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Roe I (A.V.Roe)

1909 EARLY YEARS X-PLANE

History of Caviar I (A.V. Caviar)

Britain's road to manned-over-air flight was equally difficult, as the country produced its own pioneering engineers and pilots. Alliott Verdon Roe (A.V. Roe) is just one of the contributors to the field and is responsible for several designs that bear his name and help advance British aviation.

The name A.V. Roe eventually became part of many fighter designs of World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945) and beyond.

Roe's first major contribution to the field was the "Roe I" triplane, believed to be the first purely British designed, produced and flown aircraft. Roe established the business at Brownsfield Mill in Manchester in 1910, although two years earlier, in 1908, he was already working on plans for his seminal triplane, and relocated in 1909 to obtain a patent for the work.

The design of this aircraft is dominated by a three-wing layout, with the main aircraft positioned in front of the midship. The single-seat open-air cockpit is located behind the main aircraft and engines.

At the rear end of the board-side fuselage is another, albeit smaller, three-blade arrangement for added control. The engine is mounted forward of the pilot's position, between the main planes of the center wing (center/second spar). The engine drives a four-bladed propeller unit in the nose.

Roe originally planned to use a JAP inline 4 from Prestwich to power the machine, but its unavailability meant a 6hp JAP engine was used in its place. The aircraft was then used for ground testing in early April 1909. In May of the same year, an updated 9-horsepower JAP engine was introduced, so this engine is now used to power the aircraft. Over the next month, the plane took to the air in a series of brief "hops" - officially marking its first flight in the air on June 5, 1909.

The optimal height achievable at the time was about 50 feet, but it turned into an increase of 100 feet in a short period of time in late July through further testing and optimization of various components.

When completed, Roe I consisted of a crew of 23 feet in length, with a wingspan of 20 feet and a height of 9 feet. Curb weight is 300 lbs and MTOW is 450 lbs. Power comes from a 9-horsepower JAP V-twin air-cooled piston engine driving a four-blade wooden propeller unit.

The top speed reached is 25 miles per hour, while the range is only 0.3 miles.

A second prototype was subsequently built by Roe, differing by having a tapered fuselage and tail skid, and switching to a 20hp JAP series engine. In October 1909, more flights ushered in the series, but the second prototype failed to lift off due to bad weather during the Blackpool Aviation Conference. After further work, the second prototype was finally flown on December 6, 1909.

On December 24 of the same year, the same plane crashed but was recovered.

Roe, undeterred, pushed the project forward, culminating in the founding of his famous "A.V. Roe" company in January 1910. The plane took off again in March (now over Brookland), and in April 1910 he turned his attention to getting his new "Roe II" triplane into the air.

Two of them were built and flown in the same year.

The Roe I series aircraft were exhibited in Manchester for a time in 1914 before settling in the Science Museum, London. Today (2018) the original prototype of Roe I is preserved at the Science Museum in London. The replica was built in 1952 and is now in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.

Both are proof that this historic British aircraft helped push the boundaries of flying.