A great day to be Austering

[facthunter]

You missed out on the sliding windows moving open in flight unless jammed with a Marlborough cigarette pack. Nev

 

 

[planedriver]

Thanks for that info Dafydd, it was real interesting. I took my first flying lesson in an Auster at Shoreham.

 

Had I known these problems existed, I would have possibly stayed on the ground.

 

The one I flew had the more rounded, flatter faced engine cowl, so perhaps it had a Cirrus engine in it. The one's fitted with the Gypsy Major are more easily distinguished, and look the same as most Tiger Moths. It was a hand-start job, and you mentioned leaky fuel tanks. I know most old aircraft have a bit of a fuel smell, but I remember this one absolutely stank of fuel and made me feel a bit crook.

 

The Beagle Terrier version I had ride in some while later did not have the same problem, and the twin Beagle 206 ride to Ostend to drop off a spare part, I loved.

 

Kind Regards

 

Planey

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

A very informative appraisal of the Auster, Dafydd. Seems like it was British.

 

 

[facthunter]

It's based on an American design. The Taylorcraft. Nev

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

It's based on an American design. The Taylorcraft. Nev

...built by the British?

Dadydd's list of design flaws reminded me of my Lada Niva. Great car overall, decades ahead of the Japanese in many features, but decades behind in quality control. Where the Japanese would redesign to improve the product, the Russians and British just expected us to put up with what they kept churning out of their factories.

 

 

[facthunter]

IF it was British you wouldn't fit in the cockpit or be able to work on it. Dafydd's just a perfectionist when design comes into it. Nev

 

 

[Dafydd Llewellyn]

IF it was British you wouldn't fit in the cockpit or be able to work on it. Dafydd's just a perfectionist when design comes into it. Nev

Taylorcraft Aeroplanes, Leistershire, actually. I've always wondered why they didn't get around to making some part of it from leather. It started out as an emergency measure to provide artillery-spotting aeroplanes for the British Army, but the ship carrying the Lycomings was torpedoed, so they had to stick Gipsy Majors in them.

 

 

[facthunter]

You have to stick Gypsy majors somewhere. Nev

 

 

[planedriver]

And to double the resale value of any Lada, i'm told you simply put a couple of gallons of petrol in it

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

And to double the resale value of any Lada, i'm told you simply put a couple of gallons of petrol in it

Cheeky bugger!

Actually I wish I still had it for a paddock basher. They'll go anywhere.

 

 

 

 

[coloc22]

hello I want to share a picture of our auster with lycoming o320 108 hp. The speed is around 100 mph.

 

 

[coloc22]

sorry lycoming o 235 whit 108 hp

 

 

[Dafydd Llewellyn]

hello I want to share a picture of our auster with lycoming o320 108 hp. The speed is around 100 mph.

Here's an example of the J5G with Lycoming 0-360:

 

 

[facthunter]

Too much Pathos for one day. I think all the three or four I flew are still going and that's 50 years later. Nev

 

 

[kaz3g]

hello I want to share a picture of our auster with lycoming o320 108 hp. The speed is around 100 mph.Very pretty, Coloc...who did the 0-235 conversion and what did it have originally?

 

Kaz

[kaz3g]

Daffyd, there is a truly magnificent 0-360 conversion for sale at the moment. It has had a very expensive total rebuild that cost the owner a heck of a lot more than the $80k he has been asking for it.

 

Kaz

 

 

[facthunter]

I think the Mk5 was the only one with a flat engine originally. It was reputed to be hard to start not having impulse on a magneto. I don't know if that is true, but it was the word at the time It is easy to overpower an Auster. Even the J5G Autocar ( have I got it right) Doesn't need more than 180 HP Lots of power for a low speed cruise plane is a waste of fuel. It gets off the ground well and that is all. Nev

 

 

[Dafydd Llewellyn]

Daffyd, there is a truly magnificent 0-360 conversion for sale at the moment. It has had a very expensive total rebuild that cost the owner a heck of a lot more than the $80k he has been asking for it.Kaz

They really should have their wing leading-edge ribs replaced with pressed-sheet ribs. However, they have a good useful load to gross weight ratio; quite uniquely useful as a bush aircraft, actually. There were about six of them, as i recall. I still have the drawings.

 

 

[kaz3g]

I think the Mk5 was the only one with a flat engine originally. It was reputed to be hard to start not having impulse on a magneto. I don't know if that is true, but it was the word at the time It is easy to overpower an Auster. Even the J5G Autocar ( have I got it right) Doesn't need more than 180 HP Lots of power for a low speed cruise plane is a waste of fuel. It gets off the ground well and that is all. Nev

A great number of late WWII Mark V Austers were built originally with the 0-290 of 130 HP. The engines were provided under lend-lease arrangements but many were removed after the war and returned, as I understand it.

 

Most Austers coming out here came as airframes without an engine (mine did) and were fitted with the upside down oiler by company's like KSAS.

 

Mine has the unusual addition of a Spitfire centre panel in the instrument board. It's a cow of a thing to get in and out because it is mounted in the instrument board on 3 mounts with what I can only describe as independent suspension. Apparently designed to protect gyros and such from vibration shock but age has wearied them to the point where one is now fixed rather than floating.

 

Kaz

 

 

[IanR]

Mine has the unusual addition of a Spitfire centre panel in the instrument board. It's a cow of a thing to get in and out because it is mounted in the instrument board on 3 mounts with what I can only describe as independent suspension. Apparently designed to protect gyros and such from vibration shock but age has wearied them to the point where one is now fixed rather than floating.

Kaz

Kaz, the RAF blind flying panel was standard on the MK5 - mine has it as well.

The MK 4 and MK 5 both came standard with the O-290-3

 

 

[kaz3g]

Kaz, the RAF blind flying panel was standard on the MK5 - mine has it as well.The MK 4 and MK 5 both came standard with the O-290-3

Hey Ian

 

I haven't found my Auster book since I moved house :-)

 

Will you be at Temora?

 

Know where I might get some of those independent spring things to hold the panel properly, please?

 

Best

 

Kaz

 

 

[IanR]

Hey IanI haven't found my Auster book since I moved house :-)

 

Will you be at Temora?

 

Know where I might get some of those independent spring things to hold the panel properly, please?

 

Best

 

Kaz

Yes we will be in Temora. ABA goes in for its annual on Monday so it will be sure to be ready in time. Plan is to get there Friday.

I have not had to source those springs so not sure. Have you tried on the Auster club forum ? Otherwise there is a company in the UK called Auster Spares who may be able to help.

 

 

[kaz3g]

Yes we will be in Temora. ABA goes in for its annual on Monday so it will be sure to be ready in time. Plan is to get there Friday.I have not had to source those springs so not sure. Have you tried on the Auster club forum ? Otherwise there is a company in the UK called Auster Spares who may be able to help.

My annual is due 31 March so will get it done a couple of weeks earlier at Transaero. Not many doing R&T these days and they are very good.

 

Kaz

 

 

[facthunter]

I think Rag and Tube are very good, too.. On the matter of the 0-360 engine fit, wouldn't that be a bit of a hot -rod (overpowered) . There was a six cylinder powered one at Bankstown which may have been an O-300. Continental but would exceed Vne in level flight easily. It was Black and Yellow from memory. J1 of some kind (3 seater) Nev

 

 

[Dafydd Llewellyn]

I think Rag and Tube are very good, too.. On the matter of the 0-360 engine fit, wouldn't that be a bit of a hot -rod (overpowered) . There was a six cylinder powered one at Bankstown which may have been an O-300. Continental but would exceed Vne in level flight easily. It was Black and Yellow from memory. J1 of some kind (3 seater) Nev

No, I wouldn't describe it as a hot-rod; the reduction in propeller diameter about compensated for the 25 extra nominal horsepower. Having towed gliders out of paddocks with an original J5G, there wasn't much to choose between them for performance. The Lycoming version benefitted mainly by being able to lose the 25 lb of so block of cast iron above the tail-wheel, as well as the direct benefit of the lighter engine weight. The empty weight reduced by about 75 lbs, as I recall. The problem with the original engines was that most of the Cirrus Majors had by then spent years between 598 and 599 engine hours (the TBO was 600 hrs, and parts were no longer available) . . .

The one you saw was probably an 0-470 engine conversion done by Aerosmith in the 1960s.