Classic British Flight Sim

Paul,

Thank you once again for your encouragement. I appreciate it.

Leif,

Sincere thanks for your interest in the subject. You also have been linked with aviation over a long time. I found your account of the Austers really interesting. Great stuff. If you can possibly get hold of a copy of ‘Rearsby Recalled’ by Les Leetham, you will find it to be a fascinating account of the company history. Alas, it is long out of print and I cannot find a copy on any of the web bookstores, e.g. Abebooks, etc. As a matter of fact, after I spoke to Les the other day, he expressed an interest in this site and I got the impression that he might contribute to it. So, fingers crossed, let us hope for some truly interesting memoirs from him because apart from all the other work that he did for Austers, he went to Malaya to trouble shoot the many problems with the MK9 that appeared when it started operating under tropical conditions.

I had no idea that so many Chipmunks (surely, a gentleman’s aeroplane and one of my favourites to fly) had been sent to the States. I may be wrong but I would imagine that Bill Fisher, who dealt with many Chippie sales and is an expert on them, was involved.

Here’s a yarn that he told me. The pilots in the clubhouse watched as one of their own walked out to the Chipmunk. He untied the concrete blocks from the picketing points on the aeroplane and then spent a long time trying to fire it up without success. Eventually, he gave up, shut everything off, closed the canopy, re-tied the concrete blocks and walked back to the clubhouse. ‘I cannot start that damn thing’. ‘Did you check that the mag switches in the rear cockpit were on?’ ‘Oh, I didn’t know about that!’ So once more they watched him walk out to the Chippie, slide back the rear canopy, reach inside to do something, close the canopy, climb into the front and after a little time, the engine fired up, he did his checks, and started to taxi along to the runway. Yes, you’ve guessed it, the concrete blocks were bumping and bouncing along on the grass behind him. He only became aware of them when he braked at the holding point and the blocks carried forward, bounced up higher than the wings and fell through their fabric and structure. Bill did the loss adjustment on the insurance claim.

I must confess that I have every sympathy with the ‘lineboy’. After swinging the Bombardier so frequently, I was at an air display and Brian Lecomber, author and aerobatic display pilot, asked if I would hand swing his Lycoming powered display aircraft which had a three bladed prop. I ended up in an undignified heap on the deck and under the propellor. Very embarrassing.

Martin,

Thanks for your comments. WZ662 was hangared in an annexe at the Museum of Army Flying, Middle Wallop for quite some time. Unfortunately, I was never able to fly in her because of airworthiness problems. I think that it is the only example that has the day glow stripes on it, these being an aid to locating the aircraft should it crash in the jungles of Malaya. David Shepherd’s famous painting of the MK9 shows a similar paint scheme.

Ralph

Thanks Ralph


Thats funny because I had heard the chippy and the cement block story as well - (Told at of all places Oshkosh).
Another neat little trick I got to show the Auster owner was the knack of tapping the impulse coupler on the engine with
a spanner to free up the contacts (something I watched engineers and Flight Instructors do many times in the dark
days of Austers and Chipmunks) - as to Hand propping things - the easiest - My ex father in laws C85 J3 - properly primed and
attended to I could start it with two fingers Most difficult - a Pitts S2A on a collllldddddd October morning - scariest -
ANY Stearman If Bill Fisher is still around ask him he dealt with Bob Rust - He'd remember the guy - he was a retired Eastern
Airlines captain who had his own strip south of Atlanta - ALL of the Chipmunks on his property were ex RAF.


Thanks for the fond memories


Leif

MK9 Ops and the Start of an Affair

Carrying on with AOP MK9 facts, it was designed as an Air Observation Post (a peculiar definition going back to WW2) and the first deliveries to the RAF were in February 1955. A total of 145 were built and initially they were based at Middle Wallop. They also went to Germany, India, Hong Kong, East Africa, the Western Aden Protectorate and Malaya. There may be other places that I do not know about.

The Army Air Corps was formed in September 1957 and nearly all the MK9s, together with the earlier Austers were transferred to it from the RAF.

In Germany they were used mainly for liaison duties (or COs’ private hacks) and XR240 was stationed at Detmold. I have a black and white photo of it and its serial number is in white. I don’t know when this was changed to black. I have a copy of the logbook of a pilot who spent a lot of time in it and most of the flights are of relatively short duration. This may or may not be relevant but after his army service he became a vicar.

The most important use of the MK9 was of course in Malaya. The Malayan Emergency was declared by the British government in June 1948 and lasted until the Malayan government declared its end in July 1960. Operation Firedog was the code name given to the air assault in this conflict.

In the latter part of 1955, the MK9s started operations with No. 656 Squadron, which had been in Southeast Asia since the end of WW2. The squadron was worked intensively and in 1955 alone, logged no less than 22,000 flying hours using 34 Austers. The MK9s were in use for several years, taking over from the MK6s which were developing the nasty habit of shedding their propellors due to crankshaft fatigue.

They carried on performing a variety of operations against the Communist Terrorists (CTs) or bandits as they were then called, on reconnaissance and contact patrols, supply dropping and liaison. Carrying a wing mounted F.95 camera with a downward pointing lens enabled them to fly photo-reconnaissance sorties. They were also used in the psychological war that was so successful by dropping millions of leaflets (the villagers were severely punished by the CTs if they were caught reading them) and they were also equipped with loud speakers which used continuous loop recordings, advising the locals and the lower ranks of the CTs how to get aid and amnesties and criticising the CT leaders. Captured bandits said that these broadcasts caused the greatest damage to their organisation because of the large number of CT defections they induced.

They were also equipped to lay up to 3 miles of cable via a cage fitted in place of the rear seat and discharging it through a duct on the underside of the rear fuselage. Well, it beats humping it through the jungle.

It was during those jungle operations that the limitations of the Bombardier engine became apparent. Its power fell off excessively with high temperatures and high density altitudes. This, coupled with the vapour locking, made the MK9 a bit unpopular with the Army pilots at first. It was found that it could not be used when the ambient temperature rose above 30C and since that was usually reached early in the day and did not drop below that figure until about dusk, flying started at about 6.30 am and finished after 3-4 hours. Because of the heat and humidity pilots often flew with the doors removed.

The MK9s operated out of airstrips cut into the jungle, 400 yards long x 30 yards wide with the very tall trees all around especially at the ends. In parts of the terrain the trees were anything up to 200 feet high! It says much for the outstanding skills of the pilots of 656 Squadron that, not only were they able to successfully use these strips but that they were even able to find them! When the CTs lost the initiative, they retired into the jungle. It was then necessary for them to cultivate crops on which to live. It became one of the tasks of the army pilots to locate and pinpoint these ‘gardens’ to within a few yards on a one inch jungle map, relying on the pilot’s eyesight. They would continuously survey them, maintaining about 2000 feet so as not to arouse suspicion. When enough evidence had been collected to confirm that it was a CT camp, either a ground assault would be made or an air strike organised. In the former case as an infantry unit moved through the jungle, which could be several day’s march, it would release a smoke signal twice a day and an Auster would be synchronised to be around at that time and would relay a grid reference and the correct direction for it to advance towards the target.

Air strikes were very successful and had been going on before the arrival of the MK9s so it was something that they took over. They involved cooperation between the army and the regular RAF strike squadrons. Using the accurate jungle maps that were available, the RAF would allocate half a dozen strike aircraft to cooperate with 656 Squadron. These aircraft could be a range of types but often Lincolns were used and it was so organised that they would be in radio contact with an Auster that would carry out the target marking.. The Lincolns would be routed over a landmark outside the jungle and transmit the run time to zero to the Auster, which was carrying parachute flares hanging from a bomb rack on the underside of the fuselage. It flew a track and time from its own reference point at treetop height so that the CTs had no warning of its approach as it released it flares on the target. The Auster pilot then had just one minute to get out of the way before the Lincolns bombed on the markers, each of them carrying up to 14,000 lbs of bombs. I once had a discussion with an AAC major about this subject who told me that they had lost more than one very good pilot who, in his hurry to avoid the bombs, had banked too steeply, entered a high speed stall and then crashed into the trees.

They extended this method to nighttime operations. Some pilots developed unusual skills in locating and marking targets at night assisted by parachute flares dropped from another Auster at altitude. Captured bandits stated how much they feared the arrival of an Auster overhead, day or night.

The last MK9 was retired from operational duty in March 1967.

The circumstances under which I bought XR240 had a tragic element to them. It was part owned by a widow whose husband had been killed and for financial reasons she had to sell off his estate. He had been a passenger in the A-26 crash at a Biggin Hill Airshow. If I remember correctly, the pilot did a high speed run in front of the crowd line and then pulled up into a rolling climb. He lost it completely and I think that seven people lost their lives. Thereafter, the authorities barred all non-essential persons from being carried in airshow aircraft.

I got the MK9 back to Booker and started to familiarise myself with its character. I mentioned in an earlier post that I had an engineering workshop at that time and was able to fill in the right hand hole in the cockpit panel. Along with the spares that came with the purchase, was a No.1 Mk 1 Bomb Rack on loan together with the shell of an anti-submarine parachute flare. The latter was identical in design to those that were used in Malaya except that those were black and this one was white. I used the workshop again to make four copies of the flares. Some of the fittings I made myself but my fabricator made all the sheet metal parts. The bomb rack hung from four brackets under the fuselage and the flares nested in the four crutches on the rack. To ensure that the flares were safe from dropping off, the release hooks were locked with ty-wraps and to make doubly sure large black ty-wraps went round the flares and threaded over the rack itself. It was only later that I heard about the RN Swordfish that on inspection after an air display was found to be missing one bomb from its rack. The rack and flare assembly was very draggy but its most noticeable effect was to just about halve the rate of climb.

A Ki-gass pump was used to prime the engine and XR240 was fitted with a working Coffman starter and a quantity of cartridges came along with it. At that time additional cartridges could be easily purchased for about £1 each. Initially I used the starter for all starts and people used to hang around to see it bang off with clouds of burnt cordite adding to the engine oil smoke. Great fun for us little boys! Later I only used it when I was on my own, otherwise we hand started the engine. Being fuel injected it was sometimes difficult to start by hand and in these cases I would use a cartridge. Never failed. Later on, when the cartridge price went up to about £14 each, I obviously stopped using them for good. I am not certain of this but I believe that production of that size (12 bore) ceased because there was virtually no demand for them.

So, what was it like to fly?

Taking off, with take-off flap set, was very straightforward with virtually no tendency to yaw because the fin was offset a couple of degrees to starboard although slight rudder was sometimes needed. Occasionally, in cross wind take offs at the beginning of the roll a brief dab on a brake would easily straighten it out. Once the tail was up it wanted to fly and you could start to tickle it off at just over 40 kts in ground effect. You needed to hold it down until the best climb speed had been reached and then it was away. All controls were well harmonised and balanced with light forces and it really was a delight to fly. Virtually no trim changes occurred throughout the speed range. There are fixed tabs on the aileron and rudder and I took a lot of care in setting these for the cruise. I fiddled with them until cruising at 60 kts, 2000 ft, 2000 rpm and with the elevator trim set correctly it would fly completely hands off. You just had to keep your eye on the plunger type throttle because it had a tendency to creep despite the lock nut. Of course, you were not going anywhere very fast but this was an aeroplane to be enjoyed for itself, time was unimportant and you could just sit back and enjoy the view. With no nav-aids on board, a watch plus 60 kts was an ideal low speed navigation aid at 1 nm per minute.

Obviously it was positively stable in pitch and yaw whilst in roll it was neutrally stable. Because of the large slotted ailerons it responded immediately and very positively. Turning needed a dab of rudder as the bank was rolled on and then you could centralise it for a balanced turn.

Stalling at all flap settings was straightforward although there was no warning that it was coming. You held it until it ran out of steam, hauling back on the stick and then the gentlest of recoveries took place. With full flap the stall speed was 42 kts. However, any rudder being used at that time could result in a sharp and spiteful wing drop and I am talking about the lower wing pointing straight down to the ground. Although spinnable, I never tried it. I was getting past that sort of thing and I just know that the old girl would not have appreciated me doing that to her and her old instruments.

All landings were practises for the short field variety. On finals with full flap, weather and wind permitting, you approached at 50 kts. You aimed for a point at the start of the runway or strip and let the speed reduce as you cleared the hedge with 3 or 4 feet to spare then started the flare before the numbers. With the nose coming up and the drag increasing, the speed fell off rapidly and you were able to stop in about 100 yards.

On windy days, a wheel landing was called for and these were done by adding about 5 kts to the previous figures, again tucking in tightly to the threshold and then holding it horizontal as you descended and as soon as the squashy undercarriage touched, easing the stick forward to nail it to the runway. Power immediately off and you continued to keep the stick going forward to keep the tail up as long as possible to help with the directional control. Finally as it all died down, fully back with stick and then using all the controls to keep the old girl going where you wanted her to go in the windy conditions. Obviously you needed a bit more runway for this type of landing but surprisingly, not too much.

The MK9 excelled in the steep approach landing but I will come to that a bit later.

Now, about the wing drop. The Pilot’s Notes for the Auster AOP 9 that are sold commercially, do not include an amendment which, in the ‘Handling’ section added something to the effect that ‘Instances have occurred when a wing will drop when all three wheels are firmly on the ground’. This phenomenon was mentioned in the April 2006 post on the MK9. I have to say that after all my landings, which go well into 4 figures, I never experienced it once so I am unable to give a first hand account of it. I did get the very occasional small wing drop when the wheels were about to touch during a three pointer but this was due to the lack of stall warning and is something completely different. The wing drop after landing was never solved. Nobody was able to explain why or how it happened. They had the designers, consultant engineers, etc on to it but to no avail. There is probably a very good reason why I never experienced it and it is this. It almost always happened after an exceptionally smooth landing. Right?

Next: Skylarking in an Auster.

Ralph

Wonderful stuff Ralph

I do remember the A-26 at Biggin Hill - a very sad affair

I have two mores names for you to see if you remember - Air Commordore Wheeler - Who flew a Camoflage AOP6 around
and Delly (Delephine) Gray Fiske - who often frequented Booker - and White Waltham.


Cheers

Leif

Well, tomorrow I'm off to visit the Islands off the West coast of Scotland in all of things........XR240 (Its a dirty job, but someone has to do it!). First port of call and base will be Gigha (after a fuel stop in Wales) and then for the next week or so, its visiting other islands in the area before returning home.

Best wishes to all,

Martin

Ralph, your latest addition like all the rest is first class. As to the wingdrop, I second everything you say and totally agree that it always seems to happen after a smooth landing. I've yet to discover it for myself, but I suppose in the future, I will experience this very strange 'quirk'.

Wonderful Ralph just keep it all coming, really enjoy reading your experiences with the Auster and only wish I could remember the type I used to fly as P2!!

One thing I do remember though is that the Auster I flew had bungees on the undercarriage and that if you rounded out too high or tried to land it any other way then it would kangaroo along the runway, fortunately that only happened to me once.

Although this particular Auster had the facility of electric start the battery was not often used, instead the engine was started with a hefty swing of the arm, one particular day I flew to Cranwell Flying Club with Al Cree for refuelling. After a short while we were ready to return back to Swinderby (10 minute flight) I positioned myself ready for the swing and shouted 'contact' once Al replied I gave the prop a swing.......then promptly fell into an indignified heap onto the grass with the engine running and the prop turning just in front of me!! :o

It was basically my fault for the grass was damp and instead of wearing flying boots (which had been acquired through devious means from a flying clothing store) I was wearing an old pair of shoes that had worn down soles (no grip)!!

I can't tell you how embarrassed I felt as I climbed into the right hand seat trying to hide my face from the club members who were watching nearby and all Al did was to give me a look as though to say 'You Stupid Boy'

Nigel.

Leif,

Thank you once again.

Regarding Air Commodore Allen Wheeler I never met him although I did see his military Auster MK6 at Booker once. He was Technical Advisor on a number of films and his name appeared in their credits. One of these films was ‘Aces High’ with Malcolm McDowell. It was shot mostly at Booker and I vividly remember them doing all sorts of aerobatics just to the left of the active 35 runway on the ‘dead’ side. I found it quite unnerving, as a student pilot when climbing out solo, to have all this dog fighting going on so close to me and wondering if they were going to cross my path.

Delly Gray Fiske is, I am afraid, completely unknown to me although I did frequent White Waltham, home of the ATA in WW2, quite a lot.

Best wishes.

Martin,

You lucky dog! Just make sure you have some sort of ear defenders, a good tight headset or a bone dome for those journeys. I used to find that the prolonged engine noise during long flights made me feel very tired.

Happy landings!

Nigel,

Many thanks. The liquid springs on the MK9 made an enormous difference to the landing characteristics compared with previous Austers.

So, we are both fellow members of the Acutely Embarrassing Prop Swinging Syndrome. In my case, I had never swung a three bladed prop before.

Ralph

Ralph, this one is going to be a shot in the dark but may just possibly be a pointer to the type of Auster that I flew.

If I am right, aircrafts' and their cockpit layout are usually the same until a different version is produced, by this I am talking of days gone by and not of modern aircraft.

This particular Auster had its' flap lever situated on the floor in-between the pilots seats operated by a trigger with a ring, (one had to be careful when selecting flap as when the trigger was depressed and the lever pulled up or down for flap settings you would released it and it would click back into place once it reached the first setting (only two flap settings) twice I had the skin of my first finger caught as it snapped shut and found it hurt!! :-(

The throttle lever was Y shaped not the standard single lever one would expect with the fuel cut out being a plunger just underneath.

Again, I know that there are variations in the cockpit layouts but this may help in some way of determining the Mk I flew.

Regards Nigel.

Just arrived home after some 13 hours of flying in XR240. We left on Thursday accompanied by prototype Auster AOP.9 WZ662 (G-BKVK) from our based in Eggesford in Devon and flew up to Sleap near Shrewsbury for fuel and lunch. I can recommend the restaurant there and in particular the fish cakes - superb.

After this it was a long and slow flight up to Prestwick, due to a somewhat strong headwind. The flight taking 2 hours 55 minutes - the longest I've spent in an Auster. Here, we had to orbit for a while, whilst waiting for a cargo B747 to land (he was on 12 mile finals and boy was he slow) and then we landed. Hospitality was superb at the flying club, we couldnt have asked for better help.

Again after refuelling (both us and the planes) it was off across to Aran and then over the Mull of Kintyre to the Island of Gigha, which was our home for the next four days. We were then joined by four more Austers, a RV-4, Cessna 182 and a Belgian Chipmunk. Sunday saw us all going to the airshow on the next island over, Islay and then after a final night on Gigha, we all went our seperate ways home.

We took the two 9s over to Northern Ireland and then down across Eire to an overnight stop at the delighful airfield of Kilrush. Next day was not as forecasted (is it ever?) and so we left at midday for home. Think I've made the longest ever water crossing for me as it was 65 miles from one shore to the other. Not a lot was said over that expanse of water.

After a strong crosswind at Haverfordwest and a good lunch there, it was off home back to Devon. A superb weekend and probably the best I've ever had. Much more interesting than sitting on a beach for a week!!

Best wishes to all,

Martin

Sounds like a lot of fun Martin

Thanks for the rundown.

What was the Islay Airshow like....was it more of a fly in?

Garry