It was designed to replace the North American Harvard in the Royal Air Force, but was bought only in small numbers, the competing Boulton Paul Balliol being preferred.

The Athena was designed to meet the requirements of Air Ministry Specification T.7/45 for a three-seat advanced trainer powered by a turboprop engine for the RAF.

[1] Despite the change in specification, the first three prototypes were of the turboprop-powered Athena T.1, the first of which, powered by an Armstrong Siddeley Mamba engine, flew on 12 June 1948 at Woodford Aerodrome.

[1] The Merlin-powered Athena T.2 first flew on 1 August 1948,[2] and was evaluated against the similar Boulton Paul Balliol.

[4] A single aircraft was loaned back to Avro and given the civil registration G-ALWA for a demonstration tour of India.