The Avro 504

Sir

In your article about the Avro 504N you praise its low landing and take off speeds, ease of landing and tough undercarriage.

May I add that the 200 h.p. Lynx-engined 504 was also an amusing acrobatic machine. All ordinary (for that era) aerobatics such as loops, rolls, and half rolls off a loop could be performed easily and gently. If one made a boob and stalled, say at the top of a loop, and fell into a spin the old lady could be recovered easily.

With such a low stalling speed one could, in a strong wind, play a game of hanging on the stalling point and descend like a lift. Putting the nose down at the last minute to regain a little more speed quickly restored full control to land and stop after a very short run due to the tail skid and to drag.

In 1932 when the RAF taught us to fly on the 504N most of us went solo after about 12 hours and were doing the odd acrobatic, either authorised or not, not long afterwards. I wonder it there has ever been an easier aeroplane to fly.

Cambridge J. B. ALTHAM (Gp. Captain)