
Roles: Training;

Crew: 2
Length: 26.38 ft (8.04 m)
Width: 33.99 ft (10.36 m)
Height: 9.58 ft (2.92 m)
Weight (Empty): 1,843 lb (836 kg)
Weight (MTOW): 2,493 lb (1,131 kg)

Power: 1 x Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IVC air-cooled radial piston engine developing 240 horsepower.

Speed: 120 mph (193 kph; 104 kts)
Ceiling: 16,001 feet (4,877 m; 3.03 miles)
Range: 250 miles (402 km; 217 nm)

Operators: Czechoslovakia; Canada; China; Denmark; Eire; Iraq; Ireland, Greece; Poland; South Africa; United Kingdom.

The Avro 621 Tutor was a primary component of RAF and RN pilot training in the interwar years. Developed from the World War 1 era Avro 504 series, the 621 type proved to be a follow-up success. Built to some 852 examples, the 621 graduated many an airmen from some ten world air forces during her production run making a special place for the aircraft in the annals of aviation history.

Design of the Avro 621 Tutor was of a basic biplane type with twin tandem seating for the student and instructor respectively in the tubular-shaped fuselage. Windscreens were afforded each seating position as were redundant control systems. The biplane structure was connected via a series of struts between them while the engine was fitted to the extreme forward portion of the design rotating a two-blade propeller. Landing gear were of the traditional World War 1 static design and a tail wheel was fitted at rear.

In training, the Tutor proved to be of exceptional quality while handling was deemed excellent. This was no doubt partly due to the fact of the types origins in the excellent and highly successful Avro 504 series designed during the First World War. Some 200 Tutor trainers were still in operational use with British forces by the time of the Second World War. In all, production was handled by the United Kingdom (Avro), South Africa and Poland (both of the latter under license production rights). The UK line would stop production of the 621 by 1936 by which time some near 800 models would be in circulation.

Armament

None.

Variants / Models

• 621 Tutor - Base Series Designation; two-seat basic trainer.
• 621 Tutor II - Redesigned Wing Strut Arrangement.
• 646 Sea Tutor - Seaplane Derivative for Royal Navy; fitted with twin floats for naval operation.
• PWS-18 - Polish designation for local licensed production of 621 Tutor models; some 40 examples produced.