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Museum of Science and Industry

Air & Space Hall

Pride of place in this gallery goes to aircraft built by A. V. Roe & Co. Ltd (Avro), founded in Manchester by Alliott Verdon Roe in 1910. Look back to the early days of flying machines when Roe made the first flight by a British aircraft with a British engine in his Triplane 1.

Replica of the 1909 Roe I Triplane made by A.V. Roe Ltd apprentices

Our triplane is a 50-year-old replica of Roe's aeroplane. The 1954 Avro Shackleton, built at Woodford, near Stockport, was designed to locate and attack submarines and for search and rescue. It could fly for up to 24 hours.

Royal Ruby motorcycle and sidecar

You can also discover the links between car and aircraft production in Manchester. See the 1923 Harper Runabout, made in the Avro aircraft factory. The displays also include a Rolls-Royce car, hand-built in Hulme in 1905, and a 1912 Ford Model T car, assembled at Trafford Park, the first Ford factory outside North America. You can see motorbikes too - find out what links the 1916 Royal Ruby motorbike and the Russian Revolution!