- Avro 508
The Avro 508 was a prototype British reconnaissance aircraft of the 1910s.
Development
After the
Air Ministry issued a specification in avyear|1914 for areconnaissance aircraft with a cockpit for observers in the front, with the pilot housed closer to the wings.Fact|date=September 2008The Avro 508 was built at Avro's Manchester works in December 1913 and assembled at Brooklands in January 1914. Jackson 1990, p.134.] First exhibited in
Manchester in January 1914, the 508 was a wooden fabric-covered pusherbiplane of unusual shape, resembling a back-to-frontAvro 504 . Its top and bottom three bay wings were equal in length, made of fabric-covered wood.Operational history
It was completed by March 1914, and shown at the Olympia Aero Show in
London Jackson 1990, p.315.] , however its first flight was at the start of official testing in April 1915 atBrooklands .Fact|date=September 2008 However, theRoyal Flying Corps showed no interest in the sole prototype and therefore the aircraft lived out the rest of its days as a training aircraft and engine tester atRAF Hendon , until it was dismantled in April avyear|1916.pecifications
References
* " [http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1914/1914%20-%200295.html The Olympia Exhibition: The Exhibits: Avro (A.V. Roe & Co.)] ". "Flight", 21 March 1914. pp. 295-297.
*Jackson, A.J. "Avro Aircraft since 1908". London:Putnam, 1990. ISBN 0-85177-834-8.
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