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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 1032.PDF
FLIGHT Forty-fifth of the Latest Recognition Series Aircraft Types TAYLORCRAFT AUSTER (L-57) and ONE of several light types of high-wing aircraft whichin peacetime were prime favourites with flying clubsand private owners, the Taylorcraft is no less a valuable addition to the ranks of military machines on that account. Many thousands of the type, nicknamed Grasshoppers by the Americans with their characteristic fiair for the choice of an apt word, are being used in the Civilian Pilot Training programme and by the U.S. Army Air Force for liaison work with the ground .forces and ^.s aerial staff cars. The Grasshopper really came into its own when the Taylorcraft and other makes were given the chance to show their paces during extensive army exercises in the swampy parts of Louisiana and in Texas not long before the Japs plunged down on Pearl Harbour. Impressed by the ability of these little machines to take-off and land almost anywhere—even on an ordinary road or a farm meadow—the U.S. Army Staff promptly decided to order large numbers of them for liaison and light communica- tions, and "the advent of war saw the Civil Air Patrol-— a similar organisation to our Civil Air Guard except that it was allowed by the authorities to do something useful- flying them over the Western Atlantic on submarine patrol in much the same way as Tiger Moths and Dragons were used on "scarecrow" patrols over the English Channel and the North Sea by the R.A.F. in the early days of the war when we were very short of Coastal Command aircraft. Taylorcraft are also manufactured in Great Britain under licence from the American corporation, two types being produced, namely, the Model C, with the 65 h.p. Lycoming "flat-four" air-cooled engine, side-by-side seating, and either stick or wheel control, and the Model JD, which is similar in general arrangement except that it has the 90 h.p. Cirrus air-cooled four-cylinder-in-line engine and pro- vision for parachutes. This model, called the Auster, is in service with the R.A.F. The American Taylorcraft is produced with both side-by-side and tandem seating arrangements, and Lycoming, Continental and Franklin horizontally opposed engines of 65 h.p. are variously fitted. Taylorcraft with 65 h.p. engines have a top speed of no m.p.h., cruise at 90 m.p.h., and land at 35 m.p.h. The Cirrus-engined model has a top speed of 125 m.p.h., cruises at 107 m.p.h., and lands at 40 m.p.h. The range is about 300 miles for both types. FIXED, UNPAIRED UNDERCARRIACt Span Length Height . Wing area 36ft. 22ft. 6ft. 8m. 168 sq. ft.
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