Avro 503

The Avro 503 was a British biplane seaplane built by Avro in 1913, developed from the Avro 501 and first known as the Avro Type H. It used the same 100 hp Gnome engine as the 501 but was slightly larger, and like the 501 it was a floatplane with a central float and a stabilising float under each wing tip. Avro paid particular attention to making it quick and easy to take apart. It first took off from the River Adur on 28 May 1913, and the next day test pilot F. P. Raynham made the first landing on the sea near Brighton. After a one-hour demonstration flight over Brighton on 12 June 1913 with a passenger aboard, the aircraft, by then called the 503, was bought by the German navy in late June and on 3 September 1913 became the first aeroplane to fly from Wilhelmshaven to Heligoland. Peru ordered another, though it was probably never delivered because of the First World War, and Avro built three more for the Royal Naval Air Service, all converted to landplanes by September 1914. One crashed on 11 August 1915 and the last stayed in service until January 1916.