View source for Avro 626

<!-- This article is a part of [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft]]. Please see [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft/page content]] for recommended layout. -->
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{|{{Infobox Aircraft Begin
 |name=Avro 626
 |image=Avro Prefect.jpg
 |caption=Avro Prefect K5063 at Martlesham, July 1935
}}{{Infobox Aircraft Type
 |type=General purpose
 |manufacturer=[[Avro]]
 |designer=[[Roy Chadwick]]
 |first flight=1930
 |introduced=
 |retired=1945
 |status=
 |primary user=
 |more users=
 |produced=
 |number built=198
 |unit cost=
 |developed from=[[Avro 621]]}}
|}

The '''Avro 626''' is a single-engined [[United Kingdom|British]] [[biplane]] trainer aircraft produced by [[Avro]] during the (1918-1939) inter-war period.

==Design and development==
The Model 626 was developed by Avro from the company's  [[Avro Tutor|Model 621]] (Tutor) for export to smaller air forces, the idea being that the 626 would be a single aircraft that could carry out general aircrew training as well as a number of other roles. The types 621 and 626 were both two-seaters, but the latter had an additional cockpit behind the rear seat of the 621 and accessible from it. This additional cockpit was fitted with a [[Scarff ring]] for a [[machine gun]] and carried equipment for air navigation, wireless and gunnery training. Structurally and aerodynamically, it was almost identical to the Tutor: it had a conventional fabric-covered, metal airframe with single-bay wings.
Most of the 626s, like the Tutors had an [[Armstrong Siddeley Lynx]] IVC engine of 240&nbsp;hp (180&nbsp;kW), but most of those supplied to the Egyptian and Brazilian Air Forces used a 260&nbsp;hp (190&nbsp;kW) [[Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah|Cheetah]] V from the same maker.

The usual undercarriage used split, fixed mainwheels and either a tailskid or later a tailwheel, but some 621s appeared on floats and on skis.

The prototype was first flown in 1930.

==Operational history==
Avro employed an aggressive sales and marketing effort to introduce the Model 626 to customers throughout the world. An early production demonstration aircraft, marked ''G-ABFM'' <ref>Jackson 1990, p. 295.</ref> was sent by sea to [[South America]] in 1931. After demonstrations in [[Buenos Aires]] and a record-setting flight over the [[Andes]], the aircraft was commandeered by [[Argentina|Argentine]] military officials to help quell a local uprising. The 626 performed so well that an order was immediately placed for 14 additional aircraft. The biggest users were the Air Forces of [[Chile]], [[Greece]], and [[Portugal]]. Numerous sales were made to foreign air forces up to 1939, some of which survived in second-line service until 1945.

The 621 was not a civil type, though some did briefly appear on the civil registers of the UK (15) and Hong Kong (6).<ref>[http://www.goldenyears.ukf.net/reg_VR-H.htm "VR-H."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120060246/http://www.goldenyears.ukf.net/reg_VR-H.htm |date=20 November 2008 }} ''goldenyears.ukf.net.'' Retrieved: 8 August 2011.</ref> These markings were worn for testing, demonstration and export; only two civil machines stayed on the prewar U.K.register. After the war, two R.A.F. Prefects were civilianised, as was one in New Zealand.

==Variants==
* '''Avro 626''': Two seat multi-purpose aircraft
* '''Avro Prefect''' : [[RAF]] and [[RNZAF]] name for the 626; in the period most RAF aircraft received names.<ref>Jackson 1990, p. 296-297. Quote: "During their service life these machines were known simply as Avro Prefects without type number, to distinguish them from the Avro 626"</ref>  All RNZAF Prefects had three cockpits. All the  RAF machines were two-seat navigational training aircraft ''without'' the third cockpit installed.<ref>Jackson 1990, p. 296.</ref>
* '''Avro 637''' : Armed patrol version of the Avro 626. Pilot had a .303&nbsp;in (7.7&nbsp;mm) [[Vickers machine gun]] mounted on the fuselage while the observer/gunner was armed with a .303&nbsp;in (7.7&nbsp;mm) [[Lewis Gun]] on an Avro low-drag mounting. This variant featured a slightly larger wingspan with rounded wingtips. Eight aircraft were sold to the [[Kwangsi Air Force]] (Government of South China) in China.
* '''Tatra T.126''': Licence built 626, manufactured in Czechoslovakia; two versions proposed: one with 355&nbsp;hp (265&nbsp;kW) Avia Rk. 17 and export version for [[Turkey]] and the [[Balkans]] with a 260&nbsp;hp (190&nbsp;kW) [[Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah]] V. Only one built, possibly never flown because of the [[Munich crisis]] - factory was in the territory occupied by Germany.<ref>Němeček 1983, p. 181.</ref>

== Operators ==
[[File:Avro Type 626 MIKAN 3241746.jpg|thumb|Avro 626 of Royal Canadian Air Force]]
198 Avro 626s and Prefects were produced.<ref>Jackson 1990, pp. 296-298. Note: 1965 edition data and pagination. The numbers are for ordered aircraft plus demonstrators left behind</ref>

;{{ARG}}: [[Argentine Air Force|Army Aviation Service]] received 15 aircraft.<ref group=n>The Avro 626 is listed in some sources as having been used by the ''Argentine Air Force''. This is because its predecessor, the ''Army Aviation Service'', was established in 1912 and dissolved in 1945 when the Air Force was created.</ref>
;{{AUT}}: [[Austrian Air Force (1927–1938)|Austrian Air Force]] received seven aircraft.
;{{BEL}}: [[Belgian Air Force]] received 12 aircraft, two of which were still in service at the time of the German invasion in 1940.<ref>Pacco 2003, p. 83.</ref>
;{{BRA}}: [[Brazilian Air Force]] received 16 aircraft.
;{{flag|Canada|1921}}: [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] received 12 aircraft. RCAF machines featured cold weather cowlings, enclosed cockpits and skis. They survived until early in the [[World War II|Second World War]].
* [[3 Squadron RCAF]]
* [[111 squadron RCAF]]
;{{China as ROC}}: [[Chinese Nationalist Air Force]] - Probably received 13, certainly 11. May have built one itself. All served in the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]].
;{{CHI}}: [[Chilean Air Force]] received 20 aircraft.
;{{CZS}}: [[Czechoslovak Air Force]] received one aircraft. [[Tatra (company)|Tatra]] under licence manufactured only one because of the [[Munich crisis]].
;{{flag|Egypt|1922}}: [[Royal Egyptian Air Force]] received 27 machines, their first military aircraft, as distinct from [[DH-60 Moth]]s.  Only 25 served, as two were lost in delivery and replaced Egyptian 626s served from 1933 until 1944.
;{{EST}}: [[Estonian Air Force]] received four aircraft.
;{{GRE}}: [[Hellenic Air Force]] received 21 aircraft which were in service at the time of the Italian invasion. Three machines escaped the fall of Greece to join the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] in the desert.
;{{IRL}}: [[Irish Air Corps]] received four aircraft, which served until 1941.
;{{flag|Lithuania}}: [[Lithuanian Air Force]] received four aircraft. The type was still in service at the time of the Russian invasion.
;{{NZL}}: [[Royal New Zealand Air Force]] received four Lynx-engined but three-cockpit Prefect aircraft for the RNZAF in 1935.
* No 1 Flying Training School.
;{{POR}}: [[Portuguese Air Force]] and [[Portuguese Navy]] received 26 aircraft directly from Avro. A manufacturing licence was issued to the Portuguese factory [[OGMA]], but it is not known how many were built by them.
;{{flag|Slovakia|1938}}
*[[Slovak Air Force (1939-1945)|Slovak Air Force]]
;{{flag|Spain|1931}}
*[[Spanish Republican Air Force]] operated uncertain number of aircraft in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. These did not come direct from Avro company.
;{{UK}}: [[Royal Air Force]] received seven two-seater Prefects for air navigation training. Delivered in 1935, they operated during the Second World War on miscellaneous duties.

==Survivors==
''NZ203'', c/n 811, survived the war and was purchased by Mr. J. Frogley in 1948 who registered it as ''ZK-APC''.The aircraft ceased flying in 1958 but in the 1980s it was acquired by the [[Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum]] and returned to the air. It is the sole surviving active Avro 621 or Prefect.

==Specifications (Avro 626 (Lynx IVC engine))==
{{aircraft specifications
|plane or copter?=plane
|jet or prop?=prop
|ref=''Avro Aircraft since 1908<ref>Jackson 1990, p. 298.</ref> 
|crew=two
|capacity=
|length main= 26 ft 6 in 
|length alt= 8.08 m
|span main= 34 ft 0 in 
|span alt= 10.36 m
|height main= 9 ft 7 in
|height alt= 2.92m
|area main= 300 ft²
|area alt= 27.9 m²
|airfoil=
|empty weight main= 1,765 lb
|empty weight alt= 801 kg
|loaded weight main= 2,750 lb
|loaded weight alt= 1,247 kg
|useful load main=  
|useful load alt=  
|max takeoff weight main=  
|max takeoff weight alt=  
|more general=
|engine (prop)=[[Armstrong Siddeley Lynx]] IVC
|type of prop=7-cylinder radial
|number of props=1
|power main= 210 hp
|power alt= 157 kW
|power original=
|max speed main= 97 kn
|max speed alt= 112 mph, 180 km/h
|cruise speed main= 83 kn
|cruise speed alt= 95 mph, 153 km/h
|never exceed speed main=  
|never exceed speed alt=  
|stall speed main=  
|stall speed alt=  
|range main= 209 nmi
|range alt= 240 mi, 386 km
|ceiling main= 14,800 ft
|ceiling alt= 4,511 m
|climb rate main= 880 ft/min
|climb rate alt= 4.5 m/s
|loading main= 9.18 lb/ft²
|loading alt= 44.7 kg/m²
|thrust/weight=<!-- a unitless ratio -->
|power/mass main= 0.076 hp/lb
|power/mass alt= 0.126 kW/kg
|more performance=
|armament=
|avionics=
}}
<!-- See also -->
{{aircontent
<!-- include as many lines are appropriate. additional lines/entries with carriage return. -->
|related=<!-- related developments -->
|similar aircraft=<!-- similar or comparable aircraft -->
|sequence=<!-- designation sequence, if appropriate -->
|lists=<!-- related lists -->
|see also=<!-- other relevant information -->
}}

== See also ==
{{aircontent
<!-- include as many lines are appropriate. additional lines/entries with carriage return. -->
|related= [[Avro 504]] - predecessor of the Avro 621/626<!-- related developments -->
|similar aircraft=<!-- similar or comparable aircraft -->
|sequence=<!-- designation sequence, if appropriate -->
|lists=*[[List of Interwar military aircraft]]
*[[List of aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force]]<!-- related lists -->
|see also=<!-- other relevant information -->
}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=n}}

==References==

===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* Jackson, A.J. ''Avro Aircraft since 1908, 2nd edition''. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1990. {{ISBN|0-85177-834-8}}.
* Pacco, John. "Avro 626 'Prefect'" ''Belgisch Leger/Armee Belge: Het Militair Vliegwezen/l'Aeronautique Militaire 1930-1940''. Aartselaar, Belgium: J.P. Publications, 2003, p.&nbsp;83. {{ISBN|90-801136-6-2}}.
* Němeček, V. Československá letadla 1918-1945. Praha: Naše Vojsko, 1983.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Avro 626}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061008145427/http://www.airforcemuseum.co.nz/main/avro626/ RNZAF Museum Prefect page]

{{Avro aircraft}}

[[Category:British military trainer aircraft 1930–1939]]
[[Category:Avro aircraft|626]]
[[Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft]]
[[Category:Biplanes]]
[[Category:Aircraft first flown in 1930]]