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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0583.PDF
FLIGHT, 4 May 1961 593 powered D.6, yet has a short-field performance equally as good.At £4,750 in standard form, it is among the cheapest four-seaters at present on sale in Great Britain. Designed to meet both BritishBCAR and US CAR.3 requirements, it should also be among the strongest. Six aircraft were sold to W. S. Shackleton (Aviation)Ltd on the day that the order book opened. Structure Typical of the transformation of Auster design underBeagle aegis is the Airedale wing. Broadly similar to the basic 36ft span Auster wing, and retaining the same NACA 23012 section, it is infact entirely new in both geometry and detail. Extruded L.65 double-T section spars are larger than in the D series, and about25 per cent stronger. The aileron shroud has been extended to the wing root, and a new, slotted flap has been added inboard of thelong-nose aileron; both flap and aileron are of metal construction, fabric covered, and of similar profile. The aileron has a revised tipsection with a square end, and both aileron and flap are hung on two, rather than three, hinges. At the wing root, the welded-steel end rib has been abandonedfor a built-up light alloy design, and the tank bay has been re- designed to take a 16 gal (19.2 US gal) light-alloy (previously steel) AIREDALE UNLEASHED First Pup from the BEAGLE Litter LATE on Sunday, April 16, with its navigation lights on, theBeagle-Auster Airedale, first of the new British range of lightaircraft, became airborne from Rearsby, Leicestershire. This was just four hectic months and ten days after work was started on thefirst design drawing. Light had faded, and no photograph could be taken to record the event; but the date should be remembered longafter the conditions under which the first flight was made have been forgotten. No release of information previous to the following descriptionhas been made about any of the new series of aircraft which are to be produced by British Executive and General Aviation Ltd. TheA109 Airedale—which was to make its debut at Coventry last Friday, April 27, on the first day of the Shackleton sales weekend—is the first of a high-wing range "by Beagle out of Auster", as the process of design stimulus is described by Beagle's managingdirector, Mr Peter Masefield. The Airedale represents both a continuation of, and a breakaway from, previous Auster practice.Its Beagle companions, which again may not be announced until the prototypes are ready to fly, will be the Masefield-Beagle execu-tive types and the Beagle-Miles low-wing designs. A companion to the Airedale, also just announced, is the Beagle-Auster A61Terrier, a civil version of the Auster 6 in service with the British Army. Designated A109, the Airedale is the one hundred and ninthAuster design variant since the original British Taylorcraft of 1938. Under the Beagle scheme of numbering, the first digit indicates thenumber of engines and the final digits the serial number of the air- craft. The Airedale thus indicates, in its type number, its associa-tion with earlier designs in the Auster range, while being also the forerunner of more developed high-wing aircraft in the series. Fundamentally, the task of the Airedale's designers, under MrMasefield's direction, was to begin to restore Britain's place in world markets as a constructor of light and business aircraft; and,against mounting competition, considerable urgency has attended every stage of design and construction. In conceiving the Airedale,it was decided not to abandon Auster methods of construction, since the development of monocoque techniques would haveinvolved a delay that could ill be afforded. In any case, the tradi- tional welded steel-tube fuselage and fabric-covered wing is strong,trouble-free and easily repaired. Moreover, Beagle-Auster have consequently been able to use modified Auster jigs, to constructan attractive and much-modernized design from which the peren- nial Auster shortcomings should largely have been eliminated. TheAiredale is faster on its 180 h.p. Lycoming than is the similarly One of the most obvious advantages of the Beagle- Auster Airedale is the way in which access to both ;ront and rear seats has been improved in com- parison with that of earlier Auster types. The pilot ir»-ist climb in before the passenger, but this arrange- ment allows a change of passengers to be made while -e engine is running. A luggage bay is a new feature and all doors can be locked fuel tank. A diagonal bracing strut from the front wing-attachmentpoint passes through a tube welded into the tank. Outboard of the main tank bay is accommodation for an optional lOgal tank—which, if specified, would be fitted before the wing is fabric covered. This outer tank bay is braced with diagonal tie-rods, as are all otherbays out to the tip. A new glass-fibre tip, Beagle-Auster manu- factured, enhances the appearance of the wing and accommodatesflush navigation lights. Wing weight has been saved by using light-alloy forgings ormachined fittings everywhere except for the lift-strut attachments, which are of steel and buried in the wing. An innovation is theSafeFlite stall-warning indicator in the starboard wing leading edge. A pitot beneath the port wing is electrically heated. Heatingis standard, as is a landing light comprising a pair of 100W sealed- beam units in the leading edge of the port wing. The static vent isin the fuselage. Although the basic Auster welded-steel tube fuselage has beenretained, the rear end has been greatly modified to accommodate changes brought about by moving the elevator hinge-line 22in aftand sweeping back the fin. The old fin-post has disappeared, and a tapering fiat platform carries the tailplane. At the front of the fuse-lage, the firewall is formed from an L72 sheet bonded to a Durestos insulating and fire resistant panel. Entirely new are the door arrangements, which in earlier Austershave been a source of criticism. The Airedale has a forward door on the starboard side only, but an additional door giving access tothe rear seats has been contrived within the scantlings of the basic welded-steel-tube framework. To improve access to the cabin, thelift struts have been swept forward to pick up on the forward door post, and cabin width has been increased by revising the externalshape of the fuselage. Carrying additional loads through the top of the fuselage has allowed the cross-bracing tubes in the cabin area tobe greatly simplified, and visibility has been improved. The wind-
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