Gentlemen,

Thank you for taking the time to reply, so much appreciated and it all makes interesting reading.

I myself have the Miles Putnam book and now realise that it was my quick scanning of the pages that I made the mistake of referring to the Miles M66. Need to slow down a bit, me thinks!!

The only reference I have ever come across to ‘Miles’ being mentioned with A2/45 was in that Army Journal article. I agree with you that it could be a mistake as believe like yourself only the Heston and the Auster were submitted to the specification. Backing this up is Richard Riding’s article on the A2/45 in Aeroplane Monthly December 1983 which states ‘that Auster and the Heston Aircraft Company, amongst others, began studies for the A2/45 requirement and were the only two companies to produce prototypes’.

What is also interesting was that Auster had use of a Fi.156 Storch from 1946 to the early 1950s. Its identity is not known as the only few photos of it show it to have no serial number painted on the fuselage. It is recorded that this might be the example held by the RAF Museum?

I have in my collection a photo of Aiglet Trainer G-AMMS with a Storch in the background, but this time painted in an overall silver scheme. Perhaps it is the same airframe.

If anyone is interested to see more about what I’m rambling on about, please have a look at the A2/45 gallery at the wonderful Auster Heritage Group website at: http://austerhg.org/

There are hundreds of old Auster photos in their galleries and browsing can take a few hours!!!

Thanks again,

Martin