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Aviation / Aerospace

Avro 523 Pike

Short-Range Biplane Bomber Aircraft [ 1916 ]

Only two Avro Pike bombers were ever completed, these prototypes serving as testbeds for the duration of World War 1.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 06/07/2017 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

Rear left side view of the Avro 523 Pike light bomber and reconnaissance plane

GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]

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Avro (A.V. Roe and Company) was founded in 1910 and based out of Manchester. The firm played a large role from World War 1 into the Cold War and preceded to release such well-known products as the Avro 504 trainer of World War 1 fame, the Avro Lancaster from World War 2 and the Avro Vulcan of the Cold War years. The Avro 523 "Pike" became a lesser-known development to most and, in any event, only two airframes were ever completed and these two never moved on beyond the prototype stage. The Avro 523 was in fact the first Avro company product to be officially designated with a name (Pike). Until now, the aircraft produced by the company were known simply by their in-house model numbers.

Design of the 523 was attributed to engineer Roy Chadwick of Avro, one of the original key members of the firm when joining the company in September of 1911 at age eighteen. The type was conventional by historical standards and consisted of a traditional fuselage frame with a biplane wing arrangement. The biplane wings were set ahead of amidships and featured three bays with parallel support struts. The undercarriage was fixed in place and centered around a wheel pairing under the bulk of the airframe weight forward. The empennage was supported with a simple skid. The tail unit was also conventional. The aircraft was crewed by three personnel that included the pilot and two dedicated gunners - the latter pair in a forward and rear cockpit gun position. All positions were "open air" providing for excellent unobstructed views but exposing the crew to the elements.©MilitaryFactory.com

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Engines were fitted between the upper and lower wing spar and set up in a "pusher" type fashion with the propellers facing rear. Each power plant was a single fitting of a Sunbeam Nubian engine delivering up to 160 horsepower. This supplied the 523 with a given endurance time of about seven hours and a top speed of 97 miles per hour. Empty weight was listed at 4,000lbs with a gross weight equal to 6,064. The 523 managed a wingspan of exactly 60 feet with a running length of just over 39 feet and a height nearing 11 feet, 8 inches.

Standard armament consisted of a 7.7mm Lewis machine gun in a flexible mounting at the forward gunnery cockpit. Similarly, there was a 7.7mm Lewis machine gun in a flexible mount at the rear gunner's compartment, aft of the wings but ahead of the empennage. An optional bombload of 2 x 112lb bombs could be held in an internal bomb bay.

The 523 was developed in response to a British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) requirement for an airframe capable of scouting duties as primary with the role of bombing as secondary. The type would have also stocked the stables of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). The primary role would counter the usefulness of German Zeppelins providing vital reconnaissance report by engaging and destroying such targets. The secondary role opened up a tactical advantage for the RFC that could see the 523 engaging enemy land targets and surface ships as needed. First flight of the original Avro 523 prototype occurred in May of 1916 and this was followed by a second version fitting a pair of Green E.6 water-cooled engines. The difference in engines meant that the second prototype received the formal designation of "523A".

The British Admiralty took the Avro prototype under evaluation in November of 1916 and thought the type was already an outdated design when compared to the up and coming contemporaries available elsewhere. As such, the RNAS did not set in motion a procurement contract and the Avro design floundered before being more or less forgotten to history. At the very least, the Avro firm found some use for the two prototypes as aerial testbeds to evaluated various engine and aerodynamic concepts for the rest of the war. The British Admiralty was interested enough in the 523, however, that it ordered two prototypes of a larger version as a long-range bomber - this would become the Avro 529 model.

The RFC went on to procure the Handley-Page O/100 series bombers instead while the RNAS elected to order the Short Bomber for its inventory.©MilitaryFactory.com

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Specifications

Service Year

1916

Origin

United Kingdom

Crew

3

Production

2
UNITS

Avro - UK

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

United Kingdom

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Ground Attack (Bombing, Strafing)
Ability to conduct aerial bombing of ground targets by way of (but not limited to) guns, bombs, missiles, rockets, and the like.

✓ Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

✓ X-Plane (Developmental, Prototype, Technology Demonstrator)
Aircraft developed for the role of prototyping, technology demonstration, or research / data collection.

Length

39.1 ft
(11.92 m)

Width/Span

60.0 ft
(18.30 m)

Height

11.7 ft
(3.56 m)

Empty Wgt

3,999 lb
(1,814 kg)

MTOW

6,076 lb
(2,756 kg)

Wgt Diff

+2,077 lb
(+942 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Avro 523 Pike production variant)

Installed: 2 x Sunbeam Nubian engines developing 160 horsepower each.

Max Speed

97 mph
(156 kph | 84 kts)

Ceiling

13,123 ft
(4,000 m | 2 mi)

Range

466 mi
(750 km | 1,389 nm)

Rate-of-Climb

526 ft/min
(160 m/min)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Avro 523 Pike production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

STANDARD:
1 x 7.7mm Lewis machine gun in flexible mounting in nose.
1 x 7.7mm Lewis machine gun in flexible mounting in rear cockpit.

OPTIONAL:
2 x 112lb bombs in internal bomb bay

Supported Types

Graphical image of an aircraft medium machine gun

Graphical image of an aircraft conventional drop bomb munition

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

Hardpoint Mountings: 0

523 - Original Prototype fitting 2 x Sunbeam Nubian engines of 160 horsepower each.

523A - Second prototype fitting 2 x Green E.6 engines.

529 - Enlarged version for long-range bomber role; two prototypes completed.

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Rear left side view of the Avro 523 Pike light bomber and reconnaissance plane

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