The Avro 531 Spider was a prototype

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 ...

British sesquiplane

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

built by Avro.

Design and development

The Spider was a sesquiplane with a largely conventional configuration, but it used Warren truss-type interplane struts, hence the appellation "Spider". In tests, the aircraft demonstrated exceptional performance, handling, and pilot visibility however the time it flew, the War Office had already selected the Sopwith Snipe for mass production. A second, more refined version, the Avro 531A, was apparently never completed, but some of its components seem to have been used to build a derivative, the Avro 538. This had standard interplane struts and was intended as a racing aircraft. It was never used for this purpose, however, because it was discovered that it had a faulty wing spar, so the Avro firm used it as a hack instead from May 1919 to September 1920.Donald, p. 77.

Specifications (531)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Donald, David, ed. ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft''. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, . * Jackson, A.J. ''Avro Aircraft since 1908''. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1990. . * Taylor, Michael J. H. ''Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation''. London: Studio Editions, 1989, p. 93. * ''World Aircraft Information Files''. London: Bright Star Publishing, File 889, Sheet 94. {{Avro aircraft 1910s British fighter aircraft

Spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

Single-engined tractor aircraft Sesquiplanes Aircraft first flown in 1918 Rotary-engined aircraft