Auster Autocar

The Auster J/5 Autocar was a 1940s British single-engined four-seat high-wing touring monoplane built by Auster Aircraft Limited at Rearsby, Leicestershire.

Design and production
The company recognised a need for a four-seat touring aircraft to complement the three-seat Auster J/1 Autocrat. The J/5 Autocar looked similar to the Autocrat, but was a new model featuring wing-root fuel tanks and an enlarged cabin.

The designation of J/5 for the Autocar followed on from its progenitor, the wartime Model J, which was designated the Auster AOP.V by the Royal Air Force. Postwar models derived from the Model J commenced with the J/1 Autocrat - note the use of J/1, not J-1. The prototype Autocar G-AJYK, a model J/5B, first flew in August 1949 and was exhibited at the Farnborough Air Show in September. A demand for a more powerful version for the tropics produced in 1950 the J/5E powered by a 155 hp (116 kW) Blackburn Cirrus Major engine. This was further developed as the J/5G which was first flown in 1951.

Operations
Saunders-Roe of Cowes, Isle of Wight, acquired a J/5G Autocar and fitted it with an experimental hydro-ski undercarriage and emergency under-wing floats. With this equipment, the aircraft could remain almost stationary on the water.

The majority of the production Autocars were exported to sixteen countries and later resold in five further territories. The Autocar has been primarily operated by private pilot owners and by aero clubs but some were used by small charter firms in the UK and elsewhere as taxi and photographic aircraft. Pest Control Ltd took delivery of five J/5G Autocars in 1952 for crop spraying operations in Sudan.

Variants

 * Auster J/5B Autocar:production version.
 * Auster J/5E Autocar:prototype export version with a Blackburn Cirrus Major 3 engine.
 * Auster J/5G Autocar:export version with a Blackburn Cirrus Major 3 engine.
 * Auster J/5GL:one Auster J-5G fitted with a Lycoming piston engine.
 * Auster J/5G Super Autocar
 * One J/5G converted in Australia by Kingsford Smith Aviation Services with a 225hp (168kW) Continental O-470 engine.


 * Auster J/5H Autocar:with Blackburn Cirrus Major 2 engine, one rebuilt from J/5B
 * Auster J/5P Autocar:version with a de Havilland Gipsy Major 1 engine.
 * Auster J/5V Autocar:development aircraft with 160 hp (199 kW) Lycoming O-320 engine.


 * Kingsford Smith Bushmaster
 * An Auster J/5G conversion in Australia by Kingsford Smith Aviation Services, fitted with a 180hp (134kW) Lycoming O-360 engine, constant speed propeller and other improvements.

Civil operators
United Kingdom
 * Airviews Ltd
 * Anglian Air Charter
 * Bees Flight
 * Bristol Aero Engines
 * Dunlop Rubber
 * Ferranti
 * Gloster Aircraft
 * Hunting Aerosurveys Ltd
 * Pest Control Ltd
 * Saunders-Roe
 * Southend Flying School

Military operators

 * Royal Australian Navy
 * 723 Squadron RAN
 * 724 Squadron RAN
 * 725 Squadron RAN
 * Kuwait Air Force
 * Kuwait Air Force
 * Kuwait Air Force