Roe I Biplane

The Roe I Biplane, later called the Avro Biplane, was the first powered aircraft designed, built and flown in England. Alliott Verdon Roe built it in his brother's coachhouse in Putney and took it to the Brooklands motor racing track in September 1907 to chase the prize offered for the first flight round the circuit. A 9 hp JAP engine proved too weak, so Roe borrowed a 24 hp Antoinette and added lifting surfaces at mid-gap in the inner bay of the wing. With that engine he made several short flights, the first on 8 June 1908, before he was evicted from Brooklands, dismantled the machine and returned the engine. A non-flying replica was built in 1988 and a taxiable one in 2008, both at the Brooklands Museum.