Kirjahaku

The story of A.V. Roe and Company Ltd (Avro) begins in the very earliest years of aviation, only a few years after man’s first powered flight. Alliot Verdon Roe was one of Britain’s pioneer aviators and in 1910 he founded the company that bears his name. Famous for well-designed, reliable aeroplanes, Avro’s greatest achievements were two bombers, the Lancaster and the Vulcan, which captivate public imagination to this day. In this new and redesigned edition, Avro historian Harry Holmes brings you a complete history in photographs of this much-loved manufacturer, from the earliest years to the revival of the Avro name by BAe.

The Avro Anson was born from the germ of an idea in 1933, when G. Woods Humphrey, managing director of Imperial Airways, met Sir John Siddeley, chief executive of the Armstrong Siddeley Development Company, to discuss his ideas for a new aircraft. Sir John passed the specification to A.V. Roe & Co. Ltd, where chief designer Roy Chadwick began work on the first of many Avro designs. That first design, approved by Imperial Airways and brought into production in 1934, was for a four-passenger, mail-carrying aircraft, powered by two Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah V engines. As the Avro 652 it was one of the first British aeroplanes to feature a retractable undercarriage. An Air Ministry requirement for a coastal patrol aircraft almost matched the specification of the mailplane and, with the addition of a gun turret and other military equipment, the Avro Anson was born. The Anson played an important role in Britain’s coastal defences during the early part of the war, before it was withdrawn from the front line and used for aircrew training. The Anson’s reliability and low accident rate earned it the nickname ‘Faithful Annie’ among servicemen, and it had been in continuous production for seventeen years when the last one was built in 1952. Ansons continued to serve in the RAF until they were officially retired in 1968. Carefully compiled by Harry Holmes, this book features more than 200 photographs, many previously unpublished, which tell the story of the Anson. It will provoke interest and nostalgia among aviation enthusiasts, historians and servicemen who flew in the Anson, as well as providing a fascinating insight for those unfamiliar with this distinctive British aircraft.

In this book, Harry Holmes tells the long and complicated story of the Avro 748. The prototype first flew in June 1960, and from then on a steady stream of 748s left the factory to go to both civilian and military customers. There have been special cargo models, variants for heads of state, and a special fire-fighting variant. With six million flying hours to its credit, the 748 has lived up to all the expectations of it and will, no doubt, continue to do so for a long time.