THE END OF THEFIRST WORLD WAR

The First World War ended almost as quickly as it began with the collapse of the defensive lines of the German led Central Powers:

September 29, 1918 - Bulgaria capitulated and as a result on September 30 Austro-Hungarian Empire sought a peace settlement.

October 30, 1918 - An Armistice was agreed with the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) which ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern Theatre of War.

November 3, 1918 - Austria and Hungary signed separate armistices agreements.

November 9, 1918 - Following the outbreak of the German Revolution of 1918-1919, a republic was proclaimed and the German Kaiser (King) fled to the Netherlands.

November 11, 1918 - At 5:00 am, a final armistice was s signed with Germany and the War officially ended at 11 am.

At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the RFC, possessing a total of 179 airplanes and sent four squadrons to France.

On April 1, 1918, the RNAS and RFC were absorbed into the Royal Air Force (RAF), which took its place beside the British navy and army as a separate service with its own Ministry under a Secretary of State for Air.

The strength of the RAF in November 1918 was nearly 291,000 officers and airmen. It was probably the largest air force in the World possessing 200 operational squadrons and nearly the same number of training squadrons, with a total of 22,647 aircraft.

On October 31, 1918 the RAF had 2999 Avro 504s on charge and by the end of the war 8,340 Avro 504s had been constructed, of which
A. V. Roe & Co. had built 3,696 and 4,644 had been made by other contractors.

The AVRO 504K Post War

(Monochrome Photograph - 78 CAPITAN AVALOSA typical post war overseas sale, an Avro 504K of the Chilean Air Force.)

Within 12 months of the end of the World War I all construction of 504s was halted and older versions, including Js and damaged Ks machines, were scrapped.

Some ex-RAF and other new, but unused, 504Ks were sold as being surplus to requirements, whilst many new build machines were stored for future use or possible sale.

Many were also presented by the British Government, as 'Imperial Gifts', to Common-wealth countries such as Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa, who had aided the war effort, to enable them to create their own Air Forces.

Many other countries, recognising the virtues of the Gosport system of training pilots, also bought surplus 504Ks whilst both Japan and Russia set up their own construction facilities.

The company retained a large number of spare parts and also bought some of the surplus airframes which enabled it to remain profitable during the Depression of the 1920's.