Thread: Flyaway Auster

Originally Posted by Bob Harding

How embarrassing


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ehA...ature=youtu.be

A pity they could not find a civil Auster Archer or even one that looked more like it for the footage - the Archer had an inverted Cirrus Minor engine, not a horizontally opposed Lycoming or Continental.

John

Hi John,

Not all Auster Archer's (J4) had Cirrus Minor engines, although our Merlin Flying Club J4's started life with them, as they wore out - typified by poor climb performance & a trail of blue smoke around the circuit. We had RR O200 continentals installed with Cessna nose cowl. Engines were donated by Rolls-Royce Motors where they were license built in Crewe.

Made a nice little aircraft & did extend the range even if increased form drag knocked 10mph off the cruise speed which dropped to 80mph. Still a nice little aircraft & we had an electric starter:



A true Land Rover of the sky, leaked, noisy, smelly, slow

Originally Posted by Avion8

Hi John,

Not all Auster Archer's (J4) had Cirrus Minor engines, although our Merlin Flying Club J4's started life with them, as they wore out - typified by poor climb performance & a trail of blue smoke around the circuit. We had RR O200 continentals installed with Cessna nose cowl. Engines were donated by Rolls-Royce Motors where they were license built in Crewe.

Made a nice little aircraft & did extend the range even if increased form drag knocked 10mph off the cruise speed which dropped to 80mph. Still a nice little aircraft & we had an electric starter:



A true Land Rover of the sky, leaked, noisy, smelly, slow

Ah! but did VH-AET have the conversion. And the one in the film clip was in military colours - and I am not even sure it was an Archer.

I am not familiar with the J/4 Archer, but I did own a J/5F for a couple of years. It has never occurred to me, but it did have some similarities to the same vintage (1955) Landrover I had owned a couple of years previously - noisy, slow, and leaked oil. I don't remember flying it in rain, so can't comment on leakage. I do remember that I carried two gallon tins of oil behind the back seat along with the tiedown gear. Allowable oil consumption for the Gipsy Major was, if I remember correctly, minimum 1qt, maximum 1gal per hour. Much of this ended up on the bottom of the fuselage, thanks to the total loss oil system for the overhead valve gear - actually underneath as it is an inverted engine.

Quite easy to fly, although the brakes were 'interesting', and it vibrated due to the rigid engine mounts and 130hp at 1800rpm (cruise) from four cylinders and six litres, with no flywheel except the prop.

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Ah! but did VH-AET have the conversion. And the one in the film clip was in military colours - and I am not even sure it was an Archer.

I am not familiar with the J/4 Archer, but I did own a J/5F for a couple of years. It has never occurred to me, but it did have some similarities to the same vintage (1955) Landrover I had owned a couple of years previously - noisy, slow, and leaked oil. I don't remember flying it in rain, so can't comment on leakage. I do remember that I carried two gallon tins of oil behind the back seat along with the tiedown gear. Allowable oil consumption for the Gipsy Major was, if I remember correctly, minimum 1qt, maximum 1gal per hour. Much of this ended up on the bottom of the fuselage, thanks to the total loss oil system for the overhead valve gear - actually underneath as it is an inverted engine.

Quite easy to fly, although the brakes were 'interesting', and it vibrated due to the rigid engine mounts and 130hp at 1800rpm (cruise) from four cylinders and six litres, with no flywheel except the prop.

John

not forgetting the scavenger pump. ani clockwise

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Ah! but did VH-AET have the conversion. And the one in the film clip was in military colours - and I am not even sure it was an Archer.

I am not familiar with the J/4 Archer, but I did own a J/5F for a couple of years. It has never occurred to me, but it did have some similarities to the same vintage (1955) Landrover I had owned a couple of years previously - noisy, slow, and leaked oil. I don't remember flying it in rain, so can't comment on leakage. I do remember that I carried two gallon tins of oil behind the back seat along with the tiedown gear. Allowable oil consumption for the Gipsy Major was, if I remember correctly, minimum 1qt, maximum 1gal per hour. Much of this ended up on the bottom of the fuselage, thanks to the total loss oil system for the overhead valve gear - actually underneath as it is an inverted engine.

Quite easy to fly, although the brakes were 'interesting', and it vibrated due to the rigid engine mounts and 130hp at 1800rpm (cruise) from four cylinders and six litres, with no flywheel except the prop.

John

Yes. Our J1 uses about a litre an hour, and it has had an oil ring conversion to reduce the oil use. We can confirm that the cockpit leaks when it rains. Brakes? No, we don't have brakes, we have "influencers", which "influence" our landing roll and "influence" our direction when taxiing. More character building.
However, we ALWAYS use the chocks when starting, no exceptions, unless I am sitting in the driver's seat and someone else is swinging the prop.
Yes, quite easy to fly, but a little tricky to land. It's character building.
Yes, at the end of each flight we spend some time wiping down the bottom of the fuselage. It's character building. In fact everything about the Auster is character building....
But we love it, and we are only now beginning to explore this country from the ground (having seen it from the air) in another device which is also character building.
Yes, it's British, it leaks oil, it leaks water, and it's noisy. But we love it too.

C00P

Originally Posted by C00P

......................Yes, quite easy to fly, but a little tricky to land. It's character building.

C00P

You could always ask the Navy for help . Very character building.

Deano

Originally Posted by C00P

Yes. Our J1 uses about a litre an hour, and it has had an oil ring conversion to reduce the oil use. We can confirm that the cockpit leaks when it rains. Brakes? No, we don't have brakes, we have "influencers", which "influence" our landing roll and "influence" our direction when taxiing. More character building.
However, we ALWAYS use the chocks when starting, no exceptions, unless I am sitting in the driver's seat and someone else is swinging the prop.
Yes, quite easy to fly, but a little tricky to land. It's character building.
Yes, at the end of each flight we spend some time wiping down the bottom of the fuselage. It's character building. In fact everything about the Auster is character building....
But we love it, and we are only now beginning to explore this country from the ground (having seen it from the air) in another device which is also character building.
Yes, it's British, it leaks oil, it leaks water, and it's noisy. But we love it too.

C00P

My J/5F had an electric starter, so hand starting was rare, although handling the prop was not - usual routine for inverted engines of turning it through four compressions before attempting to start to make sure there was no hydraulic lock. And if it had been standing for a while, the wait after startup for visibility to return to normal!

I don't remember landing being a problem with the Auster, but I do remember that when I traded it on a Cessna 180, the 180 was a lot harder to land. In fact, the most difficult taildragger I have flown. (not that I have flown many - I think the only others would be C185, Citabria, DH82A)

John

One of my old mates (now deceased) flew spitfires in England in WW2. Some years back he bought a Cessna 180 in America, had it crated and sent to England, where it was rebuilt and he flew to Australia in the bicentennial air race. You may have heard about 14 years ago of a cessna 180 crashing near Ayres Rock. He was flying from Perth to Alice Springs when the weather closed in and he lost his horizon. He buzzed a long stretch of the desert and selected what looked like a suitable spot to land. The landing was fine until at the end of the landing run the nose wheel dug in and the plane flipped onto its back. Some serious body misalignment occurred and the plane was recovered and towed to Alice. By this time my mate was getting too old to start again so the plane was sold and the new owner was rebuilding it. Jim