65-605: The Boulton Paul Balliol and Sea Balliol are monoplane advanced trainer aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Boulton Paul Aircraft . On 17 May 1948, it became the world's first single-engined turboprop aircraft to fly. The Balliol was operated primarily by both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA). Developed during the late 1940s,
130-422: A biplane or other types of multiplanes , which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing configuration and is the simplest to build. However, during the early years of flight, these advantages were offset by its greater weight and lower manoeuvrability, making it relatively rare until the 1930s. Since then, the monoplane has been the most common form for
195-663: A few specialist types. Jet and rocket engines have even more power and all modern high-speed aircraft, especially supersonic types, have been monoplanes. Avro Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer . Its designs include the Avro 504 , used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster , one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and
260-410: A fixed-wing aircraft. The inherent efficiency of the monoplane is best achieved in the cantilever wing, which carries all structural forces internally. However, to fly at practical speeds the wing must be made thin, which requires a heavy structure to make it strong and stiff enough. External bracing can be used to improve structural efficiency, reducing weight and cost. For a wing of a given size,
325-627: A light aircraft, the configuration is significant because it offers superior visibility to the pilot. On light aircraft, shoulder-wings tend to be mounted further aft than a high wing, and so may need to be swept forward to maintain correct center of gravity . Examples of light aircraft with shoulder wings include the ARV Super2 , the Bölkow Junior , Saab Safari and the Barber Snark . A high wing has its upper surface on or above
390-564: A nuclear-strike aircraft, was used to maintain the British nuclear deterrent, armed with the Avro Blue Steel stand-off nuclear bomb. The Vulcan saw service as a conventional bomber during the British campaign to recapture the Falkland Islands in 1982. Several Vulcans are prized as museum exhibits. A twin turboprop airliner , the Avro 748 , was developed during the 1950s and sold widely to airlines and governments across
455-407: A pendulous fuselage which requires no wing dihedral for stability; and, by comparison with a low-wing, a shoulder-wing's limited ground effect reduces float on landing. Compared to a low-wing, shoulder-wing and high-wing configurations give increased propeller clearance on multi-engined aircraft. On a large aircraft, there is little practical difference between a shoulder wing and a high wing; but on
520-470: A popular configuration for amphibians and small homebuilt and ultralight aircraft . Although the first successful aircraft were biplanes, the first attempts at heavier-than-air flying machines were monoplanes, and many pioneers continued to develop monoplane designs. For example, the first aeroplane to be put into production was the 1907 Santos-Dumont Demoiselle , while the Blériot XI flew across
585-402: A single G45 cine-camera, the port wing featured a single .303 Browning machine gun . The wings were designed to be manually foldable, needing only two bolts to be removed, without affected the control runs. Production Balliols were powered by a single Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which was fitted to the front of the aircraft. The engine compartment featured distinctly different construction from
650-482: Is sometimes also loosely called the "Avro 146". The BAe ATP (Advanced Turbo Prop) design evolved from the Avro 748 and examples continue in use on shorter, mainly domestic, scheduled air services. A few Avro 504s, Tutors, Ansons and Lancasters are maintained in flying condition. At 39 years, the Shackleton held the distinction of being the aircraft with the longest period of active RAF service, until overtaken by
715-410: Is that the fuselage is closer to the ground which eases cargo loading, especially for aircraft with a rear-fuselage cargo door. Military cargo aircraft are predominantly high-wing designs with a rear cargo door. A parasol wing is not directly attached to the fuselage but held above it, supported by either cabane struts or a pylon. Additional bracing may be provided by struts or wires extending from
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#1732783645976780-549: The Anson followed but as tensions rose again in Europe the firm's emphasis returned to combat aircraft. The Avro Manchester , Lancaster , and Lincoln were particularly famous Avro designs. Over 7,000 Lancasters were built and their bombing capabilities led to their use in the famous Dam Busters raid. Of the total, nearly half were built at Avro's Woodford (Stockport) and Chadderton (Oldham) sites, with some 700 Lancasters built at
845-571: The English Channel in 1909. Throughout 1909–1910, Hubert Latham set multiple altitude records in his Antoinette IV monoplane, eventually reaching 1,384 m (4,541 ft). The equivalent German language term is Eindecker , as in the mid-wing Fokker Eindecker fighter of 1915 which for a time dominated the skies in what became known as the " Fokker scourge ". The German military Idflieg aircraft designation system prior to 1918 prefixed monoplane type designations with an E , until
910-488: The English Electric Canberra in 1998. Avro also built motor vehicles in the immediate post-World War 1 era, including the three-wheeler Harper Runabout , as well as their own light car. Powered by a 1,330 cc 4-cylinder engine, wood and aluminium were used in an integral construction similar to an aircraft. Approximately 100 were built. In 1927 Alliott Verdon-Roe designed a two-wheeler car powered by
975-628: The Fokker D.VIII and Morane-Saulnier AI in the later part of the First World War. A parasol wing also provides a high mounting point for engines and during the interwar period was popular on flying boats, which need to lift the propellers clear of spray. Examples include the Martin M-130 , Dornier Do 18 and the Consolidated PBY Catalina . Compared to a biplane , a parasol wing has less bracing and lower drag. It remains
1040-539: The Percival Prentice and Provost and De Havilland Dominie . Balliol is an Oxford University College and it alliterated with 'Boulton Paul'. A specialised model for the Royal Navy 's Fleet Air Arm (FAA), designated Sea Balliol T.21 , was also developed. Various design changes were made to the aircraft as to better adapt it for shipboard use on board the service's aircraft carriers . These included
1105-443: The Royal Air Force 's (RAF) fleet of North American Harvards. Amongst the requirements specified was the use of the newly developed turboprop engine, as it was felt that the new generation of advanced trainers would better prepare pilots for flying jet-powered combat aircraft such as the newly emerged Gloster Meteor fighter aircraft. As a fallback measure in case of difficulties being encountered with engine development programmes,
1170-451: The braced parasol wing became popular on fighter aircraft, although few arrived in time to see combat. It remained popular throughout the 1920s. On flying boats with a shallow hull, a parasol wing allows the engines to be mounted above the spray from the water when taking off and landing. This arrangement was popular on flying boats during the 1930s; a late example being the Consolidated PBY Catalina . It died out when taller hulls became
1235-725: The 1930s, the cantilever monoplane was fast becoming the standard configuration for a fixed-wing aircraft. Advanced monoplane fighter-aircraft designs were mass-produced for military services around the world in both the Soviet Union and the United States in the early–mid 1930s, with the Polikarpov I-16 and the Boeing P-26 Peashooter respectively. Most military aircraft of WWII were monoplanes, as have been virtually all aircraft since, except for
1300-664: The Air Ministry, calling for the production of a batch of four prototypes , which were to be powered by the Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engine. During August 1946, this was followed by a larger order for 20 pre-production aircraft, with ten each to be powered by the Dart and the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba turboprop, with delays to development of the Dart meaning that the prototypes would now be fitted by
1365-475: The Avro "shadow" factory next to Leeds Bradford Airport (formerly Yeadon Aerodrome), northwest Leeds . This factory employed 17,500 workers at a time when the population of Yeadon was just 10,000. It was the largest building in Europe at the time, at 1.5 million square feet (140,000 square metres), and its roof was disguised by the addition of fields and hedges to hide it from enemy planes. The old taxiway from
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#17327836459761430-462: The Balliol comprises seven main sections, three of which form the fuselage, two for the wing sections, and the remaining two for the tail unit. The majority of exterior covering was light alloy stressed-skin, supported by a combination of subframes and longerons , while the rear section incorporated a monocoque approach. Fuel was accommodated within a mixture of wing tanks and a single fuselage tank,
1495-399: The Balliol was designed to fulfil Air Ministry Specification T.7/45 , replacing the wartime North American Harvard trainer. Unlike previous trainer aircraft, which were powered by piston engines , it was specified for the aircraft to use newly developed turboprop propulsion instead. On 30 May 1947, the Balliol performed its maiden flight ; the first preproduction aircraft would fly during
1560-477: The Balliol was only ever delivered to a single Flying Training School, No. 7 at RAF Cottesmore , where the type promptly replaced their Harvards. Numerous examples were also operated at the RAF College, Cranwell , until it was replaced there by the de Havilland Vampire T.Mk 11 in 1956. The Balliol also saw limited squadron service from 1953 with No. 288 Squadron , based at RAF Middle Wallop . Operations with
1625-451: The Mamba. Competing proposals from other manufacturers were also submitted, including Avro 's Athena in particular. As the Mamba was not flight-ready at the time of the first prototype's completion, it was instead powered by a 820 hp (611 kW) Bristol Mercury 30 radial engine during its initial test flights. Thus powered, it first flew on 30 May 1947, after teething issues with
1690-541: The RAF and the remainder from RAF reserves, the latter being replaced by a further five production aircraft. Data from Aircraft of the Royal Air Force General characteristics Performance Armament Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to
1755-573: The Walthamstow Marshes. In 1911, Roy Chadwick began work as Alliott's personal assistant and the firm's draughtsman and, in 1918, he was appointed Chief Designer. The first Avro aircraft to be produced in any quantity was the Avro E or Avro 500 , first flown in March 1912, of which 18 were manufactured, most for the newly formed Royal Flying Corps . The company also built the world's first aircraft with enclosed crew accommodation in 1912,
1820-481: The aircraft more manoeuvrable, as on the Spitfire ; but aircraft that value stability over manoeuvrability may then need some dihedral . A feature of the low-wing position is its significant ground effect , giving the plane a tendency to float farther before landing. Conversely, this ground effect permits shorter takeoffs. A mid wing is mounted midway up the fuselage. The carry-through spar structure can reduce
1885-406: The aircraft's three-bladed propeller as well as contributing roughly 20 per cent of the aircraft's total static thrust. Access to the engine compartment was provided via numerous detachable hatches on the sides and lower portions. During 1950, several pre-production Balliols were delivered to the RAF's Central Flying School for evaluation purposes. However, due to the change in air training policy,
1950-412: The aircraft, it was designed to be both durable and as easy to maintain as possible, featuring around 40 inspection hatches, typically secured by quick-release fasteners, across the fuselage to facilitate this. For greater simplicity of maintenance, wherever feasible, components were designed to be interchangeable, such as the fin, tailplane, wing tanks, main gear oleos , and other elements. Structurally,
2015-525: The approval of the Fokker D.VIII fighter from its former "E.V" designation. However, the success of the Fokker was short-lived, and World War I was dominated by biplanes. Towards the end of the war, the parasol monoplane became popular and successful designs were produced into the 1920s. Nonetheless, relatively few monoplane types were built between 1914 and the late 1920s, compared with the number of biplanes. The reasons for this were primarily practical. With
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2080-467: The boom in orders during the First World War, the lack of new work in peacetime caused severe financial problems and in August 1920, 68.5% of the company's shares were acquired by nearby Crossley Motors which had an urgent need for 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;
2145-602: The company he had founded and formed the Saunders-Roe company, which after World War II developed several radical designs for combat jets, and, eventually, a range of powerful hovercraft . In 1935 Avro became a subsidiary of Hawker Siddeley . Maintaining their skills in designing trainer aircraft, the company built a more robust biplane called the Avro Tutor in the 1930s which the Royal Air Force (RAF) also bought in quantity. A twin piston-engined airliner called
2210-627: The company was absorbed into Hawker Siddeley Aviation in July 1963 following the 1957 Defence White Paper , the Avro name ceased to be used. The brand still had a strong heritage appeal, and as mentioned above the marketing name " Avro RJ " (regional jet) was used by British Aerospace from 1994 to 2001 for production of the RJ70, RJ85 and RJ100 models which were respectively based on the BAe 146-100 , BAe 146-200 and BAe 146-300 . This four engine jet aircraft type
2275-715: The delta wing Avro Vulcan , a stalwart of the Cold War . Avro was founded in 1910 by Alliott Verdon Roe at the Brownsfield Mill on Great Ancoats Street in Manchester . The company remained based primarily in Lancashire throughout its 53 years of existence, with key development and manufacturing sites in Alexandra Park , Chadderton , Trafford Park , and Woodford, Greater Manchester . The company
2340-560: The earnings of the family webbing business and acting as managing director until he joined the RFC in 1917. Alliot had already constructed a successful aircraft, the Roe I Triplane , named The Bullseye after a brand of braces manufactured by Humphrey. The railway arch where A.V. Roe in 1909 built and achieved the first all-British powered flight still stands in the Lee Valley Park on
2405-413: The envisioned trainer was also to readily accommodate a more conventional Bristol Perseus radial engine as well. A further stipulation by the ministry was the fitting of a three-seat cockpit in a configuration roughly akin to the contemporary Percival Prentice basic trainer. The pilot and instructor were sat in a side-by-side arrangement, while a second student could be accommodated in a third seat to
2470-507: The factory to the runway is still evident. The Avro Lancaster carried the heaviest bomb loads of the war, including the Grand Slam bomb . The civilian Lancastrian and maritime reconnaissance Shackleton were derived from the successful Lancaster design. The Tudor was a pressurised but problematic post-war Avro airliner which faced strong competition from designs by Bristol , Canadair , Douglas , Handley Page , and Lockheed . With
2535-680: The first Merlin-powered Balliol, designated Balliol T.2 , performed its first flight. The observer's seat of the Mk 1 was removed, the side-by-side seats remaining. Following an extensive evaluation, the Balliol was chosen as the victor over the rival Athena, leading to sizable orders being promptly placed to replace some of the Harvards in RAF service. The RAF naming conventions for various types preferred that pure trainers, not conversion type trainers, should have names related to education or places of learning e.g. Airspeed Oxford , Avro Tutor and Athena ,
2600-439: The fitting of arrestor gear . Within a month of the specification's issuing, Boulton Paul Aircraft had opted to produce multiple proposals in response, as large orders had been anticipated. Boulton Paul's P.108 proposal, which would become the Balliol, was that of a conventional low-wing monoplane, featuring retractable main undercarriage and a fixed tailwheel. Towards the end of August 1945, Boulton Paul received an order from
2665-435: The fitting of an arrestor hook , which was necessary for landings at sea. While the Balliol was successfully introduced to service during 1950, its fortunes had dramatically changed within a single year. This was largely due to attitudes amongst staff at the Air Ministry having shifted once again on the topic of training requirements, with the RAF now wanting a jet-powered advanced trainer aircraft instead. This would result in
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2730-409: The flight testing of radar absorbent coatings . The majority of Balliols were delivered to the domestic military services, however export arrangements were also sought out by the manufacturer. The Royal Ceylon Air Force were ultimately the only export customer for the type, opting to procure a batch of 12 Balliol Mk.2s for its training purposes; of these, seven were drawn from cancelled contracts for
2795-539: The following year. Production examples were powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, while various prototypes and pre-production aircraft featured alternative powerplants such as the Rolls-Royce Dart and Armstrong Siddeley Mamba turboprop engines. The Balliol entered service with the RAF in 1950 and proved to be a relatively trouble-free trainer. However, a shift in attitudes towards turbojet -powered trainer aircraft would see orders being curtailed for
2860-469: The former being easy to remove while the wing was folded. For additional safety, various measures to reduce potential accident-related damage were incorporated into the design, such as the strengthened crash-resistant structure around the cockpit, and the three rubber crash skids on the underside of the fuselage to minimise damage from a wheels-up landing. The wings of the Balliol feature two-spar construction within an uninterrupted rigid torsion box. Most of
2925-710: The four engine jetliner were produced: the Avro RJ70 , the Avro RJ85 and the largest example, the Avro RJ100 . In 1945, Hawker Siddeley Group purchased the former Victory Aircraft firm in Malton, Ontario , and renamed the operation A.V. Roe Canada Limited . Commonly known as Avro Canada , it was actually a subsidiary of the Hawker Siddeley Group and used the Avro name for trading purposes. When
2990-402: The fuselage sides. The first parasol monoplanes were adaptations of shoulder wing monoplanes, since raising a shoulder mounted wing above the fuselage greatly improved visibility downwards, which was useful for reconnaissance roles, as with the widely used Morane-Saulnier L . The parasol wing allows for an efficient design with good pilot visibility, and was adopted for some fighters such as
3055-433: The general variations in wing configuration such as tail position and use of bracing, the main distinction between types of monoplane is where the wing is mounted vertically on the fuselage . A low wing is one which is located on or near the bottom of the fuselage. Placing the wing low allows good visibility upwards and frees the central fuselage from the wing spar carry-through. By reducing pendulum stability, it makes
3120-562: The globe, powered by two Rolls-Royce Dart engines. The RAF bought 6 for use by the Queen's Flight and a variant with a rear-loading ramp and a "kneeling" main undercarriage was sold to the RAF (31 aircraft) as the Andover . The Avro name would subsequently be resurrected by British Aerospace when this aircraft manufacturer renamed its BAe 146 family of regional jetliners as Avro regional jets ( Avro RJ ). Three differently sized versions of
3185-487: The lack of a port-side walkway and directional snaking unbecoming to a gun platform. Meanwhile, the Air Ministry had second thoughts about its training requirements thus, in 1947, it issued a new specification, T.14/47 , requiring a two-seat trainer that was powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engine. This engine which was available in large numbers from surplus stocks leftover from the war, rather than expensive turboprops that would have to bought in new. On 10 July 1948,
3250-415: The low engine powers and airspeeds available, the wings of a monoplane needed to be large in order to create enough lift while a biplane could have two smaller wings and so be made smaller and lighter. Towards the end of the First World War, the inherent high drag of the biplane was beginning to restrict performance. Engines were not yet powerful enough to make the heavy cantilever-wing monoplane viable, and
3315-678: The monoplane Type F and the biplane Avro Type G in 1912, neither progressing beyond the prototype stage. The Type 500 was developed into the Avro 504 , first flown in September 1913. A small number were bought by the War Office before the outbreak of World War I , and the type saw some front-line service in the early months of the war, but it is best known as a training aircraft, serving in that role until 1933. Production lasted 20 years and totalled 8,340 aircraft from several factories: Hamble, Failsworth, Miles Platting and Newton Heath. After
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#17327836459763380-410: The norm during World War II, allowing a high wing to be attached directly to the hull. As ever-increasing engine powers made the weight of all-metal construction and the cantilever wing more practical — first pioneered together by the revolutionary German Junkers J 1 factory demonstrator in 1915–16 — they became common during the post–World War I period, the day of the braced wing passed, and by
3445-436: The procurement of the rival de Havilland Vampire T.Mk11 at the Balliol's expense. The Boulton Paul Balliol is an advanced trainer aircraft , being configured for use by military operators. In terms of its basic configuration, it was relatively traditional, featuring a conventional landing gear , of which the two main gear were retractable but the tailwheel was not. Having anticipated student pilots being particularly rough on
3510-423: The rear, positioned as to enable them to closely observe the pilot and the instructions being issued. The trainer was to be configured to perform various forms of training, being suitable for both day and night operations, featuring both guns and bombs for armament training, a glider -towing capability, and a general design that would be compatible with navalisation measures, such as a strengthened undercarriage and
3575-408: The rest of the aircraft, being composed of light alloys supported by steel tubing ; the engine itself was mounted on three struts attached to the firewall between the compartment and the cockpit. The jet pipe of the turboprop engined prototype was angled downwards, running beneath the cockpit to an exhaust on the lower starboard side of the fuselage, somewhat counteracting the torque generated by
3640-644: The same wings and engines as the Lincoln, it achieved only a short (34 completed) production run following a first flight in June 1945 and the cancellation of an order from BOAC . The older Avro York was somewhat more successful in both the RAF and in commercial service, being distinguished by a fuselage square in cross-section. Both Tudors and Yorks played an important humanitarian part in the Berlin Airlift . The postwar Vulcan bomber , originally designed as
3705-464: The site was used for a mixture of recreation and housing development. A rural site to the south of the city was found at New Hall Farm, Woodford in Cheshire, which continued to be used by aviation company BAE Systems until March 2011; the site has now been earmarked for a mixed use development. In 1928 Crossley Motors sold AVRO to Armstrong Siddeley Holdings Ltd. In 1928 A.V. Roe resigned from
3770-453: The top of the fuselage. It shares many advantages and disadvantages with the shoulder wing, but on a light aircraft, the high wing has poorer upwards visibility. On light aircraft such as the Cessna 152 , the wing is usually located above the cabin, so that the wing spar passes over the occupants' heads, leaving the wing in the ideal fore-aft position. An advantage of the high-wing configuration
3835-613: The type by 1952. Despite this, a navalised version of the aircraft, the Sea Balliol, was also introduced for deck landing training. The type also saw some use in other capacities, such as for experimental flights. Only a single export customer, the Royal Ceylon Air Force , would procure the type. During March 1945, the Air Ministry issued Specification T.7/45 , which sought a new advanced trainer to succeed
3900-507: The type continued until the squadron was disbanded in September 1957. The Sea Balliol served with 781 squadron at Lee-on-Solent and 1843 Squadron RNVR at Abbotsinch. The final example was delivered during December 1954. The last remaining active Sea Balliols stationed at Abbotsinch with withdrawn around September 1963. In addition to its primary use as a trainer aircraft, several Balliols were operated for other purposes, including as test aircraft. In this capacity, one aircraft participated in
3965-445: The undercarriage had been resolved during ground testing. The second prototype, powered by the intended Mamba engine, first flew on 17 May 1948, becoming the world's first single-engined turboprop aircraft to fly. Early handling trials at MOD Boscombe Down revealed the aircraft to possess relatively gentle and easy flight characteristics across all typical circumstances, with only minor suggestions for improvements being produced, such as
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#17327836459764030-439: The useful fuselage volume near its centre of gravity, where space is often in most demand. A shoulder wing (a category between high-wing and mid-wing) is a configuration whereby the wing is mounted near the top of the fuselage but not on the very top. It is so called because it sits on the "shoulder" of the fuselage, rather than on the pilot's shoulder. Shoulder-wings and high-wings share some characteristics, namely: they support
4095-465: The weight reduction allows it to fly slower and with a lower-powered and more economical engine. For this reason, all monoplane wings in the pioneer era were braced and most were up until the early 1930s. However, the exposed struts or wires create additional drag, lowering aerodynamic efficiency and reducing the maximum speed. High-speed and long-range designs tend to be pure cantilevers, while low-speed short-range types are often given bracing. Besides
4160-406: The wing's structure comprised pressed light alloys, while an auxiliary spar was used to support the trailing edge skinning and flaps and the forward section accommodated the steel box wells for the retractable main undercarriage. The outer wings were fitted with simple dive brakes , along with conventional inner and outer split flaps that ran as far as the ailerons . While the starboard wing featured
4225-422: Was merged into Hawker Siddeley Aviation in 1963, although the Avro name has been used for some aircraft since then. One of the world's first aircraft builders, A.V. Roe and Company was established on 1 January 1910 at Brownsfield Mill, Great Ancoats Street, Manchester , by Alliott Verdon Roe and his brother Humphrey Verdon Roe . Humphrey's contribution was chiefly financial and organizational; funding it from
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