TAYLORCRAFT Plus D Auster MkI NO LONGER LISTED

Year : 1943 Built at Rearsby, Leicestershire, LB375 was the 89th aircraft produced from an initial batch of 100 Auster Mk.Is for the Royal Air Force. It was initially assigned to 653 Air Observation Post (AOP) Squadron at Penkhurst, Kent, in December 1942. Formed that June, 653 AOP Sqn had flown de Havilland Tiger Moths as an interim measure prior to receiving Austers. LB375 was transferred to No. 43 Operational Training Unit at RAF Larkhill, Wiltshire, in March 1943 for use in the tuition of army co-operation air observers. With the introduction of improved Auster variants, the aircraft was allocated to 451 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) for light liaison duties in March 1945. Equipped with Supermarine Spitfire XVIs, 451 Sqn was based at RAF Matlaske, Norfolk when issued LB375. From August 1945, the unit received Spitfire F.14s in anticipation of deploying to Germany on September 14, 1945. Initially stationed at Fassberg, 45 miles south of Hamburg, 451 Sqn moved to Wunstorf, 14 miles northwest of Hanover, on 27th of that month. The squadron flew from RAF Gatow, west of Berlin, between November 28 and December 30, 1945 before being disbanded at Wunstorf on January 21, 1946. LB375 was demobbed in March of that year and allocated the civilian registration G- AHGW. The aircraft was returned to Rearsby, where it was civilianised before being sold to London Aeroplane Club at PanshangerAerodrome, Hertfordshire, in 1946. The following year, it was acquired by Short Brothers and Harland Ltd and based at Rochester, Kent. G-AHGW then passed through a number of private owners before being purchased in 1975 by Carl Butler. Having repainted the aircraft in its RAF colours, Butler would later fly it as part of the Military Auster Flight alongside Mk.V G-AJGJ/RT486, AOP.6 G-BNGE/TW536, T.7 G- ASAJ/WE569 and AOP.9 G-BKVK/WZ662 The aircraft was stored in 1996, being acquired with another Auster I, G- AHSD/LB323, by Brent Owen in 2016. LB375 is currently owned by Simon Tilling the CEO of the Light Aircraft Association and has been flown in by Emma Taylor who recently converted to the type LB375 is understood to have had one of the longest in-service flying careers of any World War Two Auster.