Auster Atlantic
{{Short description|1950s British light aircraft prototype}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2019}}
__NOTOC__
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
| name=C6 Atlantic | image= | caption= }}{{Infobox aircraft type | type=Four-seat cabin monoplane | national origin=United Kingdom | manufacturer=Auster Aircraft Limited | designer= | first flight=1957 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | number built=1 | developed from= Auster J/5T | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Auster C6 Atlantic was a British four-seat cabin monoplane designed and built by Auster Aircraft Limited. Development of the type was abandoned after initial flight tests.
Design and development
The C6 Atlantic was designed as a high-wing monoplane, four-seat executive tourer,Jackson 1973, p. 288 powered by a 185 hp (138 kW) Continental E-185-10 piston engine and based on the Auster J/5T with a tricycle landing gear and other modern items such as control wheels.Wenham 2015, p52Hitchman 2006, p154 One aircraft was built which, as a fitted out fuselage registered G-APHT,{{cite web|url=http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-APHT.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2009-06-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160443/http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-APHT.pdf |archivedate=2011-06-06 }} UK Civil Aviation Authority record for G-APHT was statically displayed at the 1957 SBAC Show at Farnborough. Subsequently a pair of Autocrat wings were fitted and early flight tests were encouraging.Hitchman 2006, p30 However, these flights were curtailed by a nose leg collapse due to an inferior nosewheel strut which had been fitted only for the static display and not replaced with the correct item before the first flight.
Although the airframe was repaired and modified, the directors considered the future of the Atlantic at length. An estimate was prepared of the projected development costs and this totalled in excess of £100,000, so that the break-even point required the sale of 300 aircraft. Since maximum sales were envisaged as probably 100 at the most, and with no outside financial help, development was reluctantly abandoned. The sole aircraft was stored until being brought out of storage in 1960 for comparison with the proposed Auster D.8; since production of the C.6 would have required the manufacture of new jigs,Wenham 2015, p53 the D.8 was pursued instead, ultimately becoming the Beagle Airedale.
Specifications
{{Aircraft specs
|prime units? = imp
|crew=1
|capacity=3
|length m=7.27
|length ft=23
|length in=10
|span m=10.98
|span ft=36
|span in=0
|gross weight lb=2700
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Continental E-185-10
|eng1 kw=138
|eng1 hp=185
|cruise speed kmh=204
|cruise speed mph=127
}}
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References
{{Portal|Aviation}}
;Notes
{{reflist}}
;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book |last= Jackson|first= A.J.|title= British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 1|year= 1973|publisher= Putnam|location= London|isbn=0-370-10006-9 }}
- {{cite book |last1= Hitchman|first1= Ambrose|last2= Preston|first2= Mike|title=The History of the Auster Aeroplane (Revised 3rd Ed.)|year=2006 |publisher=International Auster Club Heritage Group }}
- {{cite book | last = Wenham | first = Tom | title = False Dawn: The Beagle Aircraft Story | publisher = Air-Britain | year = 2015 | isbn = 978-0-85130-479-3}}
{{refend}}
{{Auster aircraft}}
Category:Abandoned civil aircraft projects of the United Kingdom