Avro 618 Ten
Avro · United Kingdom · first flew 1929 · airliner
The Avro 618 Ten was a British licence-built Fokker F.VIIb/3m, a three-engined high-wing airliner named for its two crew and eight passengers.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | High-mounted, straight |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 3 × piston, wing-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Thick one-piece wooden wing sitting flat on top of a deep slab-sided fuselage, free of struts and wires |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Three radials in a row across the front: one on the nose, two slung on struts below the wing
- Thick one-piece wooden wing sitting flat on top of a deep slab-sided fuselage, free of struts and wires
- Fixed wide-track undercarriage with big unspatted wheels, level with the outer engines
It is visually a Fokker F.VIIb/3m, because it is one; the giveaways are the Armstrong Siddeley Lynx radials in British cowlings. Do not confuse it with the Ford Trimotor, the other famous three-engined high-wing airliner of the period: the Ford is corrugated metal throughout and hangs its outer engines on the wing leading edge, while the Avro has a smooth plywood wing and carries its outer engines on struts well below it.
Specifications
- The Avro 618 Ten has a length of 14.48 m (48 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 21.72 m (71 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 185 km/h (115 mph).
- Typical crew: 2 (plus 8 passengers).
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
Avro inspected Fokker's Amsterdam works in 1928 and took a licence to build the F.VIIb/3m throughout the British Empire except Canada, redesigning the centre-engine mounting to satisfy the Air Ministry. The prototype G-AADM appeared at the Olympia aero exhibition in London from 16 to 27 July 1929, and 14 Avro Tens were built.
Variants
Avro also built the scaled-down five-seat Type 619 Five, with three 105 hp Genet Majors, and three of the six-seat Type 624 Six, whose outer engines were faired into the wing.
Where you'll see it
Best known in Australia, where Australian National Airways' five — Southern Sky, Southern Star, Southern Moon, Southern Cloud and Southern Sun — opened Brisbane-Sydney on 1 January 1930. Southern Cloud (VH-UMF) vanished on 21 March 1931 with eight aboard, Australia's first major airline disaster; the wreck was not found until 26 October 1958, in the Toolong Range. Imperial Airways, Indian National Airways and the Egyptian government also flew the type. None survives.
Related aircraft
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