Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

Twin-engine military trainer

Power Plant:

Two 265 kw (355 hp) Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah X seven-cylinder air-cooled radial engines

Specifications:

Armament:

One 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers K gas-operated machine gun in Armstrong Whitworth dorsal turret

History:

Using the Airspeed Envoy as a starting point, the Airspeed Company of Hampshire, UK designed a twin-engine aircraft to meet a multiplicity of functions, including pilot training, navigation, gunnery, photography and bombing training, known as the AS.10 Oxford. In October 1936 an initial order was received from the British Air Ministry for 136 aircraft, and on 19 June 1937 the prototype L4534 made its first flight.

Construction was of wood in order to conserve other materials for combat aircraft. The Oxford was the main multi-engined trainer of World War II and served in Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Rhodesia and the Middle East. The Oxford first entered service with the RAF Central Flying School in November 1937.

Following the declaration of war in 1939, large orders were placed to meet the RAFs training requirements and, in order to free the English skies of training aircraft, the Empire Air Training Scheme was put into operation in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

A total of 8,751 Airspeed Oxfords had been completed when production ceased in July 1945. A number of variants were produced. The Mk I for the Royal Air Force had Cheetah IX engines and by the outbreak of war some 300 Mk Is were in service.

The Oxford Mk II dispensed with the turret and was used primarily as a radio and navigation trainer. The Oxford Mk III had Cheetah XV engines and Rotol constant speed propellers, also being used for radio and navigation training. The Mk IV was a single aircraft used to test de Havilland Gipsy Queen IV engines.

In Canada 188 engineless examples obtained from Britain were fitted with Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-6 Wasp Junior engines of 336 kw (450 hp) driving Hamilton Standard constant-speed propellers and became known as the Oxford Mk V. To meet requirements the type was built by de Havilland, Airspeed at Christchurch and Portsmouth, and Percival at Luton. The T.II, of which nine were built, was a conversion of the Mk I. A total of 821 was supplied to Canada.

A few Oxfords were used for testing purposes, one N6327 being rebuilt in 1939 with twin fins and rudders and put through a spinning programme. A couple were converted at Hendon in nGreater London for ambulance duties. In 1942 one (AS504) was delivered to de Havilland and fitted with 186 kw (250 hp) Gipsy Queen IV engines and was used as a “hack” by the Ministry of Aircraft Production units at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire and RAF Farnborough in Hampshire. One was converted by Miles Aircraft to take two Alvis Leonides radials. About 300 served with the Royal Navy in the training role. The Oxford also gave service in the communications and anti-aircraft co-operation roles, and was used in some numbers in the Middle East as an ambulance aircraft.

In Australia the A25- prefix was allotted to the series but none of the 392 aircraft received ever carried this serial, all using their British serials throughout their service life. Most records indicate 391 were received but in fact serial numbers of 392 in service with the RAAF are on record. The first aircraft was received on 28 October 1940 (P6878) and the last on 20 March 1944 (LW999). These aircraft were taken at random from RAF stocks and serial numbers were not sequential, being in the AP, AR, AS, BM, EB, HN, LW, T, V and X blocks.

One record refers to six aircraft (AS383, AS385, AT454, BM745, X7111 and X7113) being fitted with Warner Super Scarab engines of 127 kw (170 hp) but, as the Cheetah engine was 265 kw (355 hp), these aircraft would very likely not have been able to fly and, if they were in fact fitted with the Scarab engine, it may have been for taxiing training. Some 700 were supplied to the South African Air Force and were re-serialled 1900 to 1999 and 3300 to 3899. A number were supplied to Southern Rhodesia.

Included amongst the aircraft supplied to the RAAF were Mk Is, with an Armstrong Whitworth dorsal turret with a Vickers machine gun; and the Mk II without a turret and used for pilot and navigation training. RAAF service was with Empire Air Training Schools, and Nos 1, 2 and 5 Communication Units. The RAAF flew the type up until 1951 when they were retired. A total of 35 was lost in crashes, and 34 were converted to components due to damage sustained during service.

In 1953 Kingsford Smith Aviation Services Ltd at Bankstown, NSW bought about 72 Oxfords from RAAF Tocumwal, NSW for conversion for civil use. The Company had a long-running dispute with the Australian Department of Civil Aviation when the Department ruled it would not grant Australian certification to the type. As they were of all wood construction the type of glue used in their construction  ruled against them.

Of the 72 aircraft, 21 were restored to airworthiness in abut 1952 and these were flown to Bankstown and parked near the Company’s hangar at the eastern end of the aerodrome. At that time there were hundreds of Beauforts, Beaufighters, Mosquitos etc parked at Tocumwal awaiting an outcome. Ferry Permits were issued for the 21 Oxfords when they were flown to Bankstown.

However, after the Department of Civil Aviation refused Certificates of Airworthiness to the aircraft because of their glued wooden construction, interest in the aircraft waned. Two were sold to an operator at Archerfield, QLD in order to re-engine a couple of Avro Ansons with Cheetah 10 engines in lieu of the Cheetah 9s and the Ansons had Airspeed Oxford engine cowls installed.

Some 21 were flown to Bankstown, and placed into open storage pending approval for conversion. However, the Department of Civil Aviation refused to register the type in any category and, after sitting in the open for a few years, they were burnt during September 1956. Others were retired at other centres such as Cootamundra, Deniliquin, and Evans Head in NSW; Mallala and Mt Gambier in South Australia; East Sale, West Sale, and Point Cook, etc in Victoria; and Western Junction in Tasmania, and were sold. One of these (HN412) was located in 1966 on a farm near Kadina, SA. Major parts were recovered and stored at the Moorabbin Air Museum for possible restoration. The wrecks of others have been located on other properties over the years but, due to their wooden construction, were beyond restoration.

The first five Oxfords for the RNZAF were received in 1938, these being obtained as crew trainers for the Vickers Wellingtons which the RNZAF had on order. These aircraft were slightly different from RAF aircraft and received the Company designation AS.42. One, which was modified for survey work, became the AS.43. All told, 299 Oxfords were received by the RNZAF, most being based with No 1 FTS [Flying Training School] at Wigram but the type was also used by No 1 (B) OTU [Operationbal Training Unit], the Gunnery Training School, the Instrument Flying School, the Flying Instructors School, and Nos 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 42 Squadrons.

With the RNZAF the type remained in service up to 1954, at that time still being used for training at Wigram and twin-engine conversion work at Ohakea. Six were converted to Consul configuration, 72 were lost in accidents, and 36 were broken up due to unserviceability. RNZAF serials allotted were: Mk I: NZ250 to 290; NZ1216 to 1228; NZ1247 to 1257; NZ1259 to 1261; NZ1263 to 1265; NZ1267 to 1271; NZ1277; NZ1286 to 1290; NZ1311 to 1324; NZ1326, NZ1327, NZ1331, NZ1335, NZ1336; NZ1341 to 1344; NZ1371 to 1399; NZ2100 to 2157; HN539 and HN540.

Mk II NZ1201 to 1215; NZ1229 to 1246; NZ1258, NZ1262, NZ1266; NZ1272 to 1274; NZ1276; NZ1278 to 1285; NZ1291 to 1310; NZ1325; NZ1328 to 1330; NZ1332 to 1334; NZ1337 to 1340; NZ1345 to 1370; R6226 and X6593. After the war the survivors were sold or scrapped.

A total of 112 ex-RNZAF Oxfords was purchased by Mr John Gould of Paraparauma in July 1947 from the War Assets Realisation Board for £10 ($20) each, hoping to start a freight airline. In the event two saw brief service with Gould’s Air Services at Paraparaumu as ZK-APX( c/n 1604 – ex NZ1336, BF857) and ZK-APY (ex NZ1377, HN368). Mr Gould lost his life in a Tiger Moth crash on 24 December 1947, the registrations were cancelled in September 1950, and the aircraft were scrapped.

A few saw further service.  Oxford EB889 was converted to be used as a caravan and was noted on a beach at Semaphore, SA in the late 1940s.

In both New Zealand and Australia many were sold to farmers for a variety of uses, having their wings removed and being taken to local farms where they usually saw service as chook pens or for parts. It is known a few were used for taxiing around local farm paddocks. Only a few were ever used for civil operations; approximately 30 in the United Kingdom, a number of which were delivered to the Israeli Air Force, two to France, two to Norway, and one to Sweden, etc.

A couple survive. At the Consolidated B-24 Liberator Memorial at Werribee, VIC, the remains of a number of Oxfords have been obtained and work has commenced to build a static display aircraft eventually after completion of the B-24 project, the Oxford to be identified as LX181. Others which survive include: MP425 at the RAF Museum at Hendon; V3388 owned by the Imperial War Museum and on display at Duxford; and one in the Musee de’l’Armee Histoire Militaire in Brussels, Belgium.

The remains of NZ1287 (c/n 598 – ex P8913) have been stored awaiting restoration for the RNZAF Museum; components of NZ2144 (c/n 3765 – ex NM630) have been stored in Christchurch; NZ1332 (ex AP414 – c/n 228), which was disassembled and stored at Wanganui in 1947, has been noted at Dairy Flat near Auckland under restoration for display and NZ2155 was one of the last disposed of in 1954 and has been stored.

One Oxford (ex G-AITF, ex ED290) has been under restoration to taxiing condition at the South African Air Force Museum.

In the 1940s in New Zealand a scaled-down replica of an Oxford was constructed using two Pobjoy radial engines which had been taken from the General Aircraft Monospar ZK-AET (ex VH-UVM) and which, after short service with the RNZAF, had been used as Instructional Airframe 32. Little is known about the Oxford replica and if it ever flew but one of the engines has been held by the Museum of Transport and Technology [MOTAT] in Auckland.

Oxford PK296 was built in Portsmouth for the RAF as an Oxford Mk I. After the war it was converted to civil guise as an Airspeed Consul and in 1946 it became G-AIKR. After retirement it was shipped to New Zealand in 2001 where restoration commenced. Eventually, in late 2016, it was completed and painted as a RAF aircraft as PK296 and was placed on display at the RNZAF Museum at Wigram.