Biography

Sir Alliott Verdon-Roe OBE, Hon. FRAeS, FIAS was born in Patricroft in Manchester and was the first Englishman to fly an all-British machine at Lea Marshes on 12th July 1909. He claimed to be the first Englishman to make a powered flight in June 1908 at Brooklands.

He founded AV Roe and Co in Manchester with his brother Humphrey on 1st January 1910. From its early beginnings at Brownfield Mills, A.V. Roe and Co, became one of the most successful British aviation companies building iconic Avro marques such as the Avro 504, Tutor, Anson, Lancaster, Lancastrian, York, Shackleton and the Vulcan.

Alliott left AV Roe and Co in 1926. He was knighted in 1928 and established Saunders-Roe, builders of the jet powered SARO SRA 1 and SARO Princess flying boats at Cowes on the Isle of Wight, where he remained Chairman till his death in 1958.