Taylorcraft Auster
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (August 2008) |
Auster | |
---|---|
Taylorcraft J Auster Mk5 | |
Role | Liaison aircraft |
Manufacturer | Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Limited |
Designer | Clarence Gilbert Taylor |
Introduction | 1942 |
Primary users | Royal Air Force Royal Australian Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force Royal Netherlands Air Force |
Number built | 1,630 |
Developed from | Taylor Cub |
Variants | Beagle A.61 Terrier |
The Taylorcraft Auster was a British military liaison and observation aircraft produced by the Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Limited company during the Second World War.
Design and development
The Auster was a twice-removed development of an American
The Plus C was re-engined with the Blackburn
Pre-war tests identified the Taylorcraft Model D as the most suitable aircraft for the AOP role. Three more Ds were purchased from Taylorcraft and a trials unit, D Flight, under Major Charles Bazeley RA, formed at Old Sarum on 1 February 1940. The flight with three Austers and one Stinson 105, and three artillery and one RAF pilots, moved to France where they trained with artillery and practiced fighter avoidance with Hurricanes of Air Component before moving south to train with French artillery. The flight did not participate in the fighting and withdrew without loss to the UK. However, the War Office then ordered 100 Stinson L-1 Vigilants. Formation of the RAF's Army Cooperation Command in December 1940 led to the RAF rejecting the very notion of light AOP aircraft.
Intercession by General Alan Brooke led to an accommodation that led to the first AOP pilot course for artillery officers taking place in October 1940 and in 1941, the first AOP squadron, No 651, formed. Stinson Vigilants eventually arrived in early 1942 but most had been severely damaged in transit leading to the adoption of the Taylorcraft Auster 1 and an order for 100 aircraft placed. Some of the Stinsons were resurrected but found to be too big for the AOP role.[3]
The Auster II was a re-engined aircraft with an American 130 hp (97 kW) Lycoming O-290 engine. Due to the shortage of American engines that version was not built but led to the Auster III (Model E), which was the same as the Auster I but had a 130 hp (97 kW) de Havilland Gipsy Major engine. The next development was the Auster IV (Model G) which had a slightly larger cabin with three seats and used the Lycoming O-290. The major production version was the Auster V (Model J) which was an Auster IV with blind flying instruments, and a conventional trimmer design.[4][5]
Post war, the Auster Mark V was used as the basis for the
Operational history
The Auster Mark III, IV and V were issued to 12 RAF, one Polish and three
On 31 March 1943 the Army Cooperation Command was disbanded, most of its assets being used to form the
of the RAF) operated after D-Day in France, the Low Countries and into Germany.The Royal Australian Air Force's No. 16 AOP Flight and No. 17 AOP Flight operated Auster Mark III aircraft in support of the Australian Army in the Pacific Theatre from October 1944 until the end of the war.[6]
Postwar Auster AOP aircraft were reorganised into independent flights (probably because the RAF used Wing-Commanders, equivalent to Lieutenant-Colonels, to command squadrons while the army insisted on a major's command) including 1903 Flight in Korea that had artillery pilots from several Commonwealth countries. There was also an Auster-equipped Liaison Flight, No 1913, in that theatre. Air OP flights also operated in the Malayan Emergency. Several AOP squadrons were reformed within the Royal Auxiliary Air Force in 1949 and these operated some AOP.5s, AOP.6s and AOP.9s until at least March 1957, when the Auxiliary Air Force was disbanded. All Auster AOP units were transferred to the Army Air Corps when it was formed in September 1957, with AAC squadrons using numbers starting with 651. The air observation duties, counter-insurgency and casualty evacuation roles performed by Auster and similar light aircraft were generally taken over by light helicopters from the mid-1960s.
Several Taylorcraft Austers formed, with other civil light aircraft, part of the initial equipment of the
Variants
- Taylorcraft Plus C
- Original civilian version with a Lycoming O-145-A2 engine, 23 built (one prototype and 22 production aircraft).
- Taylorcraft Plus C2
- Plus C re-engined with a 90 hp (67 kW) Cirrus Minor I engine for the Royal Air Force, 20 conversions.
- Taylorcraft Plus D
- Plus C with a 90hp Cirrus Minor I engine, nine built.
- Taylorcraft Auster I
- (Model D1) Military version of Plus C, 100 built.
- Taylorcraft Auster II
- (Model F) Auster I with a Lycoming O-290 engine, two built, later converted to Auster IIIs
- Taylorcraft Auster III
- (Model E) Auster I with a de Havilland Gipsy Major engine, two prototypes converted from Model F (Auster I) and 467 built new.
- Taylorcraft Auster IV
- (Model G) Three-seat version with a Lycoming O-290-3/1 H.O. engine, 253 built.
- Taylorcraft Auster V
- (Model J) Auster IV with blind flying instruments (Vacuum pump) and flap modification, and removable armour plate installed for pilot only, 791 built.
- Taylorcraft Auster Model H
- Experimental tandem two-seat training glider converted from a Taylorcraft B.
Operators
Military operators
- Australia
- Royal Australian Air Force[8] 56 Auster IIIs
- Royal Australian Navy[8]
- Burma Air Force– Postwar
- Royal Canadian Air Force
- Canadian Army – Postwar
- Czechoslovakian Air Force– three Auster IIIs, in service from 1945 to 1948.
- Hellenic Air Force – Postwar, 20 Auster IIIs
- Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force – Postwar
- Indonesian Air Force – Ex-Dutch aircraft
- Royal Netherlands Air Force
- Royal Netherlands Navy
- Dutch Naval Aviation Service
- Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force – Postwar
- Royal Norwegian Air Force in exile in the United Kingdom – Nine aircraft in service from 1944 to 1945. Used by Nos 331 and 332 Norwegian Squadrons as communications aircraft.
- Pakistan Air Force – Postwar
- Pakistan Army – Ex-Pakistan Air Force aircraft.
- Polish Air Force in exile in Great Britain
- 663 Polski Szwadron Powietrznych Punktów Obserwacyjnych(1944–1946)
- United Kingdom
- No. 651 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 652 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 653 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 654 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 655 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 656 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 657 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 658 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 659 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 660 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 661 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 662 (AOP) Squadron RAF
- No. 663 (AOP) Squadron RAF1947–1949
Specifications (Auster V)
Data from British Warplanes of World War II and British Aircraft of World War II.
General characteristics
- Crew: 3
- Length: 22 ft 5 in (6.83 m)
- Wingspan: 36 ft 0 in (10.97 m)
- Height: 8 ft 0 in (2.44 m)
- Wing area: 167 sq ft (15.51 m2)
- Empty weight: 1,100 lb (499 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 1,850 lb (839 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming O-290-3 flat-four piston, 130 hp (97 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 113 kn (130 mph, 209 km/h)
- Stall speed: 28 kn (32 mph, 51 km/h)
- Range: 220 nmi (250 mi, 402 km) or 400 nmi (740 km; 460 mi) with long range tank fitted.
- Takeoff run: 91 ft (28 m)
Surviving aircraft
Serial | Geographic location | Institutional location | History | Photo |
---|---|---|---|---|
NJ695 | Lee on the Solent, Hampshire, UK | The Historic Aircraft Hanger, "Bellman 4", Solent Airport, EGHF | Auster Mk.IV, built in 1943 and deployed to France in July 1944. It was operated by 661 squadron in Europe until the squadron was disbanded. Demobbed and civilianised by Taylorcraft England, it was sold to a flying school in East Anglia in 1948, then to a French parachuting club in 1958, before returning to the UK in 1973. Currently in flyable condition, restoration to full airworthiness is planned to be completed in 2024. | |
TW384 | Rakovník, Czechia | Rakovnik Airport, LKRK | Auster Mk.V, C/N 1753, To 20 MU Aston Down 31.8.45. To CS(A) at A&AEE, Boscombe Down 12.9.46 (to replace TW513 for photography of smokescreens & communications duties). To 20 MU Aston Down 13.7.48. To 1960 Flt/661 Squadron, Kenley 19.5.49; coded ‘RCE-D’. To 19 MU St Athan 20.9.51. Sold 1953. Operated by Channel Airways from 1954 to 1974 as G-ANHZ. Sold to Switzerland in 1995 as HB-EZJ and fully restored in Switzerland to original condition. Since 2022 OK-BTA, privately owned by Jiri Hruska. | |
MS980 | Niederöblarn, Austria | Niederöblarn Airport | Auster MK.V built in February 1944 as MS980, issued to 661 Squadron "C Flight" on 15.06.1944; Transferred to 652 Squadron on 12.4.1945, released to 663 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force on 11.8.1949; Put in storage surplus 3.3.1954; civilized as G-ANGW and sold to the Austrian Flying Club "Fliegerclub Wien Aspern" registered since then in Austria as OE-AAT.
Was sold to Fliegerclub Fürstenfeld in 1964, removed from flying in 1984 and put in long term storage until 2004. Now restored to original authentic RAF WWII D Day factory config including camouflage between 2006-2012 by Erich and Matthias Lemmerer; Aircraft based in Austria; |
See also
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
- Fieseler Fi 156
- Piper Cub
- Polikarpov Po-2
- Stinson L-1 Vigilant
- Stinson L-5 Sentinel
- Taylorcraft L-2
Related lists
References
Notes
- ^ Mondey 1994, p. 71.
- ^ March 2000, p. 225.
- ^ Mead 1983, p. 157-163.
- ^ Ellison 1966, p. 72.
- ^ Hitchman 1989, p. 54.
- ISBN 1875671080.
- ^ Nordeen 1991, pp.6–7
- ^ a b ADF-Serials Auster Page
Bibliography
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- Cortet, Pierre (December 1999). "Rétros du Mois" [Retros of the Month]. Avions: Toute l'aéronautique et son histoire (in French) (81): 43. ISSN 1243-8650.
- Elliott, Bryn (January–February 1999). "On the Beat: The First 60 Years of Britain's Air Police". Air Enthusiast (79): 68–75. ISSN 0143-5450.
- Ellison, N. H. Auster Aircraft – Aircraft Production List. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1966.
- Fromow, LCol. D. L. Canada's Flying Gunners: A History of the Air Observation Post of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery. Ottawa, Canada: Air Observation Post Pilots Association, 2002. ISBN 0-9730055-0-5.
- Hitchman, Ambrose. The History of the Auster Aeroplane. Bingley, UK: International Auster Pilot Club, 1989.
- Jackson, A. J. British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Volume 1. London: Putnam and Company, 1974. ISBN 0-370-10006-9.
- Justo, Craig P. "Talkback". ISSN 0143-5450
- Ketley, Barry. Auster – A Brief History of the Auster Aircraft in British Military Service . Ottringham, UK: Flight Recorder Publications, 2005. ISBN 0-9545605-6-6.
- Macfarlane, Arrol. "Warlike Sketches, 1939-1945". ISBN 978-1537112718.
- Nordeen, Lon. Fighters Over Israel. Guild Publishing, 1991. ISBN 9-781853-670985.
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- Lopes, Mario Canongia (March–April 1997). "In at the Deep End: The Auster in Portuguese Military Service". ISSN 0143-5450.
- March, Daniel J. British Warplanes of World War II: Combat Aircraft of the RAF and Fleet Air Arm, 1939-1945. Rochester, Kent, UK: Grange Books plc, 2000. ISBN 1-84013-391-0.
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- Willis, David. "Military Auster A to Z: Post-war use and experimentals." ISSN 0143-5450.
- Willis, David. "Military Auster A to Z: n different colours – Exports." ISSN 0143-5450.