Auster A.O.P. 4,5,6,9

The first Indian artillery A.O.P. pilots saw service during the last phases of the Second  World War, a flight being formed with early-mark Austers and attached to No. 659 AOP Squadron, R.A.F. serving with the XIV Army in Burma. An independent Air Observation Post came into being on 15th August 1947 when No. 1 (Indep.) Air O.P. Flight was formed at Lahore from serving officers of 659 Squadron and the flight allotted a small number of Auster A.O.P.4s, 5s and 6s. A few months later, on 1st November 1947, No. 2 A.O.P. Flight was formed at Deolali and for ten years the two flights functipned as the proving ground for Air O.P. in Indian artillery.

Austers of No. 1 Flight participated in the operations in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947-48 and their assistance much appreciated. A number of rough airstrips were prepared in the State and while, primarily, Austers were engaged in controlling artillery fire and taking shoots, they were extensively used for battlefield surveillance, liaison and evacuation of serious casualties.

In 1955, the later model A.O.P. 9 was chosen and 35 examples procured. In 1958, under an expansion programme, Nos. 3, and later 4, A.O.P. Flights were raised along with a Squadron headquarters. This first A.O.P. Squadron came into being at Deolali on 1st June 1958 when the Army component of Squadron headquarters was designated No. 659 AOP Squadron, the choice of the number in the nomenclature recalling the R.A.F. unit in which the first Indian gunner pilots saw service.

Austers were fully committed for fire-direction duties during the 1965 conflict. Auster A.O.P. 9s were useful to 11 Field Regiments’ action in the Rann of Kutch in April 1965, “taking on” Pakistani Patton tank groups and vehicles north of Biar Bet. Later, in September 1965, Auster-equipped AOP flights were alloted to divisional artillery brigades in action and the Austers with 15th Infantry Division directed fire to diperse enemy concentrations and destroy gun positions along the Grand Trunk road to Lahore.

The Austers continued in service with the Indian Army for some years later but their numbers had dwindled by the late sixties. A small number were given to the Board of Survey but a large quantity of Auster 6 and 9s were struck off in April 1970.

Notes :

A light two-seater for private owners and flying clubs, the British built Taylorcraft Model D, later modified as the Auster 1, was based on the American-designed Taylorcrafts’ produced before 1939. The Auster first saw active service in France during 1940 and later served in Tunisia and the Italian mainland. The Air Observation Post Auster for the artillery was developed during and since the war by Auster Aircraft Ltd. and the A.O.P. 6 was a refinement of the earlier marks, powered by a de Havilland Gipsy Major 7 engine rated at 145 h.p. The follow-on A.O.P. 9 had a 180 h.p. Cirrus Bombardier 203 engine and was a three-seater, differing in structure primarily in having a metal wing with single bracing struts replacing the earlier V-type struts.

(Above image is from internet: Auster AOP 9 Farnborough Air Show in 1956).