Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Taylorcraft Auster

Air Observation Post (AOP) is an aeroplane or helicopter used in the role of artillery spotter by the British Army and Commonwealth forces. In this role, either the pilot of the aircraft or another crew member acts as an observer watching for targets on the ground, and/or as a Forward Observation Officer directing the fire, by radio, of

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieg ...

on the ground (or calling in tactical ground-attack aircraft).History of AO
at forcesreunited.org.uk

Background

In the interwar period, the role of artillery spotting was mixed with reconnaissance and ground attack to be served by Army Co-operation (AC) squadrons. At the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

their standard aircraft was the Westland Lysander. This aircraft had a high level of losses with the British Expeditionary Force during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

(118 shot down out of a total of 175 deployed). This demonstrated the unsuitability of the Lysander for Army Co-operation and called into question the whole concept. These RAF squadrons converted to

fighter-bomber A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, ...

aircraft by 1941, dropping the liaison and artillery spotting roles.

World War II - British development

Royal Air Force Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943

The first of the dedicated Air Observation Post units was established by Major Charles Bazeley of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

. Working as D flight of an RAF unit and equipped with the

Auster Auster Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1938 to 1961.Willis, issue 122, p.55 History The company began in 1938 at the Britannia Works, Thurmaston near Leicester, England, as Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Limited, ...

, they went to France in February 1940 to develop the role on the French artillery ranges, in liaison with the French army. This training and development work had to be abandoned when the German blitzkrieg got underway and the unit was back at its UK base in

Old Sarum Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, South West England, is the now ruined and deserted site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury. Situated on a hill about north of modern Salisbury near the A345 road, the settlement appears in some of the earliest ...

by 20 May 1940. The flight had been ordered to disband, but the Army resisted this, and the intervention of General Alan Brook, who was Commander in Chief Home Forces at the time, was able to secure the future of the flight and the concept of the AOP. By 1942, AOP squadrons 651, 652, and 653 were in existence. Ultimately the AOP units consisted of squadrons 651 to 663, with 664, 665 and 666 as

RCAF The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environ ...

units with both Canadian and British personnel. The key difference from the Army Co-operation squadrons was that AOP pilots were from the Royal Artillery. The RAF provided the technicians to service the aircraft and the equipment officers and adjutants. The rest of each unit was provided by the army, including signalers and drivers. A further unusual feature of Air Observation Post squadrons was that all pilots were officers, and they were nearly all captains. Since most operations were carried out separately by individual flights, this lack of rank structure in squadrons tended not to produce problems. During World War II, British AOP units used light, fixed-wing aircraft, almost exclusively several marks of

aircraft. The low speed, high manoeuvrability, small size (so aiding concealment at front-line landing grounds) and light weight of the Auster made this a much more suitable aircraft than the Lysander. The standard tactic of dealing with enemy fighter aircraft was to fly very low, normally around 30 feet above ground, around a hill or a wood. Although this protected them from enemy ground fire, it resulted in many crashes into trees, poles, hills, cables and buildings. Casualty rates for AOP pilots turned out to be relatively low, certainly compared to RAF pilots or infantrymen. One source of losses in combat was the aircraft being hit whilst flying through the path of outgoing shells. This was a particular hazard in intense bombardments: four aircraft were lost in this way during the

crossing of the Rhine The crossing of the Rhine River by a mixed group of barbarians which included Vandals, Alans and Suebi is traditionally considered to have occurred on the last day of the year 406 (December 31, 406). The crossing transgressed one of the Late ...

in March 1945.

Postwar

An AOP flight operated during the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...

, but was redeployed to Korea during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

at the request of the 1st Commonwealth Division. Another flight was sent by sea from the United Kingdom with its Auster AOP.6 aircraft packed in crates. A single Cessna L-19 was loaned by the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...

and found to be superior by the British pilots. Although all of the aircrew were Royal Artillery officers, these two flights were the only RAF units to operate from mainland Korea during the conflict. In 1957, the newly formed Army Air Corps was created from existing army units. Fixed wing aircraft were steadily replaced by helicopters. The final AOP aircraft in British service was the

Auster AOP.9 The Auster AOP.9 was a British military air observation aircraft ("Air Observation Post") produced by Auster Aircraft Limited to replace the Auster AOP.6. Design and development The Auster AOP.9 was designed as a successor to the Auster AOP.6. ...

, the last serving example of which was retired in March 1967.

References

Bibliography

*Parham, Major General H.J. & Belfield, E.M.G. 1956, 1986. ''Unarmed Into Battle: The Story of the Air Observation Post''. Warren & Son, for the Air O.P. Officers' Association, 2nd edition {{ISBN, 978-0-948251-14-6

External links