Auster

History

Following the purchase by the County Flying Club, operating from Rearsby Aerodrome, of a Taylorcraft Model A from the USA, club member Alfred Launcelot Wykes (b. 29 April 1899, Mountsorrel, Leicestershire, the son of Alfred and Sarah Wykes) decided there was a ready market for it in the UK. Wykes, Managing Director of textile machinery company Crowther Ltd, of Thurmaston, Leicester, visited America and met up with C.G. Taylor, who originated from Nottingham. Wykes had previously had contact with Taylor prior to him emigrating to America in the 1920s. Following acquisition of license rights for the newer Model B, Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Ltd was registered as a private company on the 21st November 1938, with both production and selling rights for the British Empire and Europe. A building behind Crowther’s factory at Britannia Works, Thurmaston, was acquired for the fledgling company, of which Wykes became Managing Director with Frank Bates and Percy Wykes as directors.

Incorporated in the licence agreement, a complete fuselage jig was purchased and shipped from America, along with a complete set of drawings, technical information and material schedules. Also a complete Taylorcraft Model B aeroplane was purchased and delivered to the Thurmaston works. The first aircraft built at the Britannia Works differed from the original American Model B by using heavier gauge British standard tubing and larger wing spars and was designated the Model Plus C. Work began on the first aircraft in February 1939, and it was towed backwards to Ratcliffe Aerodrome, owned by Sir Lindsay Everard, for flight test, on 24 April. The first flight took place on 3 May, just nine weeks from the start.

The early aircraft for civil flying were being sold to flying clubs for £500 each, but nonetheless, prior to the outbreak of war, the company was in financial difficulties. Their limited capital, raised through family connections, had been absorbed and there were serious cash flow problems. In retrospect it seems doubtful if production could have continued if it had not been for the outbreak of war and the subsequent military contracts.

Following the outbreak of WW2, private flying had been banned and Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Limited was virtually at a standstill. However, following military interest in the Model Plus C, 1939 had seen a change to a more powerful British powerplant, resulting in the Model Plus D which eventually entered service with the British Army as the Auster I. Additionally, in order to find work to keep the team together, some sub-contract work was obtained from the major aircraft firms most notably making seats for Airspeed Oxfords and fins for the Hurricane as well as components for the Spitfire, Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle and Hawker Audax. To accommodate all its activities the company took over the County Flying Group airfield on Gaddesby lane, Rearsby, some 5 miles northeast of Thurmaston, where hangers were built and extensions to the airfield were made.

Earlier in 1940, the company was asked if it could repair Tiger Moth aircraft, and this was followed by repair contracts for Hawker Hurricanes and Typhoons. As part of this, four new hangers were built at the Rearsby Aerodrome. Altogether ten production, repair and stores units were taken over in dispersed areas of Leicestershire as follows:
No. 1 Works: The original Crowther machine shop at Britannia Works, Thurmaston, which undertook all metal machining for the Auster programme.
No. 2 Works: The first Taylorcraft assembly shop behind the Britannia Works, Thurmaston, which became the Tiger Moth repair section
No. 3 Works: A small component repair shop, located in Sheffields garage at Syston, a small town midway between Thurmaston and Rearsby.
No. 4 Works: Part of Allens garage at Mountsorrel, used for Hurricane component repairs.
No. 5 Works: Part of the En-Tout-Cas works at Thurmaston, used for component repairs and salvage.
No. 6 Works: The aerodrome and assembly hangars for Hurricane, Typhoon, Auster and Tiger Moth assemblies, along with the flight shed at Rearsby.
No. 7 Works: An ex-shoe factory at Syston which became the main Auster assembly shop.
No. 8 Works: The woodwork shop at Syston doing all Auster and Tiger Moth woodwork repairs and new production.
No. 9 Works: A small experimental works at Brookside, Syston.
No. 10 Works: A raw material store at Syston at the rear of Wilkinsons garage.
The Plus D jigs were moved to No. 6 Works and all further Auster aircraft were flown from there. Variants of the basic Taylorcraft Auster continued throughout the war, culminating in the Model K Auster Mk.6.

Towards the end of World War 2, Wykes was preparing plans for the sale of civil Austers for active peacetime flying. To cater for the expected demand, arrangements were put in hand to find distributors and agents both in the U.K. and overseas. Regrettably he did not see his plans mature for he died in an accident when flying an Auster IV on May 14th 1944. This was a severe blow to the Company, which had always relied on Wykes’ drive and enthusiasm.

Following the cessation of hostilities, military production of the Model K and its trainer equivalent, the Model Q, continued, but interest now returned to the civil market. It was decided to produce two aircraft, one a 2-seater and another with 3 seats. The basic airframe of the wartime Model J Auster V Air Observation aircraft formed the basis of these and nearly all the company's post war civil production, beginning with the 3 seat Model J/1 Autocrat of 1946 and the two seat J/2.

The license agreement with Taylorcraft of America having ended postwar, the company name was changed to Auster Aircraft Limited on 8 March 1946. Production continued at Rearsby, where both design and manufacture centred from 1947, of both civil and military aircraft. Over the next 13 years, virtually all Auster production revolved around the J/1 and J/5 variants. Only two other projects reached production, the less than successful B.8 Agricola and the AOP.6 replacement, the B.5 AOP.9.

In 1959 when aircraft production was proceeding on a reduced scale, Auster was approached by O.G.M.A. (Oficinas Gerais de Material Aeronautico) in Portugal, who were looking for a light training/communications aircraft. The required aircraft was to be a side-by-side two seater but capable of seating up to three, and powered by a Lycoming type engine. The result was the Auster D Series, the two seat D.4, based on the J/2 Arrow and the three seat D.5, based on the J/1N, but thoroughly modernised and featuring metal spars and propellers replacing the Auster standard wooden ones.

The requirement by O.G.M.A. was for a licence for manufacture in Portugal and complete manufacturing details, including drawings of tools, jigs and components, as well as specifications of materials, manufacturing operational details and other instructions were needed. The original contract, signed on 4 November 1959, was for 20 complete aircraft, fifteen D.5 and five D.4, to be built by Auster, while 150 were to be built by O.G.M.A. in Portugal from Auster supplied kits.

While manufacture for the O.G.M.A. order continued, far more significant events were happening. On 7 October 1960, the company was taken over by the Pressed Steel Company to form part of British Executive and General Aircraft Limited (BEAGLE). The Rearsby branch now became Beagle-Auster, Auster design and development continuing within the new corporate framework. The project then going through the design office at the time of the takeover, a more developed version of the D series, finally appeared as the Beagle A.109 Airedale.

Between 1959 and 1962, Auster and Beagle-Auster bought back from the Air Ministry several batches of the AOP Mk 6 and T.7, which were then available for disposal. The initial result, the utilitarian Auster 6A Tugmaster, did not give the Beagle Company the image they sought, so a new concept was put in hand to refurbish the airframe to a more improved standard. The A.61 Terrier 1 was the first model, being an improved version of the 6A Tugmaster, and finally the Terrier 2 appeared.

In 1966 the Pressed Steel Company was taken over by the British Motor Corporation, and later by British Leyland, and as £5-6 million had already been invested in the Beagle project, they decided to withdraw, selling their interests in the aircraft business to the Government. Beagle by now had three design teams; Beagle plus Miles at Shoreham and the Auster team at Rearsby, who were still working on the Auster variants and modifications. It was evident that Beagle did not have the capacity to deal with all the projected products, from either the design, experimental, construction or production angle. Therefore, all efforts were directed to concentrate on the Beagle projects alone. When this decision was reached the names of Auster and Miles were deleted from the Beagle Aircraft name heading, and both works were to operate under the name of Beagle Aircraft Limited.

In 1968 there was a change in the Beagle directorate. It was found that having two bases 150 miles apart was not conducive to economy, and it was considered that Rearsby should be closed. At the same time it was decided to dispose of Auster. A few concerns expressed interest in Auster, and eventually Hants and Sussex Aviation (H and S), who operated from Portsmouth Aerodrome, bought Auster, including stores holdings, drawings, technical information and tools for the sum of £35,000.

In 1971 H and S took over the complete Gipsy engine support business from Rolls-Royce, and room had to be found to house this. It was decided to sell their Auster holdings to RF Saywell at Shoreham, who looked after Auster for a further three year, before selling to Precision Engineering at Syston, who in turn sold to CJ Baker, of Carr Farm, Thorney, Newark, Nottinghamshire.

Company References

1. The History of the Auster Aeroplane, A.V. Hitchman (International Auster Pilot Club, 1989)
2. Auster – Nearly All You Wanted To Know, Mike Preston and Mick Ames (The International Auster Club Heritage Group, 2002)
3. Auster - The Company and the Aircraft, Tom Wenham, Rod Simpson, Malcolm Filmore (Air Britain Publishing, 2018)
4. False Dawn: The Beagle Aircraft Story, Tom Wenham (Air-Britain Publications, 2015)
5. British Private Aircraft, 1946-1970, Volume 1, Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume (Mushroom Model Publications, 2013)
6. The Taylorcraft Story, Chet Peek (Three Peaks Publishing, 1992)
7. Auster Quarterly Vol 1, Nos 1-6
8. Beagle News Vols 4-8
9. Aeroplane Monthly, Sep-Oct 1977
10. Air Britain Digest, 1989/2 (Air-Britain Publications)
11. Aviation News Vol 17 No 19

Following the Taylorcraft Model C, the company used a designation system whereby each new design was allocated a single letter in alphabetical sequence, while modifications of the basic design were designated by a slash and numeric sequence (i.e., Model D, Model D/1).
During 1945 the company began once again to look towards civil production and a complete family of designs was developed from the Model J. These were again designated with a slash and numeric sequence added to the basic Model J designation (i.e., J/1, J/2 etc.). Further, each of the J/1 and J/5 versions were divided into a further sub-series denoted by a letter suffix (i.e., J/1A, J/1B etc.), as shown below.
In the late 1940s, Auster adopted the SBAC designation system for all new designs. While developments of the original Taylorcraft designs continued with the Alpha/Numeric system, with Models M and N of 1948, being original designs not developed from the original Taylorcraft, moved to the new designation system.