Alliot Verdon Roe, the founder of Avro, the firm that was to play such a huge part in the development of aviation, embarked on his career as an aircraft designer in 1907 with a canard pusher biplane design, the Roe No 1. He entered the aircraft in the contest to be the first pilot to fly round the Brooklands racing circuit, which carried a GBP2500 prize, but was unsuccessful.

Undeterred, he embarked on the design of a triplane and on 23 July 1909, with Roe at the controls, the resulting Triplane No 1 became the first British aircraft powered by a British-designed engine to make a successful flight in England. A second aircraft, the Roe II Triplane, flew successfully at Brooklands. These early designs provided invaluable experience when it came to the development of A.V. Roe's first true success, the celebrated Avro 504.