Auster for sale in England

[taylorcraftbc65]

I just saw an Auster with part 135 papers for sale in England for 14,000 Pounds that was advertised on Barnstormers. Perhaps our resident Ambassador of Taylorcraftness could see that the plane went to a deserving, loving home. Sabrina

[Robert Lees]

Sabrina,

We had the International Auster Club Fly-in here last weekend...four turned up, and they were parked so far apart I had to threaten to use four separate matches to set them all alight.

They all departed the same evening, surprisingly!

Not that I have anything against Austers, you understand, but they took a perfectly good design and added girders.

(tongue in cheek here).

As you are aware, Austers were designed in Leicester (my home town) from the Taylorcraft, even our Airfield Maintenance Manager is the old Chief Engineer of Auster.

Now it has come to pass that in the last 15 years, Leicester is the UK home of American Alliance-built Taylorcrafts.

Being always short of cash as all aircraft owners are, we go to the local mortgage lender who is called the "Alliance and Leicester"

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/

How co-incidental is that?

Rob

p.s.what type of Auster was it for sale?

[taylorcraftbc65]

Auster for sale

Robert,
I'll look and let you know in an hour or so.

[Robert Lees]

One of our resident Austers (and due to the proximity of Rearsby...4 miles away...where most Austers were built, we do have a few)

anyway, he found some metal chips in his Gypsy Major (130hp) engine a couple of years ago, it cost him £17,000 for a new engine (that's about $30,000)

For a new engine. Four Cylinder. From the 1950's.

Well call me old fashioned, give me a 65hp Taylorcraft any time.

Not that I'm biased, of course.

[stukiwi]

Re: Auster for sale in England

Hey enough bad mouthing Austers!!! I fly mine here in New York and I love it. Its solid stable and you can get bits for the engine (I have two) you just need to scrounge them from the Tiger Moth or Chipmonk boys. They fly rather heavy but are built like the proverbial brick house and with 55 degrees of flap they land slow. With the gypsy engine the cowling is very narrow and forward vis isgreat for a taildragger.
Stu

[taylorcraftbc65]

Re: Auster for sale in England

Stu,
I never bad mouth anything that flies, but the Auster sure had an interior that looked like a living room of a house with that rear seat.
You guys still have snow up there? I used to live in Candor, N.Y., (Tioga County) when I went to school in Ithica. Brie

[VictorBravo]

Re: Auster for sale in England

This is gonna get ugly. Two American Auster lovers versus a Brit (in Leicester no less) who isn't an Auster lover. Take the gloves off, old chap...

John Morris where are you... we need you in this righteous fight Hank Bullock, come on down!

BTW Rob, they didn't add girders, they added entire bridges

But they also did all the things that Tayalorcraft should have done and didn't.

USA Taylorcrafts are delightful, but they are limited in a lot of ways. There is no glidepath control, and with the pre-war airplane I have the forward slip capability is even a bit less than the big-tail post war version. It is great sport to show off in a slip, and try to hit the spot on landing to the cheers of the unwasheed masses, but the truth is that if you were in a serious situation and really wanted to make a steep descent and hit the spot it is not a guaranteed thing.

The "split flaps" on the Mark 3 through 5 Auster (including the Autocrat I had) really work. They make a lot of drag and a little lift. I cannot wait to try the external flaps on a Mark 6.

The stock USA Taylorcraft is very very short on visibility. Auster fixed this problem by adding a clear roof panel and extended side windows even in the early versions (Mk 1 through 3), followed by a huge blown canopy on the Mk 4 and after. Although you still can't see directly out the side without hunching over, the Auster gives you as much visibility as a Taylorcraft is capable of. It took many years until Taylorcraft USA offered the clear roof and side windows as even an option.

The low wing loading on the USA T-craft is again delightful. It allows great performance on even 65 horsepower. The Taylorcraft can be flown like a motorized glider, and I know a guy who used to do dead stick airshow routines with a propeller-removed T-craft towed up by another 100HP clipwing.

But flying a light US T-craft on a bumpy day is not exactly joyous. The extra wing loading on an Auster would come in handy, ESPECIALLY because there is no increase in stall speed. In fact, my Auster Autocrat had a placard stall speed of 24 knots! And no floating down the runway!

In 1941, the British recognized the need for more horsepower on the basic airframe. The Taylorcraft L-2 designers did not. The British initially used the 100HP Blackburn Cirrus Minor, which was not a huge success, and went to the Lycoming O-290 ground power unit with 125 horse (Mark 2). This worked very well, but the U-boat situation in the Atlantic convinced them to use the locally available Gipsy Major (Mk 3), which also worked very well, until the O-290 deliveries were sorted out (Mk 4 and 5). It took 20+ years after WW2 for the US Taylorcraft to get 100 horsepower, and another 20 years after that to get 118, 150, and 180 horsepower.

The Austers had a very large rear area that could seat an observer sideways in early WW2 versions, and even a small seat for 2 children in post-war versions. Although of heavier construction, it was the same size airframe as the US T-craft. An Auster in 1946 had a bigger and better baggage compartment than a 1978 F-19.

All the extra structure did indeed require more power. But by the same token it was a much heavier duty aircraft. A 100 horsepower Auster (assuming that the Cirrus engine could be convinced to provide an honest 100 horse) would have no better climb or cruise than a 65 horse US T-craft. Granted. But the same Auster could be seen out of, could approach steeply to a normal landing at 30 miles an hour, was much more of an "off-road" machine if needed, would have a better ride in turbulence, and had much more useful room inside.

An O-320 on an Auster 5, or the 145 horse Gipsy on the later Auster 6 or 7, would in my opinion be a fantastic, fun, useful and rugged airplane. The Auster sticks are more fun than the wheel controls, but that is personal preference only. There are times when knowing you are flying a brick ****house is comforting as well.

That being said, I love my pre-war BC-65 dearly. the modifications I am making to it will approximate some of the Auster improvements... the skylight is in and in the process of being approved, I have found a set of Auster sticks to try and get approved, and a bigger engine will be on the list too.

But yes, I have to admit I would trade my BC-65 for an Auster. I have owned and flown both. Only the price tag of a good Auster stopped me from buying another one this time around.

Like the old saying that we are "two great people separated by a common language", they are two different airplanes separated by a common design.

[Richard Boyer]

Re: Auster for sale in England

You know, that is a real interesting write up. I really did enjoyed reading it. But, gosh darn those suckers aren't easy on the eyes!

(but I do concede that beauty is in the eye of the beholder!)

Richard Boyer
N95791

[N96337]

Re: Auster for sale in England

Bill, do you or anyone handy have any drawings of the flaps on the Mk6? That always interested me... not that they're a complete necessity, but they sure would come in handy at times!!
JH

[VictorBravo]

Re: Auster for sale in England

I don't have any Mark 6 info, but it appears from the picture that Stu's airplane is a late model Auster... he might have some. John Morris has a Mark 6 and so does Hank Bullock in Oregon.

If you're thinking about a conversion from an American T-craft to use Mk 6 flaps, I suspect there is a lot of extra structure you'd have to duplicate.

[VictorBravo]

Re: Auster for sale in England

Assuming you are considering a modification program, IMHO rather than go through the huge effort to modify a T-craft for the Mark 6 "Junkers" type flaps, you might be better off converting to the earlier Auster split flaps. they would still require some more structure, but I suspect they'd be a little easier. Come to think of it, you could use the late model Taylorcraft F-22 "plain flaps" and you might even be able to use the F-22 as approved data. If you are interested in the easiest path to achieve better glidepath control, the easiest solution would be to incorporate the L-2 spoilers or some version of them. I have it on good authority (L-2 owner on my airport) that they work well. I have also heard stories that the FAA at one time wanted them wired closed.

[N96337]

Re: Auster for sale in England

I'd heard that too Bill. The spoilers would be a simple way to go. This will be experimental, so approval is a non issue. The mk6 used a trailing flap like the Ju52? That would seem to be in the way to me...very effective, but still in the way at times. The Tcraft certainly doesn't [I]need[I]flaps, but they'd sure be handy at times..give more of a margin, and I'm all for margins!
JH

[VictorBravo]

Re: Auster for sale in England

To my unbderstanding, the Mark 6 uses "Junkers" flaps as found on the Ju-52, Ju-86 and Ju-87. however the Auster flaps might be differeent. I HEARD that the Auster's flaps close off the open slot at max deflection, and I am not sure of the true WW2 Junkers flaps do that or not. The more important point is that you would need to make up the supports that bolt to the rear spar for the flap loads, and the mechanism to operate it. For safety, you would NEED to do what is called a "proof of control test" to make sure it will hold together in flight.

[VictorBravo]

Re: Auster for sale in England

Sorry for the mis-spellings and typo errors in my last post... it's after midnight and I have been working on my T-craft all day and evening. Flew a test flight of my new "stealth" trim tabs. Promising!

[N96337]

Re: Auster for sale in England

I hear that Bill.... just curious at this point still... but the old brain's making clunking noises... hehehe
JH