Taylorcraft Auster

{{Short description|1942 British liaison aircraft family}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{Use British English|date=October 2017}} {{More footnotes needed|date=August 2008}} {{Infobox aircraft |name = Auster |image =File:Taylorcraft J Auster Mk5 AN1600880.jpg |caption = Taylorcraft J Auster Mk5 |type = Liaison aircraft |manufacturer = Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Limited |designer = Clarence Gilbert Taylor |first_flight =  |introduction = 1942 |retired =  |status =  |primary_user = Royal Air Force |more_users = Royal Australian Air Force<br />Royal Canadian Air Force<br />Royal Netherlands Air Force |produced =  |number_built = 1,630 |unit cost = |developed_from = Taylor Cub |developed_into = Auster AOP.6<br />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 Taylorcraft design of civilian aircraft, the Model A. The Model A had to be redesigned in Britain to meet more stringent Civil Aviation standards and was named the '''Taylorcraft Plus C'''.<ref name="Mondey1994">Mondey 1994, p. 71.</ref><ref name="March2000">March 2000, p. 225.</ref> After the start of the Second World War, the company developed the model further as an air observation post (AOP)—flown by officers of the Royal Artillery and used for directing artillery-fire of the artillery.

thumb|Prewar Taylorcraft C/2, impressed by the RAF in September 1941, seen postwar thumb|Auster I converted postwar to Taylorcraft Plus D, restored in wartime markings as ''LB382'' of 653 Squadron RAF

The Plus C was re-engined with the Blackburn Cirrus Minor I engine and was re-named the '''Taylorcraft Plus D'''. Most of the civil Plus Cs and Ds were pressed into Royal Air Force service; the Plus Cs were re-engined with the Cirrus Minor I and re-named '''Plus C2'''.

Pre-war tests identified the Taylorcraft Model D as the most suitable aircraft for an AOP. 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, one Stinson 105, three artillery and one RAF pilot, moved to France where they trained with artillery and practiced fighter avoidance with Hurricanes of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force before moving south to train with French artillery. The flight did not participate in the fighting and withdrew without loss to Britain. The War Office then ordered 100 Stinson L-1 Vigilants. Formation of the RAF 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 and the first AOP pilot course for artillery officers taking place in October 1940. In 1941, the first AOP squadron, 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 was placed. Some of the Stinsons were resurrected but found to be too big for the AOP squadrons.<ref>Mead 1983, pp. 157–163.</ref>

The '''Auster II''' was a re-engined aircraft with an American {{cvt|130|hp}} 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 {{cvt|130|hp}} 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 main production version was the '''Auster V''' ('''Model J''') which was an Auster IV with blind flying instruments, and a conventional trimmer design.<ref>Ellison 1966, p. 72.</ref><ref>Hitchman 1989, p. 54.</ref>

Post war, the Auster Mark V was used as the basis for the Auster J/1 Autocrat intended for the civilian market; the British firm having changed their name to Auster and stopped licensing from Taylorcraft. Further military aircraft were supplied, the Auster AOP6, Auster T7 (a trainer) and the Auster AOP9.

==Operational history== The Auster Mark III, IV and V were issued to twelve RAF, one Polish and three Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) air observation post (AOP) Squadrons. The first to deploy was 651 Squadron. The leading elements landed in Algiers on 12 November 1942 with eight aircraft, eleven Royal Artillery (RA) pilots, 39 RA soldiers and 25 airmen (mostly maintenance technicians). The normal strength of an AOP squadron was 12 aircraft, 19 RA officers (all pilots), 83 RA other ranks and 63 RAF including two administrative officers. Aircraft were fitted with an Army No 22 Wireless, an HF set providing two-way voice communications with artillery units and formations on the ground.

On 31 March 1943 Army Cooperation Command was disbanded, most of its assets being used to form the Second Tactical Air Force. Four squadrons (651, 654 Squadron, 655 Squadron and 657 Squadron) fought in North Africa and Italy, being joined from August 1944 by 663 Polish squadron. The other seven RAF squadrons (Nos. 652, 653, 658, 659, 660, 661 and 662) operated after D-Day in France, the Low Countries and into Germany.

664 Squadron, 665 Squadron, and 666 Squadron RCAF were also issued with the Auster Mk. IV and V, formed at RAF Andover in late 1944 and early 1945. The RCAF squadrons were manned by Canadian personnel of the Royal Canadian Artillery and the RCAF, with brief secondment to the squadrons with pilots from the Royal Artillery; control was maintained in Britain by 70 Group, RAF Fighter Command. The three squadrons deployed from RAF Andover to the Netherlands, to Dunkirk in France, where the last Canadian 'shots' in Europe were fired and later to occupied Germany. 656 Squadron RAF was assigned to the Fourteenth Army and used Austers in Burma, generally with flights assigned to each corps. In the European theatre a squadron was generally assigned to each corps but under command for technical matters of an RAF group.

The 16 AOP Flight and 17 AOP Flight of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) operated Auster Mark III aircraft in support of the Australian Army in the Pacific War from October 1944 until the end of the war.<ref name="Wilson">{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Stewart |title=Military Aircraft of Australia |date=1994 |publisher=Aerospace Publications |location=Weston Creek|isbn=1875671080 |pages=216}}</ref>

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 Majors) including 1903 Flight in Korea that had artillery pilots from several Commonwealth countries. There was also an Auster-equipped 1913 Liaison Flight. 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 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 Sherut Avir, formed in November 1947 as the air component of the Jewish paramilitary organisation Haganah, which later became part of the Israeli Air Force. They were supplemented early in 1948 by six ex-RAF Austers that had been assembled from hulks of 25 aircraft purchased as scrap. These aircraft formed the core of Israel's air force in the early part of the 1947–1949 Palestine war, being used for reconnaissance and supply missions, while also being used to drop home-made bombs on Arab forces.<ref>Nordeen 1991, pp.6–7</ref>

==Variants== right|thumb|Auster III

;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 {{cvt|90|hp|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 C2, 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=== thumb|right|Auster III of the Royal Australian Air Force at the RAAF Museum, Point Cook, Victoria, in March 1988 ;{{flagu|Australia}}: * Royal Australian Air Force<ref name="adf">[http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a11.htm ADF-Serials Auster Page]</ref> 56 Auster IIIs ** No. 2 Communications Unit RAAF ** No. 16 air observation post Flight RAAF ** No. 17 air observation post Flight RAAF ** No. 3 Squadron RAAF ** No. 77 Squadron RAAF ** No. 454 Squadron RAAF ** Aircraft Research and Development Unit RAAF * Royal Australian Navy<ref name="adf" /> ** 723 Squadron RAN ** 724 Squadron RAN ** 725 Squadron RAN

==Surviving aircraft== alt=Austrian based MS980 Auster A.O.P. V |thumb|Auster Mk. V, MS980

===Australia=== * A11-17 – Auster Mk. III in storage at the RAAF Museum in Point Cook, Victoria.<ref name="ADFS">{{cite web |last1=Cowan |first1=Brendan |title=RAAF A11 Taylorcraft Auster Mk.3, Mk.V, & Mk.6 |url=http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a11.htm |website=ADF Serials |access-date=30 July 2025 |date=9 September 2020}}</ref> * A11-34 – Auster Mk. III under restoration with Stuart Lee in Caboolture, Queensland.<ref name="WO">{{cite web |last1=Parker |first1=John |title=Taylorcraft Auster Mk.III Restorations |url=http://www.warbirdsonline.com.au/2017/07/03/taylorcraft-auster-mk-iii-restorations |website=Warbirds Online |access-date=30 July 2025 |date=3 July 2017}}</ref> * A11-41 – Auster Mk. III on static display at the Australian Army Flying Museum in Oakey, Queensland.<ref name="ADFS" /> * A11-48 – Auster Mk. III under restoration with Ron Lee in Caboolture, Queensland.<ref name="WO" />

===Austria=== * MS980 – Auster Mk. V under restoration to airworthy at Niederöblarn Airport in Niederöblarn, Styria.{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}}

===Canada=== * Auster Mk. V in storage at the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum in Sprucewoods, Manitoba.<ref>{{cite news |title=Wartime Plane Making Long Trip to RCA Museum |url=http://www.brandonsun.com/local/2013/10/04/wartime-plane-making-long-trip-to-rca-museum |access-date=30 July 2025 |work=Brandon Sun |date=4 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Oakden |first1=Andrew |title=Air OP Squadrons in WW2 |url=http://en.rcamuseum.com/canadian-air-op-squadrons-in-ww2 |website=Royal Canadian Artillery Museum |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref>

===Czech Republic=== * TW384 – Auster Mk. V airworthy at Rakovnik Airport in Rakovník, Central Bohemia.{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}}

===India=== * IN959 – Auster Mk. V on static display at the School of Artillery in Deolali, Maharashtra.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pillarisetti |first1=Jagan |title=Taylorcraft Auster V [IN959] at Artillery Mess |url=http://www.warbirds.in/maharashtra/nasik/auster-in959 |website=Warbirds of India |access-date=30 July 2025 |date=24 February 2014}}</ref>

===Netherlands=== * MZ231 – Auster Mk. III airworthy with the Koninklijke Luchtmacht Historische Vlucht in Gilze en Rijen, North Brabant.<ref>{{cite web |title=Auster Mk III |url=http://www.kluhv.nl/portfolio/auster |website=Koninklijke Luchtmacht Historische Vlucht |access-date=30 July 2025 |language=Dutch}}</ref><ref name="VAN" /> * MZ236 – Auster in storage at the Nationaal Militair Museum in Soesterberg, Utrecht.<ref name="VAN" /> * NX537 – Auster Mk. III on static display at Museum Deelen in Deelen, Gelderland.<ref name="VAN">{{cite news |last1=Aguiari |first1=Moreno |title=Dutch Auster On the Move |url=http://www.vintageaviationnews.com/aviation-museum-news/dutch-auster-on-the-move.html |access-date=30 July 2025 |work=Vintage Aviation News |date=7 April 2021}}</ref>

===United Kingdom=== thumb|alt=Auster Mk.IV NJ695 parked outside the WW2 control tower at Solent Airport|Auster Mk.IV NJ695 parked outside the WW2 control tower at Solent Airport * LB264 – Auster Mk. I on static display at the Royal Air Force Museum London in London.<ref>{{cite web |title=Taylorcraft Auster 1 |url=http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/collections/taylorcraft-auster-1 |website=Royal Air Force Museum |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref> * LB312 – Auster Mk. I on display with the Historic Army Aircraft Flight in Middle Wallop, Hampshire.<ref>{{cite web |title=Taylorcraft Auster Mk1 |url=http://www.haaf.uk/auster-mk1-info |website=Historic Army Aircraft Flight |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref> * MT438 – Auster Mk. III airworthy with Richard Brian Webber in Chulmleigh, Devon.<ref>{{cite web |title=Airframe Dossier - Taylorcraft-Auster AOP3, s/n MT438 RAF, c/r G-AREI |url=http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=62676 |website=Aerial Visuals |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref> * NJ695 – Auster Mk. IV airworthy at Solent Airport in Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire.{{cn|date=June 2026}} * RT486 – Auster Mk. V on static display at the RAF Manston History Museum in Ramsgate, Kent.<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Aircraft and Cockpit Displays |url=http://www.rafmanston.co.uk/our-aircraft-and-cockpit-displays |website=RAF Manston History Museum |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref>

==Specifications (Auster V)== {{Aircraft specs |prime units?=kts

|ref= ''British Warplanes of World War II'' and ''British Aircraft of World War II''. |crew=3 |length ft= 22 |length in= 5 |length m= 6.83 |span ft= 36 |span in= 0 |span m= 10.97 |height ft= 8 |height in= 0 |height m= 2.44 |wing area sqft= 167 |wing area sqm= 15.51 |empty weight lb= 1,100 |empty weight kg= 499 |max takeoff weight lb= 1,850 |max takeoff weight kg= 839 |eng1 name=Lycoming O-290-3 |eng1 type= flat-four piston |eng1 number= 1 |eng1 hp= 130 |eng1 kw= 97 |max speed kts= 113 |max speed kmh= 209 |range miles= 250 |range km= 402 |range note= or {{cvt|400|nmi|km mi}} with long range tank fitted. |stall speed kts=28 |stall speed kmh=51 |more performance= *'''Takeoff run:''' 91 ft (28 m)

}}

==See also== {{Portal|Aviation}} {{aircontent |related= * Auster AOP.6 * Taylorcraft B |similar aircraft= * Fieseler Fi 156 * Piper Cub * Polikarpov Po-2 * Stinson L-1 Vigilant * Stinson L-5 Sentinel * Taylorcraft L-2 |sequence= |lists= * List of aircraft of World War II |see also= }}

==References==

===Notes=== {{Reflist}}

===Bibliography=== * Blackburn, George. ''Where The Hell are the Guns?''. Toronto, Canada: McClelland & Stewart Publishing, 1997. {{ISBN|0-7710-1504-6}}. * {{cite journal |last1=Cortet |first1=Pierre |title=Rétros du Mois |journal=Avions: Toute l'aéronautique et son histoire |date=December 1999 |issue=81 |page=43 |trans-title=Retros of the Month |language=French |issn=1243-8650}} * {{cite journal |last1=Elliott |first1=Bryn |title=On the Beat: The First 60 Years of Britain's Air Police |journal=Air Enthusiast |date=January–February 1999 |issue=79 |pages=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". ''Air Enthusiast'' No. 107, September/October 2003. p. 74. {{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}}. * {{cite journal |last1=Lopes|first1=Mario C.|title=Courrier des Lecteurs |journal=Avions: Toute l'aéronautique et son histoire |date=February 2000 |issue=83 |page=3 |trans-title= Readers' Letters |language=French |issn=1243-8650}} * {{cite magazine |last=Lopes |first=Mario Canongia |title=In at the Deep End: The Auster in Portuguese Military Service |magazine=Air Enthusiast |date=March–April 1997 |issue=68 |pages=26–31 |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}}. * Mead, Brigadier Peter. ''The Eye in the Air – History of Air Observation and Reconnaissance for the Army 1785-1945''. London, UK: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1983. {{ISBN|0-11-771224-8}}. * Mondey, David. ''The Hamlyn Concise Guide to British Aircraft of World War II''. London: Chancellor Press, 1994. {{ISBN|1-85152-668-4}}. * {{cite journal |title=Pentagon Over the Islands: The Thirty-Year History of Indonesian Military Aviation |journal=Air Enthusiast Quarterly |date=n.d. |issue=2 |pages=154–162 |issn=0143-5450}} * "Taylorcraft Auster". ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft''. (Part Work 1982–1985). London: Orbis Publishing, 1985. * Willis, David. "Military Auster A to Z: Unarmed and in the frontline." ''Air Enthusiast'', Issue 121, January/February 2006, pp. 40–57. {{ISSN|0143-5450}}. * Willis, David. "Military Auster A to Z: Post-war use and experimentals." ''Air Enthusiast'', Issue 122, March/April 2006, pp. 42–57. {{ISSN|0143-5450}}. * Willis, David. "Military Auster A to Z: n different colours – Exports." ''Air Enthusiast'', Issue 123, May/June 2006, pp. 64–72. {{ISSN|0143-5450}}.

==External links== {{Commons category|Auster V}} * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070223063953/http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircraft/Auster.htm Fleet Air Arm archive]}} * [http://www.austerhg.org/auster_mags/Auster%20Quarterly%20Volume%201%20Number%201.pdf International Auster Pilot Club magazine, 1974]

Category:Auster aircraft Category:1940s British military reconnaissance aircraft Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft Category:Aircraft first flown in 1942 Category:Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Category:Single-engined piston aircraft