Auster B.4

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Auster B.4
Auster B.4 Farnborough 09.53.jpg
The Auster B.4 at the Farnborough SBAC Show in September 1953
RoleLight freighter
Manufacturer Auster
First flight7 September 1951
Number built1

The Auster B.4 was an unusual British development of the Auster family of light aircraft in an attempt to create a light cargo aircraft.

Contents

Design

The conventional fuselage was considerably redesigned, turning it into a pod-and-boom configuration carrying the tail unit on a high boom. The rear of the fuselage pod was equipped with clamshell doors for easy loading and unloading, and a quadricycle undercarriage was fitted, retaining the mainwheels from earlier Auster designs, but adding a tailwheel to each side of the fuselage pod. The fuselage floor had fittings for seats, cargo tie-downs, or litters for the air ambulance role.

Operational history

The prototype was exhibited at the Farnborough Air Show in September 1953.

Although evaluated by the British Army in military markings, neither civil nor military orders ensued, and no examples were constructed beyond the single prototype

Specifications

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1955–56 [1]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

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References

  1. Bridgman 1955, p. 50.