The Historic Army Aircraft Flight (HAAF) brings the history of Army flying to life by preserving and flying our unique collection of historic Army aircraft. We serve as a ‘living museum’ for veterans commemorative and memorial purposes, as an aid to recruiting and to make the public aware of historical Army Aviation.

When Auster Mk1 was designed, there was never any inkling that electrical power to the cockpit would be required so no battery was provisioned.  The propeller is swung by hand, the engine-driven magnetos provide power to the spark plugs, all the instrumentation is mechanical and back then, hand signals and perhaps an Aldis signal lamp were typically used.  Who needs a battery?

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In 1942, when our Auster Mk1 was manufactured, the aircraft were simple, the mission straightforward and back then, technology only had a small part to play in operating safely and effectively. The cockpit dashboard had only enough instrumentation for the pilot to keep the aircraft pointing in the right direction and at the right height while keeping an eye on how the engine was performing. Times have changed!

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Behold the latest update from the Auster maintenance team regarding progress on the reconditioning of our 1942 Auster Mk1. With the mantra “There shall be no play in the control system”, the team has been inspecting every aspect of the Auster’s flying controls – including the horizontal flying trim system. This trim control is provided by a pair of trim tabs located beneath the tail plane.  The tabs are controlled by the pilot independently of the elevator via two steel wires that run up the inside of the fuselage.

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