G-EBOV  Avro 581 Avian                                (c/n  5116)

                                 

                                       This was the machine which the indefatigable Australia aviator Herbert (Bert) John Louis Hinkler
                                       flew solo between England and Australia in 1928.   That's Bert sitting astride the Avian.  Leaving
                                       Croydon on 7 February, he arrived at his home town of Bundaberg, Queensland on 27 February,
                                       thus breaking the old record time between the two countries from 28 to just over15 days.  In the
                                       early 1920s Hinkler was a test pilot for A.V. Roe and Company.   G-EBOV was the prototype
                                       Avian (production models were given the type number 594) and had taken place in three of the
                                       six Lympne trials.  It had been modified to a type 581E for the historic flight.   The shot below,
                                       from the archives of the CAHS, shows the machine after arrival in Australia (thought to be in
                                       Queensland).