The Avro 519 was a British
bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes
air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles.
There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...
aircraft of the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, a development of the
Avro 510 seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...
. They were two-bay
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
s of conventional configuration with greatly uneven span. Two single-seat examples, powered by a single 150 hp (110 kW)
Sunbeam
A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a lightbeam, beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of light scatter ...
water-cooled
Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant
Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and no ...
engine, were ordered by the
RNAS
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps ...
in early 1916. This was soon followed by orders for two modified aircraft for the
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...
. These were fitted with seats for a crew of two and had more powerful (225 hp/168 kW) Sunbeam engines
The first of the two-seaters was designated 519A to reflect its modifications. The second two-seater, however, was so different that it received a completely new number from Avro - 522 - and featured new wings with both upper and lower wings of equal but greater span, in the hope that this would rectify the type's poor climbing performance.
Never used operationally, all four were used for flight testing with the last still in service in April 1917.
There are some indications that the Avro 522A formed part of the equipment of 2 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force in the 1920s.
Specifications (519)
See also
References
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External links
Avro 519– British Aircraft Directory
{{Avro aircraft
1910s British bomber aircraft
519
__NOTOC__
Year 519 ( DXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Iustinus and Cillica (or, less frequently, year 1272 ''Ab urbe condita'') ...
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Sesquiplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1916
Biplanes