Avro September 1948 - A Moment in Time
2

AIRCRAFT on PAPER

At the development of a new design the Projects Department investigate the requirements for the type and from their examination of all the factors involved a tender is submitted, which, if accepted, becomes the basis of the specification. At this point, extremely close collaboration between production and design interests enables features to be incorporated which will be of invaluable assistance when the design is tooled up for production.
In order to harmonize the ideas of manufacturer, supervising authority and operator a full scale mock-up of the fuselage is constructed in the Experimental Department from drawings produced by the Project Development section of the Design Office.

In the design and development of an aircraft such as the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. 500,000 man hours are required from the draughtsman alone and 20,000 drawings are needed. This does not include the work of the Jig and Tool Design Office, which must always keep in step with the progress on the aircraft drawings.

The initial schemes are drawn out in the Projects Department ..
.. then the first drawings for the Experimental Department are produced in a carefully controlled sequence. Later on Production drawings are made and at the same time technical experts examine each detail drawing - calculating, checking and correcting when weight can be saved or strength must be increased.

The machine on the right produces blueprints - consumes more than one mile of paper in one day.

40 traces and checkers transfer the pencil drawings to specially prepared linen.

Sheets of aluminium are prepared for the lithographic reproduction in the Full-scale Layout Department.

Research

Vital contributions to fundamental knowledge are obtained from our Research Department which is extensively equipped with instruments and machinery for all kinds of tests-not only on detail parts, but also on full size fuselage test specimens.

Applying loads to a leading edge rib.

Vibration tests on a panel under tension.

On the extreme left the operator is roller spot welding a stringer skin combination.

Project to Prototype

The mock-up of the Avro Athena Mk.2 is so carefully made that it is difficult to distinguish it from the prototype.

Work on the mock-ups, prototype and first production fuselage proceeds simultaneously in the Experimental Department.

Skilled craftsmen in the Experimental Machine Shop are always fully occupied.