Avro 566 Avenger

Biplane Fighter Prototype Aircraft

United Kingdom | 1926

"The Avro 566 Avenger was a private venture attempt to produce a high-performance biplane fighter for service with the Royal Air Force - only a prototype was completed."

Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Avro 566 Avenger Biplane Fighter Prototype Aircraft.

Avenger I: 1 x Napier Lion VIII engine developing 525 horsepower and driving two-bladed propeller at the nose.
Propulsion

180 mph
290 kph | 157 kts
Max Speed

21,982 ft
6,700 m | 4 miles
Service Ceiling

2,100 ft/min
640 m/min
Rate-of-Climb

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Avro 566 Avenger Biplane Fighter Prototype Aircraft.

1
(MANNED)
Crew

25.5 ft
7.77 m
O/A Length

32.0 ft
(9.75 m)
O/A Width

10.2 ft
(3.12 m)
O/A Height

2,370 lb
(1,075 kg)
Empty Weight

3,219 lb
(1,460 kg)
MTOW

Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the Avro 566 Avenger Biplane Fighter Prototype Aircraft .

None Fitted. Assumed armament of 2 x 0.303 machine guns synchronized to fire through the spinning propeller blades.

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Avro 566 Avenger family line.

566 Avenger ("Avenger I") - Original prototype design; unequal-span wing mainplanes; N-type struts; Napier Lion VIII engine.

567 Avenger II - Revised prototype as aerial racer; equal-span wing mainplanes; I-type struts; Napier Lion IX engine.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 05/22/2018 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

Developed along the lines of a private venture fighter for possible sale to the Royal Air Force (RAF), the Avro 566 "Avenger" promised excellent performance through a powerful engine and exceptional streamlining of its shape. The type existed in a biplane form and recorded a first-flight on June 26th, 1926. Its design was attributed to Roy Chadwick, an aeronautical engineer who lent his talents to the creation of the Avro Manchester and Avro Lancaster heavy bombers of World War 2 fame and the Avro Vulcan jet-powered bomber of Cold War fame.

The Avenger exhibited an overall length of 7.7 meters, a wingspan of 9.75 meters, and a height of 3 meters. It sat a single crewman in an open-air cockpit under and behind the upper wing assembly. The mainplanes were of unequal span - the upper section being wider than the lower - and used N-type struts creating a single-bay wing arrangement. The wheeled undercarriage was fixed during flight and the overall design approach of the aircraft was very consistent with the post-World War 1 period (known as the "Interwar period"). Construction was largely of wood with fabric skinning and power to the aircraft was through a Napier Lion VIII engine of 525 horsepower driving a two-bladed propeller at the nose. No armament was fitted to the prototype though it can be assumed that 2 x 0.303 machine guns would have been installed, synchronized to fire through the spinning propeller blades.

As completed, the Avenger held a maximum speed of 180 miles per hour and could cruise at 130 miles per hour.

Despite its promise, the Avenger failed to sell itself to RAF authorities (mainly due to the unpopular Lion engine in play) so it was decided to convert the high performance platform to an aerial racer. The wing mainplanes were revised to become equal-span assemblies and I-type struts were fitted for support. Ailerons were added to both upper and lower wing structures. The original engine installation was now superseded by the Napier Lion IX series engine of 553 horsepower and the changes were enough to warrant the new designation of Avro 567 "Avenger II".

Beyond this conversion, the aircraft was destined to never become anything greater - the single example was eventually broken up in 1931 and used as an engineering training tool.

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Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Avro 566 Avenger. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 1 Units
Contractor(s): A.V. Roe (Avro) - United Kingdom

[ United Kingdom (cancelled) ]

1 / 1

Image from the Public Domain.

Going Further...
The Avro 566 Avenger Biplane Fighter Prototype Aircraft appears in the following collections:

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