By the early 1920s Santa Claus had become skeptical of the reindeer-based propulsion system he had been using for his annual round-the-world flights. He had also been nursing doubts about the efficacy of using a sleigh as an aircraft. Wind-tunnel testing had only confirmed that the sleigh performed best as a ground-based transportation system but was aerodynamically unsuited for flight.
It should be no surprise that when Santa gained access to an Avro 504K, he jumped at the chance to see what it could do. Depending on the powerplant, the twin-seat biplane could produce up to 130 horsepower, a substantial improvement over eight reindeer (not counting Rudolph). First flown in 1913, the Avro became obsolete early in World War I but it had a long life as a trainer and, with more than 10,000 eventually manufactured, it became the most-produced military airplane of the war.
Why Santa chose this particular airplane type remains a mystery, but it’s interesting to note that the Avro was the first airplane to reach Iceland (in 1919), which is not all that far from Santa’s North Pole headquarters. In any event, it appears that St. Nick must have grown disappointed in the airplane because recent reports indicate he has returned to the sleigh and the reindeer. The fate of his Avro remains unknown.
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