Longevity of the 504

[centurion]

The recent discussion on the BE2 has reminded me about the Avro 504 series which participated in the very first strategic bombing raids of WW1, served as both a single seat long range fighter (504C) and a night fighter (the latter as late as 1918) as well as a trainer throughout the war and was still in service around the world in WW2

As well as still being used in small numbers as a squadron hack in WW2 by both by the RAF and RCAF (in the form of the 504k) I can remember the father of a colleague of mine saying how amazed he was having been sent to Canada in WW2 for pilot training to be given his first familiarisation flight in an aircraft that would not have been out of place over the Western Front in 1915. Avro 504K and 504Ns were still being used as basic trainers in a number of other countries (including Greece and Japan). They were used as 'sewing machine' night bombers and as late as August 1945 numbers of the Japanese licence built version of the 504N were being prepared for use as suicide bombers in the event of an Allied invasion. I can think of no other WW1 aircraft that stayed around for so long. Can anyone else think of any WW1 types with similar life spans (ignoring all those oddities that used the wings from Dh 9a s)?

[Adrian Roberts]

Training types are particularly likely to survive for long periods as they are strongly built and increasing performance is not the priority. Thus, in post-war times, the Chipmunk was in use for over 50 years by the British Armed Forces. But this was a metal aircraft: the problem with WW1 era aircraft was how quickly the wood and fabric deteriorated. The last Avro 504Ns (the version with a post-war Armstrong-Siddeley Lynx radial) were built in 1932, and the last K's in 1926. It would probably be these later batches that remained in use until almost WW2.

In regular RAF service, the 504 was replaced by the Avro Tutor and Tiger Moth in 1932, but [according to Wikipedia], "seven 504Ns were impressed from civilian owners in WW2 and used for target towing". No doubt some foreign-operated ones were still around by then. The ironic thing about the 504's longevity is that the first British aircraft to be shot down was a less fortunate 504A

As to other types: the RNZAF had some Bristol Fighters until 1936 - but these may have been from the 1926 batch, like the Shuttleworth example. Some Vickers Valentias were still around in 1942: these were transport versions of the Virginia bomber, not all that different from the Vimy, though larger and with A/S Jaguar radials.

The Swiss built an aricraft called the Haefeli DH3 in 1917: the designer [Haefeli] had worked in Germany and the type looked like a typical early-WW1 German two-seater. Some of these were still around in 1939.

Apparently, the longest-serving aircraft of any nation ever, is an American Waco biplane which was purchased by the Guatemalan Air Force in about 1932, and is still owned by that organisation. "Not a lot of people know that....."