Auster Wing Mounted Generators

All part of the charm…?

The variations in post war Austers are headache inducing!

Many thanks for all the replies, particularly Stan, as your answer pretty well covers the variations I’ve seen.

There is another set of Plus D wings with Philip Bedford at the Dromod collection. He needs Mk.V wings.

While on the subject of Auster wing matters, does anyone have a set of early wings available, suitable for a Plus D, or even just a set of wing ribs? The wings that came with it are in pretty awful condition and would rebuild for a static, but are not usable for our needs. Thank you.

Hey Stan I didn’t realise you had two Austers. Which J1B do you have. I used to have a Mark V and it never had a wing generator. I now have a J5F and although it never had any kind of electrical system Ive seen photos of them with wing tip and rudder lights and a wing mounted generator. I would say the V never had one and as David Burke said the VI was the first military one to use them and for the civilains it would be an option when you were ordering your aerial carriage or as Stan says a mod to one that never had one. The wings that came with my J5F are were from another F which didn’t have a generator but I have a rear cover for the Gipsy which takes an engine driven generator so might do that.

With ref to my 1956 Auster Repair manual and my 1951 Spares Schedule, the fitting of a wing generator to any mark of Auster is S.O.O.(Special Order Only) and is done under Mod.2340 so can be fitted at any time a customer so required. Post factory the wing generator mod can be fitted by any so approved maintenance base.
The Mk V wing does not have provision for wing tanks in standard form. The wings for the J5B,F,G,H,K,L,P,Q and R are standard with wing tanks. That said there is no big issue with fitting wing tanks to other marks as it entails fitting steel loadbearing ribs to the inner bay and the tank bay skin now acts as the crossbrace wires which have to be removed. Ref Post 9 above, the J1N was not fitted with either wing tanks or generator as standard so has been modified later in life, or may have been S.O.O. from the factory.
My J1B has a wing mounted generator as standard, but my J5 ( ZK-DBU ex R.N.Z.A.F. NZ1702) has a localy made “clamp” mount on the Stbd front lift strut. I can but presume that this was done by either Air Force or Army engineers when the aeroplane was taken over by No 3 B.S. squadron for Army Artillery work and the generator was needed to power the No 12 Army Radio set.

The civil aircraft likely didn’t come with an engine generator.
Many basic, entry-level general aviation aircraft of the post war-era didn’t have electrical systems. In many remote areas you could fly without a radio.

Would it help to ask why these modification were made? The military AOP Mk V presumably used batteries (and an engine mounted gennerator) to power the military (ground) radio used to control the artillery shoots. What was on the civilian Mk V that needed the wing generator?

I wanted to know when the generators were introduced to the Mk.V’s.

What do you wish to establish ? There are pictures online of Mk.V with and without generators. However if you look at wartime pictures of Mk.V its very unlikely you will find any with generators.

The original Mk.V I was asking about was a 1945 aircraft, with a generator, but without wing tanks. Now another friend has a 1946 J1N. That one has a generator and wing tanks.

Assuming the serial number is sequential across all marks of Auster, then there’s only about 350 aircraft between the type with and without wing tanks, though both have the generator. Does anyone have the serial for a Mk.V without a generator?

I’ve heard mixed reports on whether they were or weren’t, from both owners and aircraft enthusiasts, but haven’t seen any documentation to say conclusively either way.

Just looked in a 5/J1 factory airframe manual and that does show a wing mounted generator. So maybe civil 5/J1s only?

FB

I doubt they were fitted in production.

So any dates in the production run for the generator fitting on Mk.V’s?

Yes – belly tanks are in demand!

My friends Auster doesn’t have wing tanks, but it does have a belly tank to increase range.

Auster V in military use didnt have wing tanks. The fuel tank is mounted behind the instrument panel.However there are Mk.V wings that have been modified to have wing tanks. The Mk.6 wing is different – it has brackets mounted on the trailing edge of the ribs to fit the flaps. Only about one or two Austers have had Mk.6 wings modified back to Mk.V standard but its a lot of work.