G-AASP  Avro 618 Ten                           (c/n  384)

                               

                                     In a lecture in 1929 British aviation expert William Farren avowed that "the good old biplane,
                                     with all its struts and bracings etc." (i.e. what we now call parasitic drag) was superior in many
                                     ways to the monoplane.  (That kind of thinking can get one in trouble, although Farren was an
                                     important figure in U.K. aviation circles and I'm sure he lived to rue those words).   Anyway,
                                     Avro didn't think so at the time and hence approached Fokker to acquire a licence to build the
                                     ever popular F.VIIb-3m in the U.K.  14 were built, of which no fewer than half were sold in
                                    Australia.  A typical example of the latter can be seen under my entry for VH-UNA in the Aust-
                                    ralian selection.  G-AASP was one of two operate by Imperial Airways from 1931 to 1940.