Auster B.4

Auster B.4
The Auster B.4 at the Farnborough SBAC Show in September 1953
Role	Light freighter
Manufacturer	Auster
First flight	7 September 1951
Number built	1

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.

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

General characteristics

• Crew: one pilot
• Capacity: 3 passengers, or freight, or litters
• Length: 37 ft 0 in (11.28 m)
• Wingspan: 24 ft 8 in (7.52 m)
• Height: 8 ft 4​¹⁄₂ in (2.55 m)
• Wing area: 189.75 ft² (17.6 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,642 lb (746 kg)
• Gross weight: 2,600 lb (1,182 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Blackburn Cirrus Bombardier 702 inverted inline engine, 180 hp (134 kW) each

Performance

• Cruise speed: 105 mph (169 km/h)
• Range: 300 miles (480 km)
• Rate of climb: 730 ft/min (3.7 m/s)