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AUSTER AIRCRAFT LTD. |
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| UK |
Formerly called Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England), but in March 1946 this was changed to the above and the factory transferred from Thurmaston, Leicester, to Rearsby, Leicester. Auster name was well established in Second World War by light observation (AOP) monoplanes known as Taylorcraft Austers, and many of these made an important contribution to the development of postwar light aviation. The type mainly concerned was the Auster 5, or Model J, three-seater with Lycoming engine. As war neared its end Taylorcraft designers were already looking to the civil market, and the outcome was the Autocrat, often British-powered and widely used not only for ordinary tasks but also, for instance, to test the Rover TP.90 gas turbine. In the 1950s came the Aiglet and the Autocar, one of the latter being used to test the Saunders- Roe hydro-ski landing gear. Its name notwithstanding, the Aiglet Trainer differed greatly from the Aiglet, and the Agricola was an entirely new low-wing agricultural aircraft, first flown December 1955. To supersede the A0P6 the entirely new military A0P9 was tested in March 1954, by which time the British Army and RAF had received nearly 2,000 Austers.
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 All the World's Rotorcraft |
