Roe, Sir Alliott Verdon- (1877-1958), was the first Englishman to design, build, and fly an airplane. In 1910, he founded A. V. Roe & Company, Ltd., which became one of the world’s largest aircraft firms. Roe was born in Manchester. He worked for an automobile firm before entering aviation. He made short flights in his aircraft, but did not succeed financially until Louis Bleriot’s flight across the English Channel in 1909 showed that airplanes might become important.
