One of the great things about doing this blog is hearing from other Auster pilots, especially those with an interesting story to tell about their own experiences and love for this unlikely old aeroplane.

Roger Lane is one such pilot – he’s restoring JT’s twin – G- AIJS – also manufactured in 1946 with a Blackburn Cirrus Minor engine and he’s doing a grand job of bringing another one of these rare Auster variants back to life down in France.

I very much hope that sometime next year we can get JT and JS together in France at a fly-in. So, old JT might have another long trip on her hands!

In Roger’s own words – here’s his story:

You know the funny thing is I’ve always loved Austers and occasionally I would look on the net to see if any projects were going.  When I turned 40 a friend gave me a present of the Aerographics balsa Auster.  I completed it but never painted it and for a few years it stayed in the loft.  Anyway 8 years later in 2009 I found the ad for JS and a month later I was the owner.  I started planning the restoration and remembered the model upstairs and thought it would be useful to use as a colour scheme model.  When I dug it out along with the instructions, I realised it was a J4 and the 3 plan view they used in the corner to show where the registration goes showed G-AIJS – what are the chances of that !

As you know the J4 isn’t as complex as some Austers so its a good first project to tackle, and I’m currently stripping the Minor 1, yes the original engine which hasn’t run since 1971.  The layer of thick oil everywhere has infact preserved it well and the only broken bit so far is a cracked main bearing (similar to a rib I imagine ;-).  The fuselage has been stripped, cleaned and has 2 coats of primer and needs one more before recovering, but the cold weather beat me so I’ll have to wait until Spring.  I’ve replaced all the wood and many other bits are ready to attach when the paint is on.  Its good fun learning to do things as I go along like spraying, engine rebuild and of course recovering in the near future.

It’s a great story and you can see pictures of Roger’s restoration on his website – here or, just go to the links section and click on the austerj4 web- address. You can see photos of his restoration as well as read about its progress. In the meantime here’s a couple he has sent to me.

G - AIJS before restoration began

Stripped and re-assembled in May 2011

Here’s wishing Roger all the best with the remainder of the restoration and perhaps one day, these two old Austers might get to fly together!