The all-wood, rotary-engine powered Avro 504 of 1913 was developed into the Avro 504K by the close of World War One.
Several hundred 504s came on to the British civil register postwar as joyride and training aircraft. A small number of these found their way to Australia and saw service with fledgling aviation companies such as Qantas and others. A 3-cylinder air-cooled Lucifer radial engine was fitted to a 504K as early as 1919. Further modifications to the 504 were made in 1923 incorporating the fitment of a 215 Armstrong Siddeley Lynx 7-cylinder air-cooled radial engine and new oleo compression undercarriage struts. This model, known as the 504N, became the progenitor of the whole Tutor/Cadet/Prefect series biplanes.
1931 saw the first Avro 631 Cadet fly and it was specifically designed for the civil flying school market, being essentially a slightly smaller version of the Tutor, and was initially powered by the Armstrong Siddeley 135 hp. 7-cylinder Genet radial. The improved Avro 643 Cadet introduced a number of refinements including a raised rear seat. The final version known as the Avro 643 Cadet Mk. 2 was powered by the 150 hp Genet Major 1A and incorporated an inverted fuel system. A total of 38 Avro 643 Mk. 2’s were built with 34 going to the Royal Australian Air Force between 1935 and 1939 as basic trainers and the remainder used by British civil flight schools.
History
Although the Cadet is classified as a rare aeroplane, with only 14 examplesthe survivors of the 16 machines which were civilianised after World War Two, from the original RAAF batch of 34. At the time of writing Steve Merrett of Milton, NSW was the owner of the Queen of the Avro Cadet set: VH-PRU which won the Reserve Grand Champion award at the 1995 Australian Antique Aeroplane Association annual fly-in at Cowra. With self at the helm, PRU appeared at many airshows, mostly at the Naval Air Station, Nowra and also starred in a television commercial.
