Collection of photographs, newspaper cuttings and flight documents relating to Joseph Harold "Jimmy" Orrell

Joseph Harold Orrell, known as Jimmy Orrell, was born in Liverpool in 1903. He attended Longmoor Lane Boys School. He left school in 1918 to become a draughtsman at C. & H. Crichton Ltd in Liverpool. As a school boy during the First World War, Orrell had watched the Avro 504K aeroplanes stationed at Shotwich Aerodrome. In 1919, Orrell joined the Boy Service branch of the Royal Air Force as an apprentice draughtsman. He altered his birth certificate in order to join up a year early. Draughtsman was a Grade I Trade, which allowed Orrell to apply to become a Trainee Pilot. He began his flight training in an Avro 504K in March 1926 and gained his wings in the following February. His first posting was as a sergeant with No. 25(F) Squadron.

Orrell left the Air Force in 1931 and joined the Midland and Scottish Air Ferries service. There he helped to pioneer airline and ambulance services to the Western Isles of Scotland. He also piloted pleasure flights from Barton airfield and was a 'barn stormer' (a performer of aerial acrobatics).

In 1934 Orrell took a job with A. V. Roe & Co. (Avro) as a draughtsman. His role at the company soon changed, and he became responsible for testing and delivering aircraft. A year later, he joined Imperial Airways Ltd as a pilot. Air travel had expanded rapidly after the end of the First World War and companies such as Imperial Airways Ltd operated flying boats and large passenger aircraft across the British Empire.

At the beginning of the Second World War, Imperial Airways Ltd seconded Orrell to the War Office. His job was to fly a converted Hudson aircraft between Scotland and Stockholm. The trip became known as the ball-bearing run, as the pilots transported gun parts from Sweden to Scotland.

In March 1942 Orrell returned to Avro as a test pilot. He became a member of the team responsible for the development of the Lancaster bomber. He impressed the company’s managers with his skills as a test pilot. When Bill Thorn, the Chief Test Pilot at Avro, died during a test flight at Woodford in 1947, Orrell took over his job. As Chief Test Pilot he was responsible for testing the Tudor VIII, the Athena and the Shackleton aircraft.

In 1949 Avro sent Orrell to Canada, where he tested a brand new prototype, the Jetliner C-102. The maiden flight went well but the second flight was more difficult. On the approach to landing, the aircraft’s undercarriage failed to lower and only the nose wheel came down. The loss of hydraulic oil meant that Orrell not only had no wheels to land on but he had also lost control of some of the flaps and aileron assistors. Orrell had to crash-land the aircraft knowing that this would damage the $4,000,000 prototype and cause bad publicity for the company. Fortunately, his skills as a pilot meant there was little damage to the aircraft. The Jetliner was repaired and Orrell carried out ground tests. Five weeks later he flew the aircraft again.

On his return to Britain, Orrell tested the Avro 707A prototype. This prototype became the Vulcan high- altitude bomber. Avro built the prototype in 1948 to test how a delta wing performed at different altitudes and speeds. In 1952, the company built a second prototype, the 707B, for high- and low-speed testing. Jimmy flew the 707B prototype from Woodford to Farnborough in late 1952.

Orrell’s flying career spanned the early history of flight right through to flight at near supersonic speed. He flew a replica Avro 504K in 1955, bringing his flying career full circle from his RAF training in 1926. In 1956 he was awarded the OBE for services to aviation. Two years later, in August 1958, Orrell made his last flight in an Anson G-AGPG.

Orrell retired from Avro in 1969, but maintained his links with the company as a member of the Avro 504 Club. He died in Knutsford, Cheshire, in 1988.

A V Roe and Co Ltd, more commonly known as Avro, was an aircraft manufacturer based in Manchester. One of the first manufacturers of aircraft, the company operated from 1910 until 1963. Avro was founded by brothers Alliott and Humphrey Verdon Roe and was based originally in the basement of the Everards Elastic Webbing Company's factory at Brownsfield Mill in Ancoats, Manchester. Avro also rented a shed at Brooklands airfield, where the finished aircraft were sold.

Alliott Verson Roe was the aircraft designer, having already constructed a successful aircraft, the Roe I Triplane, in 1909. The Roe I was the first aircraft completely built from British components. Previous aircraft designs had used parts imported from overseas.

Humphrey Verdon Roe was the managing director of the company, bringing funding for the new enterprise from the family webbing company that he also ran.

In 1911 Roy Chadwick joined the company as Alliott’s personal assistant, working as a draughtsman. Chadwick became the firm's Chief Designer in 1918.

The Avro 500, or Avro E, was the company's first mass produced aircraft. It took its first flight in March 1912. Eighteen of these were built, with most of them entering service with the Royal Flying Corps. In the same year, Avro prototyped the Avro F and Avro G, which were the world's first aircraft with fully enclosed crew accommodation, but neither went into production.

September 1913 saw the first flight of the Avro 504. This was a development of the Avro 500 and was purchased by the War Office. As a result, it would see front line service during the early years of the First World War, but was later used primarily for training pilots. The Avro 504 was manufactured for a period of 20 years, with 8,340 being produced in total. The success of the Avro 504 led the company to move to a factory in Miles Platting, Manchester, followed in 1914 by an extension to the company's new works at Newton Heath, which was completed in 1919.

Following the end of the First World War the lack of new orders caused severe financial problems for Avro and in August 1920 68.5% of the company’s shares were acquired by Crossley Motors, who needed additional factory space to build automobile bodies. Avro continued to operate, building aircraft at the Newton Heath works, and testing them at Alexandra Park Aerodrome in South Manchester until 1924, when flight testing moved to Woodford Aerodrome in Cheshire.

In 1928, Crossley Motors sold their stake in Avro to Armstrong Siddeley in order to pay off losses they had incurred on other projects. Avro became part of the Armstrong Siddeley Development Company, prompting Alliott Verdon Roe's resignation from the company. Chief Designer Roy Chadwick remained at Avro, overseeing the production of training aircraft. Chadwick designed the Avro Tutor in 1930, followed by the twin engine Avro 652, which was later developed into the multirole Avro Anson. The Tutor was bought in large quantities by the RAF.

In 1935, Avro became a subsidiary of Hawker Siddeley.

As tensions in Europe increased, resulting in the outbreak of the Second World War, Avro returned to the production of military aircraft, producing the Avro Manchester, Lancaster and Lincoln bombers. The twin engine Manchester was unsuccessful, partly due to its Vulture engines. Replacing the Vultures with four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines resulted in the more successful Lancaster. 7,377 of these were produced and saw active service during the war. In 1944, the Lancaster was further developed into the Lincoln, the last piston engine bomber in Royal Air Force service.

In order to meet rising demand Avro opened a new factory at Greengate, Chadderton, in 1938, where almost half of all Avro Lancasters were produced, with final assembly at Woodford Aerodrome. The following year, Avro also established an experimental department at RAF Ringway, now known as Manchester Airport, and a shadow factory at Yeadon Aerodrome, now Leeds-Bradford Airport. The Yeadon factory produced 5,500 aircraft including Ansons, Lancasters, Yorks and Lincolns.

Towards the end of the Second World War, Avro put into production a number of civil airliners, in order to make up for a drop in military orders. One of these designs was the Lancastrian, which was a conversion of the Lancaster bomber. The second was the Avro York, which was also based on the Lancaster but used a different fuselage. Production of this would be limited until 1944 due to the focus on military aircraft. The final design that the company produced was the Tudor. This used many components from the Lincoln but suffered from the fact that it wasn’t sufficiently advanced when compared to existing designs and as a result it did not achieve many orders. Despite this both the York and Tudor were used in the Berlin Airlift.

On 23rd August 1947 Roy Chadwick was killed in a crash involving a prototype Tudor 2 that was undergoing testing. Despite this his impact on the company continued, as he had already begun design work on a number of aircraft that Avro went on to produce.

In 1948 Avro produced the Tudor 8 which was powered by four Nene jet engines. This design retained the tail wheel undercarriage, which placed the engine exhausts close to the ground. As a result, the company replaced this with a tricycle undercarriage for the Tudor 9. The design became known as the Avro Ashton, which first flew in 1950. Although this was one of the first jet transport aircraft it was primarily used for research and it was not intended to enter service.

On 30th August 1952 the Avro 698 made its first flight. This was a four engine jet bomber that had been developed to replace existing piston engine designs. Further development of the design resulted in the Avro 707 and the Avro 710. The 710 was not put into full production as it was considered too time consuming to develop. The 698 entered service in 1956 under the name Vulcan, with an improved B.2 version introduced in 1960. The Avro Vulcan was retired in 1984 after having only being using in combat once, during the 1982 Falklands War.

During the late 1950s the company developed the 748 turbo-prop airliner. This successful design was sold around the world and was later developed into the Ashton transport by Hawker Siddeley. The same period also saw the company’s weapons research division begin development of the Blue Steel nuclear missile.

During 1963, parent company Hawker Siddeley restructured its aviation subsidiaries. Each subsidiary had operated under its own brand name, but from July 1963 all subsidiaries were merged into Hawker Siddeley's Aviation Division, which was operated as a single brand. The missile division of the company would become part of the Dynamics Division. Avro as a company ceased to exist, but the Avro was later reused by British Aerospace for their 146 regional airliner, known as the Avro RJ.