Evening Auster

Colours

VX927. This photo was taken about twelve months a go, and as you can see the struts are still blue and need repainting, along with the nose bowl which is an ‘aged’ cream needs to match the rest of the fuselage. The only non orignal part is the maul steerable tail wheel.

Nice pics – Here in Australia Austers used to be common at vintage aeroplane fly-ins (say 20 years ago) and Tiger Moths rare. Not so any more, Tigers are common, not unusual to have 10-15 attend a fly-in in S.E Queensland and Austers about 3-4.

My favourate Auster is the Mk3.

Unfortunately the $$ for Austers just isn’t there when selling them and the costs of restoration are relatively high. I have this theory that there are a lot of Austers out there waiting to be restored. I know of quite a few.

Not the best aeroplane in terms of landing performance, here in Queensland on a hot summers day, they tend to float on landing. Still Auster pilots are aware of that and as a result there are very few landing incidents.

regards
Ross

1946… Thanks for sharing that with us. Can you post another so we can see her colours?

We took our Terrier for a ‘evening flight’ earlier this month… I hope you all enjoy the attached!

orignal

I have tried to maintain as much orignality as possible with AIK. She still has the 100hp Cirrus minor, and I have just had another rebuilt, as the engine in the aircraft at the moment only has a short time to run and at present in running ‘on condition’. I fly to the condition and hp of an aircraft, and the prevailing conditions, both weather and airstrip. I have owned AIK for about five years and have ‘re-furbished’ not restored her, that is a compleat check of all systems, a clean up and repaint, and I went to adult-ed classes and learned to re-upholster, so the seats and the internal trim have been done.

Long ago, I bought a very small share in a J-1 Autocrat (with a Cirrus motor).
I had one flight in it, with an instructor.
A short while later someone else tried a take-off at above MAUW from halfway down a short strip, and failed to outclimb the surrounding hills.
A sticky end for the Autocrat.
To cap it off, the insurance company refused to pay out, on the basis that the aircraft was not being operated at that time with due care and within its performance limitations.
More or less spelt the end of my Auster adventure.

I believe the 100 hp Cirrus was a little breathless? Quite a few J/1s were converted to J/1Ns with a 130hp Gipsy Major instead of the Cirrus for that reason IIRC.

Long ago, I bought a very small share in a J-1 Autocrat (with a Cirrus motor).
I had one flight in it, with an instructor.
A short while later someone else tried a take-off at above MAUW from halfway down a short strip, and failed to outclimb the surrounding hills.
A sticky end for the Autocrat.
To cap it off, the insurance company refused to pay out, on the basis that the aircraft was not being operated at that time with due care and within its performance limitations.
More or less spelt the end of my Auster adventure.

I agree Auster Fan, its a lovely pic. Makes me more determined to try and achieve my dream of having a flight in one, in memory of my granddad who flew them during the war. His flying jacket was so heavy – his Irvine jacket is great for the winter weather. 🙂

You won’t regret it. Like many other British designs, they have a charm of their own, although I am told that if you can land one properly, you can land anything! To my chagrin, I haven’t flown in anywhere near as many as I would have liked, although the owner of G-AHHH (who occasionally frequents this forum) has been good to me in the past. It is my simple ambition to pilot one myself once I have my licence, which with a fair wind and weather I hope to have by the end of the year – so I probably won’t have!

I agree Auster Fan, its a lovely pic. Makes me more determined to try and achieve my dream of having a flight in one, in memory of my granddad who flew them during the war. His flying jacket was so heavy – his Irvine jacket is great for the winter weather. 🙂

Nice. What a lovely way to spend a late evening…………..

Super! Thanks for sharing that.

SoG