Avro 511

The Avro 511 was designed as a fast scouting aircraft just before the First World War, a single-seat wood-and-canvas biplane with a square-section fuselage, Avro's characteristic comma rudder and no fin. Its heavily staggered, swept-back wings used a cellular construction instead of full-span spars, and the inboard lower wing carried landing flaps, so it landed at about 35 mph. It was shown at the Olympia Aero Show in London in March 1914 and entered for the Aerial Derby. In 1914 it was modified with new wings without sweepback and a V-form undercarriage, becoming the Avro 514, which flew successfully in July 1914, but development did not continue once hostilities began.