Avro Tutor

The Avro 621 Tutor was designed in 1929 by Roy Chadwick as a replacement for the Avro 504N. It was of welded tube construction, based on Fokker practice (Avro had earlier built Fokker airliners under licence), with fabric covering. With ailerons on all wings and a variable incidence tailplane it had good handling and was an ideal aerobatic aircraft. The aircraft, initially known as Avro Trainers, were powered by the 155hp Armstrong-Siddeley Mongoose 5 cylinder radial.

The Tutor also served with the RAF College Cranwell, No.3 FTS at Grantham and No.5 FTS at Sealand. Fifteen Seaplane Tutors were manufactured for the Seaplane Flight at Calshot.

Three Tutors survived the War: K6195, K3363 and K3215, but by 1949 K3215 was the only surviving example.

About this aircraft

This is one of the main production batch; it was used by the RAF College Cranwell and Central Flying School (CFS) and then as a communications aircraft. It was ‘demobbed’ in December 1946 and in February 1947 was restored to the Civil Register, as G-AHSA, to become part of the Darlington & District Aero Club fleet. It was later owned by Wing Commander Heywood at Burnaston, Derby and suffered crankshaft failure when taking part in the film Reach for the Sky. It was then bought by the Collection. The engine was rebuilt by Armstrong Siddeley at Coventry from the best parts of three non-working units.

In 1979 major engine problems resulted in the aircraft being grounded. A worldwide search failed to produce a suitable replacement engine so the existing Lynx was painstakingly rebuilt by a senior engineer. The cylinders were sent to the USA to be refurbished.

It was completely re-covered in 2005/6 and is now painted in CFS Aerobatic team colours as K3241.

Specification