Talk:Avro Baby

Latest comment: 15 years ago by TSRL

The last two paragraphs talk about

a) a Baby use by Shackleton's expedition, and
b) an unbuilt variant 554.

However, according to AJ Jackson's Avro aircraft since 1908 the unbuilt Le Rhone-powered two-seater was the type 544, and Shackleton's Rhone-powered Antarctic Baby was the 554. Jackson shows a photo which he says is the latter aircraft in 1921, before the expedition. This image shows a two-seater with a rotary or radial engine, so most probably the Rhone. There it is not bearing a civil registration, but the type 554 did later (after the expedition, in 1923) appear on the register as G-EBFE. The original certificate records it as type 554, c/n 5040, a two-seater and refers to it as an Antarctic Baby.

There was also a type 543 variant and some sub variants that might be worth mentioning, plus an interesting multiple aerofoil version. I think Jackson's book is worth citing. If no-one disputes this, I'd be happy to write it up, unless one of the original authors would prefer to do it.TSRL (talk) 22:06, 28 November 2008 (UTC)Reply