Avro 5301917 |
FIGHTER | Virtual Aircraft Museum / United Kingdom / Avro |
Of relatively clean aerodynamic design by contemporary standards and featuring a ducted propeller spinner, the Avro 530 two-seat fighter was designed in 1916 to compete with the Bristol F.2A, but the first prototype was not flown until July 1917. Powered by a 200hp Hispano- Suiza 8Bd eight-cylinder water-cooled engine, the Avro 530 was of wooden construction with fabric skinning, and mounted an armament of a single fixed and synchronised 7.7mm Vickers gun, a Lewis gun of similar calibre being mounted on a Scarff ring in the rear cockpit. Although performance of the Avro 530 proved to be good, it did not improve sufficiently on that of the Bristol F.2A to warrant production orders. Furthermore, priority in the supply of the Hispano- Suiza engine was being given to the S.E.5a. During 1918, one of the two Avro 530 prototypes was flown with a 200hp Sunbeam Arab engine, revised undercarriage, an extended tail fin and flapless wings of new section with long-span ailerons, but development was subsequently abandoned.
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