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The Avro 501 was an early floatplane that performed well enough to be purchased by the Admiralty, and to lead to the development of the Avro 503 (Type H).
The Avro 501 was similar in design to the earlier Avro 500. It had a rectangular section to the fuselage, with the crew of two in tandem cockpits under the wings. The lower wing was 14ft 6in shorter than the upper wing, so a third set of struts were placed on each side, diagonally linking the outer end of the upper wing to the base of the next set of struts on the lower wing. It was powered by a 100hp Gnome engine.
The Avro 501 was originally built as an amphibian, with a sprung central float designed by O.T. Gnosspelius. This was 15ft long and 7ft wide, with two wheels at the back and one at the front. Small wing tip floats were added to prevent the aircraft tipping over in the water.
The aircraft was tested on Windermere by H. Stanley-Adams in January 1913. The central float proved to be unsatisfactory, and Gnosspelius designed twin floats with no wheels instead. This made the Avro 501 seaworthy enough to interest the Admiralty, and it was delivered to them on the Isle of Grain. By this point it had brass sheathes along the leading edge of the airscrews to prevent them being damaged by spray, while the tail float was attached directly to the rudder to allow it to be used to steer the aircraft on the water.
The Admiralty soon found that the new twin floats were too heavy, so Avro converted the 501 into a landplane, giving it a two wheel undercarriage with a twin skid between them. However the wheels were too close together, so wing tip skids were also needed. The Avro 501 was given the naval serial 16 and delivered to Eastchurch. Despite the weight savings it was still too heavy and had to be lightened and given several different airscrews before F. P. Raynham was able to carry out the acceptance tests. These were completed by 2 June 1913 when it was flown to Shoreham. The aircraft was still airworthy in 1914, but disappeared after that.
The Avro 501 was followed by the Avro 503, a slightly larger but lighter development of the type of which at least four were built.
Seaplane
Engine: Gnome
Power: 100hp
Crew: 2
Span: 47ft 6in (upper), 39ft 6in (lower)
Length: 33ft 0in
Height: 12ft 6in
Tare weight: 1,740lb
All-up weight: 2,700lb
Max speed: 55mph (65mph as landplane)