G-AMSV Returns to Coventry
An old friend returned to Coventry yesterday when G-AMSV, in her striking Indian Air force livery, landed here for extensive maintenance by our engineers. Sierra Victor was part of the Air Altantique fleet here for many years. She'll...
Baginton Air Pageant
The initial details for the Baginton Air Pageant are up on the website! As we don't have the space for a full-on air show attracting 20,000 or so people, we're aiming for low-key, themed days like this. A couple of thousand people,...
Newquay Pleasure flights
We promised we'd be back to fly in Cornwall, and here we are. We'll be heading south with a Rapide and Chipmunk to spend a week at Newquay from 25th July, with a further visit planned in August. The flights are bookable in the normal...
New Dakota Book
Geoff Jones just told me that his new book on the DC-3, released to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Dak's appearance, is now available. The cover sports a lovely shot of G-ANAF, shot by Simon Westwood before her radome goiter was...
Nimrod Engine Run
We've just confirmed plans by NPT to run all four of the Nimrod's Rolls-Royce Speys on Saturday 9th May. We expect the thunder to start just after lunchtime. Come along and enjoy some audio power - and please dip into your pockets...
| Status: | Flying |
| Owned by: | The Classic Aircraft Trust |
| Current location: | Coventry |
| Available for pleasure flights: | No |
The Auster occupies a special place in most pilots' hearts. It's a willing, tough little beast that's pleasant to fly, but not easy to fly well. Those huge slats on the wings, coupled to an unusually large wing area, give it superb low speed capabilities which would make it a brilliant short-field aircraft but for one thing.
It won't stop flying.
Its exceptionally low stall speed means that, give a decent headwind, you can be down to walking pace, floating tantalisingly close to a perfect landing, but still resolutely airborne. It's tempting to jump out and pull it down the last two feet.
Like most things worth doing, landing an Auster responds to practice, so whenever you see our little star in flight, she'll almost certainly slide onto the ground with the precision of an oiled micrometer, but don't be deceived. It took a lot of dedication and bounces to produce that performance.
G-JAYI was built at Rearsby in 1946, receiving its Certificate of Airworthiness on March 7. She was sold to Appareillage Technique et Industriel of Belgium and registered in that country as OO-ABF.
In 1959 she moved to Germany where she was re-registered as D-EGYK. While in Germany she competed three times in the Deutschlandflug Rally. This is an interesting thought - the Deutschlandflug is based around precision flying. Flight plans need to be matched to the second, and there's a particular emphasis on accurate landings. As one of the world's most demanding little beasts when it comes to landing in approximately the right country, the Auster was clearly an ambitious entry by a highly accomplished pilot! Sadly, we don't have any information on how she performed, but we're confident she entertained the crowd as she wafted by at bicycle speed, and almost certainly carried on doing so, gently floating into the distance.
By 1972, the old girl was beginning to show her age and she emigrated to Denmark for a rebuild at the hands of Jens Jorgen Anderson, who placed her on the Danish register as OY-ALU. She remained in Denmark until 1993, when she joined Air Atlantique and returned to the country of her birth. Her new British registration of G-JAYI was awarded in February of that year.
G-JAYI became the first of our flyable collection to arrive in Newquay when Trevor Bailey flew her from Coventry to her new home in January 2013.