Auster AOP.6 TW536/G-BNGE

Auster AOP.6 (AOP stands for Air Observation Post), TW536/G-BNGE, displaying at Old Warden during the Shuttleworth flying Festival of Britain Airshow on 6th June 2021.
The Auster AOP.6 (Auster Model K) was designed as a successor to the Taylorcraft Auster II, IV and V which served with the Royal Air Force during WW2 and after in the Army Liaison and Air Observation Post/Artillery Spotting role. It had a strengthened fuselage, increased all-up weight and a 145 hp (108 kW) de Havilland Gipsy Major 7 engine. It had a different appearance to the wartime Austers due to the lengthened landing gear struts (due to the larger propeller), and external non-retractable aerofoil flaps.
An initial production run of 296 were completed for the Royal Air Force in 1949. A second batch was produced from 1952 with a total delivered of around 400. Some aircraft ordered by the Royal Air Force aircraft were diverted to the Belgian Air Force (22) and the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force (2). New aircraft were delivered to Royal Canadian Air Force, South African Air Force, and the Arab Legion Air Force (Jordan).
A dual-control training version of the AOP.6 was produced, 77 serving as the Auster T.7 (Auster Model Q). These flew alongside the AOP.6 in the AOP squadrons.
The aircraft was gradually replaced with the Auster AOP.9 from 1955 and surplus aircraft were converted to civilian use, first as the Auster 6A and later as the Beagle A.61 Terrier
The Auster Mark III, IV and V were issued to 12 Royal Air Force (RAF), one Polish and three Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Air Observation Post (AOP) Squadrons. The first to deploy was No. 651 Squadron RAF. The leading elements landed in Algiers on 12 November 1942 with eight aircraft, 11 Royal Artillery (RA) pilots, 39 RA soldiers and 25 airmen (mostly maintenance technicians). The normal strength of an AOP squadron was 12 aircraft, 19 RA officers (all pilots), 83 RA other ranks and 63 RAF including two administrative officers. Aircraft were fitted with the Army's No 22 Wireless, an HF set providing two-way voice communications with artillery units and formations on the ground.
On 31 March 1943 the Army Cooperation Command was disbanded, most of its assets being used to form the Second Tactical Air Force.
Four squadrons (651, 654, 655 and 657 Squadrons) fought in North Africa and Italy, being joined from August 1944 by 663 Polish Squadron. The other seven squadrons (652, 653, 658, 659, 660, 661 and 662) operated after D-Day in France, the Low Countries and into Germany.
664, 665 and 666 Squadrons RCAF were also issued with the Auster Mk.IV and V, formed in the UK at RAF Andover in late 1944 and early 1945. The RCAF squadrons were manned by Canadian personnel of the Royal Canadian Artillery and the RCAF, with brief secondment to the squadrons with pilots from the Royal Artillery; overall control was maintained in the UK by 70 Group, RAF Fighter Command. The three squadrons deployed from RAF Andover to the Netherlands and Dunkirk, France and later to occupied Germany.
656 Squadron RAF was assigned to 14th Army and used Austers in Burma, generally with flights assigned to each corps. In European theatres a squadron was generally assigned to each corps, but under command for technical matters of an RAF group.
The Royal Australian Air Force's No.16 and 17 AOP Flights operated Auster Mark III aircraft in support of the Australian Army in the Pacific Theatre from October 1944 until the end of the war.
Postwar Auster AOP aircraft were reorganised into independent flights (probably because the RAF used Wing-Commanders, equivalent to Lieutenant-Colonels, to command squadrons while the army insisted on a major's command) including 1903 Flight in Korea that had artillery pilots from several Commonwealth countries. There was also an Auster-equipped Liaison Flight, No 1913, in that theatre. Air OP flights also operated in the Malayan Emergency. Several AOP squadrons were reformed within the Royal Auxiliary Air Force in 1949 and these operated some AOP.5s, AOP.6s and AOP.9s until at least March 1957, when the Auxiliary Air Force was disbanded. All Auster AOP units were transferred to the Army Air Corps when it was formed in September 1957, with AAC squadrons using numbers starting with 651.
This is a 1946 Auster AOP.6 and wears Royal Air Force colours, coded TS-V and serial TW536. It's on the UK civil register as G-BNGE.
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