- A V Roe & Co Ltd
- Manchester, Greater Manchester
- In 1910 Edwin Alliott Verdon-Roe, a pioneer pilot at Brooklands and Lee Marshes, and his brother Humphrey Verdon-Roe, established one of the world's first aircraft manufacturers, A V Roe & Co, on the basement floor of Everard & Co's Brownsfield Mill, Great Ancoats Street, Manchester, which Humphrey managed. In 1913 it became a limited company as A V Roe & Co Ltd (often known as Avro). The first 'Avro' type to be built in any quantity was the Avro E (Avro 500) which saw service with the new Royal Flying Corps, largely as a trainer. The Avro 504, developed from the Avro 500 in 1913, was a more advanced design and the government placed a significant order requiring the company to find larger manufacturing premises at Clifton Street, Miles Platting, Manchester. From 1914 Avro 504s were also built in an extension to the Mather & Platt works at Newton Heath, primarily as a pilot trainer for the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. Until 1932 the company also had a facility at Hamble, Hampshire, for aircraft production, erection and test flying. The collapse of contracts after the war caused severe financial problems and in 1920 68.5% of the company's shares were acquired by Crossley Motors Ltd of Manchester, which urgently needed more factory space for automotive vehicle body building. In 1924 the company left Alexandra Park aerodrome in south Manchester, where test flying had taken place since 1918, and moved to a rural site south of Manchester at Woodford, Cheshire. In 1928 Crossley Motors Ltd sold A V Roe & Co Ltd to Armstrong Siddeley Holdings Ltd. Edwin Verdon-Roe resigned, selling his shares in the company to purchase S E Saunders Ltd and create Saunders-Roe Ltd, based at the Hamble, Hampshire. With the sale of his shares to John Siddeley, A V Roe & Co Ltd became part of the Armstrong Siddeley Development Co, a sister company of Armstrong Whitworth and Roy Chadwick became the firm's chief designer. In 1938 A V Roe & Co Ltd opened a huge factory at Greengate, Middleton, now better known as Chadderton. A year later, an experimental department was established at the newly-opened RAF Ringway and yet another factory was opened at Yeadon aerodrome. A V Roe & Co Ltd provided over 7,500 Lancaster, Manchester and York aircraft to the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. After the war, Chadwick turned his attention to civil aircraft designing the Avro Tudor, although few were built. The company also built the maritime reconnaissance patrol aircraft, the Avro Shackleton, and the Avro Vulcan, a nuclear strike aircraft. A V Roe & Co Ltd was finally absorbed into Hawker Siddeley Aviation Ltd in 1962.
- Roe I Biplane (1908); Roe I Tri-plane (1909); Roe II Tri-plane (1910); Roe III Tri-plane (1910); Roe IV Tri-plane (1910); Avro Curtiss Type (1911); Avro Farman Type (1911); Roe Type D (1911); Avro Duigan (1912); Roe Type E / Type 500 / Type 502 (1912); Roe Type F (1912); Roe Type G (1912); Roe-Burga monoplane (1912); Avro 504 (1913); Avro 511 / 514 (1913); Avro Type H / 501 / 503 (1913); Avro 510 / 519 (1914); Avro 508 (1915); Avro 521 (1915); Avro 523 Pike (1916); Avro 527 (1916); Avro 528 (1917); Avro 529 (1917); Avro 530 (1917); Avro 531 Spider (1918); Avro 533 Manchester (1918); Avro 534 Baby (1919); Avro 536 (1919); Avro 538 (1919); Avro 548 (1919); Avro 547 (1920); Avro 539 (1921); Avro 549 Aldershot (1921); Avro 552 (1921); Avro 555 Bison (1922); Avro 558 (1923); Avro 560 (1923); Avro 557 Ava (1924); Avro 561 / 563 Andover (1924); Avro 562 Avis (1924); Avro 566 Avenger (1926); Avro 571 / 572 Buffalo (1926); Avro 581 / 594 / 616 / 625 Avian (1926); Avro 581 / 594 Avian (1926); Avro 584 Avocet (1927); Avro 604 Antelope (1928); Avro 618 Ten / 619 Five / 624 Six (1930); Avro 626 Prefect / 637 / Tatra T.126 (1930); Avro 608 Hawk / 622 / 626 Mailplane / 654 (1931); Avro 631 Cadet / 643 Cadet & Cadet II (1932); Avro 621 Tutor / 624 Sea Tutor (1933); Avro 638 / 639 / 640 Cadet Avro 642 Eighteen (1933); Avro 636 / 667 (1935); Avro 641 Commodore (1935); Avro 652 / 652A Anson (1935); Avro 671 Cierva C19 Rota (1935); Avro 679 Manchester (1939); Avro 684 (1941); Avro 683 Lancaster (1942); Avro 685 York (1942); Avro 691 Lancastrian (1943); Avro 694 Lincoln / 695 Lincolnian (1944); Avro 688 Tudor 1 / 689 Tudor II (1945); Avro 701 Athena (1948); Avro 696 Shackleton (1949); Avro 707 (1949); Avro 706 Ashton (1950); Avro 698 Vulcan (1952); Avro 748 (1960).
- A J Jackson, Avro aircraft since 1908, 2nd edition (1990); H Holmes, Avro: the story of Manchester's aircraft company (1993); H Holmes, Avro: the history of an aircraft company (1994); G Myers, Mother worked at Avro - the story of Avro at Yeadon (1995).
Various records 1910-62.
Brochures and marketing materials 1911-48.
Greater Manchester County Record Office
Photographs, Woodford and Chadderton works n.d. [2114].
Balance sheets and note 1928 [PA1074/5/1-4, PA1128/2].
Marketing brochure, advertisement and specification sheets 1950 [Trade Literature Collection].
Photographs of A V Roe's initial flight trials at Brooklands 1907-8; photographs of aircraft at Brooklands 1907-13.
Manual for Lancaster type-683, incl drawings and aircraft component lists, re assembly of parts supplied from various companies and use of spares from damaged aircraft 1941-3 [YA2013.26]; Arthur Chadwick’s notes, incl drawings, for hydraulic, oil, fuel and oxygen pipework for bombers 1943 [YA2005.62]; papers of Richard Connor re his employment incl correspondence, notebooks on design revisions, photographs and publicity material 1940-78 [YA2001.336]; Papers of Alfred Schofield, draughtsman and technical liaison engineer c.1940s [YA1999.76]; research notes of Arthur Chadwick re Avro aircraft hydraulics systems c.1943 [YA2005.62]; copies of flight logs of flight test engineers incl Eric Allen, Jack Beatty, Don Wilson and Ken Hitchin 1942-50 [YMS0017/3-6]; copy of J G Harrison’s flight test report for Avro Vulcan B2 XH533 1959 [YMS0020/3/7]; maintenance and repair instructions for Avro aircraft and copies of drawings for Avian III 1936-38 [YA1987.53];specifications and performance data for Avro Lincoln Merlin 85 or 68 engines n.d. [YA1987.159/MS0032/5]; aircraft technical manuals, incl Avian, Avro Ten, Avro Lancastrian, Avro Ashton, Avro 707, Avro Shackleton and Avro 748, n.d. [YMS0009]; Avro 748 aircraft maintenance engineers electrical course notes, 1st production Vulcan MkII XH533 boundary layer thickness and noise investigation and Avro works rules for hourly rated works employee 1945-66 [YA1996.2638]; manual and course notes re Avro 748 c.1959 [YA2010.9]; tender specification P13/36 for Avro Manchester twin-engined medium bomber designed to meet Air Ministry requirements n.d. [2015-2003]; photograph of airborne Avro Vulcan B1 XA891 taken by Paul Cullerne n.d. [YMS0020/3/2]; cartoons of early Avro aircraft and photographs of hangar interiors showing aeroplanes and production facilities n.d. [YA2003.46].