“One of Duxford’s oldest and most precious residents”
Unfortuately, IWM does not share this view, and the Auster is to leave Duxford by the end of the year. Presumably it is not warlike enough.
It seems that they have failed to apprehend that the Auster series of spotting planes was the cornerstone of what became the Army Air Corps, and that a single Auster in the field, with an artillery regiment behind it, could call down more sudden and complete devastation on the enemy than a whole squadron of Lancasters.
A book published last year called “Warlike Sketches” by Arrol Macfarlane gives a very good account of the kind of service seen by the Army Austers. He logged 389 operational sorties, many of them under fire, which bears comparison with the 30 or so missions which comprised an operational tour in Bomber Command. It is a pity that the Austers’ work is not more appreciated.
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