A versatile parallel plate avalanche counter has been developed for the identification of nuclear reaction products. A novel construction of the transmission electrodes with an active area of 354×22 mm2 is presented in detail. The counter under test was filled with n-heptane vapour at a pressure of 18 Torr. Its timing properties were investigated by means of the time-of-flight technique employing 4.6 MeV α-particles and a solid state detector. The time resolution was 380 ps (fwhm). In addition, the electric characteristics of the counter, the energy resolution in the range of low-energy α-particles, the inhomogeneity of the detector geometry, and the non-linearity of the internal time delay along the electrodes are discussed.