77-519: The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed . It saw widespread use for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles throughout the Second World War . The Oxford was developed by Airspeed during the 1930s in response to a requirement for a capable trainer aircraft that conformed with Specification T.23/36 , which had been issued by
154-408: A biplane , a parasol wing has less bracing and lower drag. It remains a popular configuration for amphibians and small homebuilt and ultralight aircraft . Although the first successful aircraft were biplanes, the first attempts at heavier-than-air flying machines were monoplanes, and many pioneers continued to develop monoplane designs. For example, the first aeroplane to be put into production
231-558: A 500-watt electrical generator . The engine cowling features an inlet that draws cooling air into a tank; a pair of tinned steel oil tanks are also contained within the cowling. Welded steel construction was used for the nacelles, which attach to the centre section of the wing at four separate rubber -insulated joints. The retractable undercarriage of the Oxford was internally designed, featuring broken-braced twin oleo legs that retract rearward into each engine nacelle. Although actuation of
308-694: A knockout blow on sources of essential supplies, even at the cost of some duplication, by building new satellite plants which would also draw labour from congested as well as distressed areas. There were still areas of severe unemployment. In parallel with the Shadow Factory scheme, the London Aircraft Production Group (LAPG) was formed in 1940 by combining management of factories and workshops of Chrysler at Kew , Duple , Express Motor & Bodyworks , Park Royal Coachworks and London Transport . The major activity of
385-449: A knotted rope from the pilot's seat to the rear door to assist evacuation should the plane inadvertently be put into a spin, which it was almost impossible to recover from. When the pilot(s) released their seat belts centripetal force would hurl them to the rear of the plane, beyond the exit door, from which it was impossible to crawl forward to the door. The rope was installed as a response to a test by four "boffins" who tried to recover from
462-543: A lack of progress in re-arming the Royal Air Force , the result of obstruction by William Morris, Lord Nuffield . Swinton's civil servants approached their new boss, Sir Kingsley Wood, and showed him a series of informal questions that they had asked since 1935 on the subject, such as those posed to Morris Motors with regard to aircraft engine production capability at its Cowley plant in Oxford . As it turned out,
539-544: A low-wing, shoulder-wing and high-wing configurations give increased propeller clearance on multi-engined aircraft. On a large aircraft, there is little practical difference between a shoulder wing and a high wing; but on a light aircraft, the configuration is significant because it offers superior visibility to the pilot. On light aircraft, shoulder-wings tend to be mounted further aft than a high wing, and so may need to be swept forward to maintain correct center of gravity . Examples of light aircraft with shoulder wings include
616-693: A major expansion of the Royal Air Force (RAF) had been directed by the British government, which led to the formulation and issuing of a number of operational requirements by the Air Ministry . One of these was Operational Requirement 42 (OR.42), which sought an advanced training aircraft to be specifically used by aircrews destined to serve on bomber aircraft. As the RAF was in the process of migrating from biplanes to monoplanes , which were capable of greater speeds and had more demanding flight characteristics,
693-420: A pair of Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah X air-cooled radial engines , capable of generating 340 hp. These were initially outfitted with wooden fixed-position de Havilland -built propellers , but had been designed from the onset to accommodate variable-pitch propellers when these became available. However, only 199 (Mk.V) were actually equipped with variable-pitch propellers, but all Oxford cockpits contained
770-438: A pair of seats, intended to accommodate a pilot and either a navigator or second pilot alongside. When used for bomb aimer training, the second set of controls would be removed and the freed-up space was instead used to accommodate a prone bomb-aimer. When used as a navigation trainer, the second seat was pushed back so that it would line up with the chart table. Aft of the cockpit was a wireless operator station, facing aft on
847-434: A propeller pitch lever, allowing an instructor to insist it was moved from "Coarse" to "Fine" for landing to reinforce this important step for trainee pilots. The starboard engine drives a hydraulic pump and air compressor, the former being used to actuate the undercarriage and flaps while the latter is used for the braking system; a vacuum pump is also present for the gyroscopic instrumentations . The port engine drives
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#1732782934351924-441: A pylon. Additional bracing may be provided by struts or wires extending from the fuselage sides. The first parasol monoplanes were adaptations of shoulder wing monoplanes, since raising a shoulder mounted wing above the fuselage greatly improved visibility downwards, which was useful for reconnaissance roles, as with the widely used Morane-Saulnier L . The parasol wing allows for an efficient design with good pilot visibility, and
1001-463: A spin from 18,000 ft. When no recovery happened no matter what was tried the four released their harness and were hurled to the rear of their plane and there remained helpless as the spiral descent continued. However all was not lost. The plane was in such a flat spin when it reached the ground that it skidded sideways over the surface of a field until the tail section hit a haystack and broke off. The four "boffins" walked away relatively unharmed,
1078-412: A stressed-skin ply-covered structure using spruce flanges and ply webs. The spars are assembled upon a single jig, while others are used for the elements of the leading edge and trailing edge . Similar construction to the centre section is also used in the outer panels. The wings are outfitted with hydraulically-operated split flaps, which extend between the ailerons. The Oxford (nicknamed the 'Ox-box')
1155-726: A substantial management fee, in parallel under direct control of the motor industry business along with distributed facilities. General Erhard Milch , chief administrator of the Luftwaffe , was in Britain in the autumn of 1937 inspecting new shadow factories in Birmingham and Coventry , RAF aeroplanes and airfields. Up until the middle of 1938, the Air Ministry had been headed by Lord Swinton. He had been forced by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to resign his position due to
1232-482: A suitable trainer was needed to match this step change. At one point, the Avro Anson was considered for the role, however, it was thought that an aircraft more difficult to fly would be necessary. Accordingly, on 10 July 1936, Specification T.23/36 was issued to Airspeed for the development of a twin-engined training aircraft to meet OR.42. Developed to meet the requirements of Specification T.23/36 by Airspeed,
1309-467: Is a configuration whereby the wing is mounted near the top of the fuselage but not on the very top. It is so called because it sits on the "shoulder" of the fuselage, rather than on the pilot's shoulder. Shoulder-wings and high-wings share some characteristics, namely: they support a pendulous fuselage which requires no wing dihedral for stability; and, by comparison with a low-wing, a shoulder-wing's limited ground effect reduces float on landing. Compared to
1386-415: Is deliberately reinforced so that the structure is capable of withstanding the impact of the aircraft turning over during landing in the hands of an unfortunate trainee pilot. Both the elevator and fin of the tail unit used a wooden spar and rib structure covered by fabric. The fuselage can be partially dismantled, the wing dividing into three separate sections, so that it can be road-transported. The wing uses
1463-644: The ARV Super2 , the Bölkow Junior , Saab Safari and the Barber Snark . A high wing has its upper surface on or above the top of the fuselage. It shares many advantages and disadvantages with the shoulder wing, but on a light aircraft, the high wing has poorer upwards visibility. On light aircraft such as the Cessna 152 , the wing is usually located above the cabin, so that the wing spar passes over
1540-546: The Bristol Mercury engine. By January 1938 two of those shadow factories were producing complete airframes. In July 1938 the first bomber completely built in a shadow factory (Austin's) was flown in front of Sir Kingsley Wood, Secretary of State for Air. It was said eight shadow factories constructing aircraft components were in production in or near Coventry in February 1940. As the scheme progressed, and after
1617-531: The Castle Bromwich Factory and promising a thousand Spitfires by June 1940 but, after two years, management was so poor that when June 1940 arrived not one Spitfire had been produced there. Castle Bromwich was withdrawn from Nuffield by Lord Beaverbrook . the Minister of Aircraft Production , and placed under the wing of Vickers-Supermarine . The plan had two parts: Under the plan, there
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#17327829343511694-440: The cantilever wing more practical — first pioneered together by the revolutionary German Junkers J 1 factory demonstrator in 1915–16 — they became common during the post–World War I period, the day of the braced wing passed, and by the 1930s, the cantilever monoplane was fast becoming the standard configuration for a fixed-wing aircraft. Advanced monoplane fighter-aircraft designs were mass-produced for military services around
1771-462: The cantilever wing, which carries all structural forces internally. However, to fly at practical speeds the wing must be made thin, which requires a heavy structure to make it strong and stiff enough. External bracing can be used to improve structural efficiency, reducing weight and cost. For a wing of a given size, the weight reduction allows it to fly slower and with a lower-powered and more economical engine. For this reason, all monoplane wings in
1848-537: The " Fokker scourge ". The German military Idflieg aircraft designation system prior to 1918 prefixed monoplane type designations with an E , until the approval of the Fokker D.VIII fighter from its former "E.V" designation. However, the success of the Fokker was short-lived, and World War I was dominated by biplanes. Towards the end of the war, the parasol monoplane became popular and successful designs were produced into
1925-405: The 1920s. Nonetheless, relatively few monoplane types were built between 1914 and the late 1920s, compared with the number of biplanes. The reasons for this were primarily practical. With the low engine powers and airspeeds available, the wings of a monoplane needed to be large in order to create enough lift while a biplane could have two smaller wings and so be made smaller and lighter. Towards
2002-571: The British Air Ministry . Its basic design is derived from the company's earlier AS.6 Envoy , a commercial passenger aircraft. After its maiden flight by Percy Colman on 19 June 1937, it was quickly put into production as part of a rapid expansion of the Royal Air Force (RAF) in anticipation of a large-scale conflict. As a consequence of the outbreak of war, many thousands of Oxfords were ordered by Britain and its allies, including Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, Poland, and
2079-776: The Central Flying School, they were later joined by large numbers of RAF aircraft to equip the Service Flying Training Schools. 819 Oxfords of all Marks were operated by the RCAF in Canada for the BCATP during the war. New Zealand was one of the first nations to order the Oxford in 1937 with a contract for five Oxford Is; the fifth aircraft was modified as a survey aircraft. They were delivered to New Zealand by sea and assembled at RNZAF Hobsonville at
2156-542: The Envoy and the Convertible Envoy in its development of the Oxford. The Air Ministry approved of the project, leading to an initial order for the type being placed during 1937. It was decided to opt for a large first batch, totalling 136 aircraft, as this allowed for the implementation of more economical flow-line production at Airspeed's Portsmouth factory. On 19 June 1937, the first prototype Oxford, L4534 ,
2233-581: The LAPG was delivered in 1941 and the last, named London Pride , in April 1945. The shadow factory proposals and implementation, particularly its rigidity when bombed, meant that other key areas of military production prepared their own dispersal factory plans: When the Birmingham Small Arms plant at Small Heath , the sole producer of service rifle barrels and main aircraft machine guns ,
2310-514: The London Aircraft Production Group was published in March 1945: This includes LAPG members with factories at Preston, Speke and Stockport. from May 1941 they took responsibility for final erection followed by the test flight and their first aircraft was airborne before the end of 1941. They were allotted their own aerodromes instead of sending aircraft to the Handley Page aerodrome. At peak
2387-515: The Minister for Production, stated in Parliament that there were "in round figures" 175 firms managing agency schemes or shadow factories. Information concerning the shadow factory plan and shadow factories can be found among the following records and descriptive series list code headings held by The National Archives . For the full set of references (including German shadow factories ) see
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2464-549: The Oxford was based on the company's existing commercial 8-seater aircraft, the AS.6 Envoy , designed by Hessell Tiltman . Seven Envoys had already been modified for the South African Air Force (SAAF) as the "Convertible Envoy", which could be equipped at short notice with bomb racks and with a machine-gun in a hand-operated Armstrong Whitworth dorsal turret. Airspeed gained substantial benefit from its prior work on
2541-805: The Royal Air Force. Most were used as general-purpose communications aircraft in the United Kingdom; from June 1942 they were also used for Beam Approach training. By the end of 1944, American types were available, and all USAAF Oxfords had been returned to the RAF. A small number had also been loaned to the USAAF in Australia by the Royal Australian Air Force. Two Oxfords were used by the United States Navy in
2618-467: The United Kingdom as communications aircraft. Data from Modern Trainer General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes , which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently
2695-471: The United States. Following the end of the conflict, the Oxford continued to achieve export sales for some time, equipping the newly formed air forces of Egypt, India, Israel, and Yugoslavia . It was considered to be a capable trainer aircraft throughout the conflict, as well as being used as a general-purpose type. A number of Oxfords are preserved today on static display worldwide. During the 1930s,
2772-415: The cockpit was considered to be very high for the era, superior to the majority of its contemporaries, but is unavoidably interrupted by the engine cowlings acting as blind spots . It was normally operated by a three-man crew; the seating arrangement could be altered in order to suit various purposes, such as to better enable a specific training role. The cockpit was outfitted with dual flying controls and
2849-534: The death of Austin in 1941, the Directorate of Air Ministry Factories, under the auspices of the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP), gradually took charge of the construction of the buildings required for aircraft production. In early 1943 the functions of the directorate of Air Ministry Factories were transferred to the Ministry of Works . There were three waves of construction of shadow factories and only
2926-729: The end of 1938. The RNZAF placed further orders for six and then 30 Oxfords. With the start of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan a further 140 aircraft were allocated, which included the last batch of 30 ordered. In total, the RNZAF operated 299 Oxfords between 1938 and 1952. As part of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the South African Air Force was allocated nearly 700 Oxfords which started to arrive in South Africa from November 1940. Due to
3003-478: The end of the First World War, the inherent high drag of the biplane was beginning to restrict performance. Engines were not yet powerful enough to make the heavy cantilever-wing monoplane viable, and the braced parasol wing became popular on fighter aircraft, although few arrived in time to see combat. It remained popular throughout the 1920s. On flying boats with a shallow hull, a parasol wing allows
3080-487: The engines to be mounted above the spray from the water when taking off and landing. This arrangement was popular on flying boats during the 1930s; a late example being the Consolidated PBY Catalina . It died out when taller hulls became the norm during World War II, allowing a high wing to be attached directly to the hull. As ever-increasing engine powers made the weight of all-metal construction and
3157-412: The flight controls, hydraulics and electrical components; inspection panels are also present in the outer wing sections. The semi- monocoque fuselage of Oxford uses an arrangement of spruce longerons and stiffeners underneath a plywood exterior. It is constructed in two sections on separate jigs , divided between the front and rear, these are joined together at the rear bulkhead. The forward bulkhead
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3234-414: The group involved 41 factories and dispersal units, 660 subcontractors and more than 51,000 employees, Ultimately output rose to 200 Halifaxes a month and the group provided something like 40 per cent of the nation's heavy bomber output. Halifax bombers dropped more than 200,000 tons of bombs. Sir Frederick Handley Page 's "thank you" to these "daughter" firms was a luncheon at The Dorchester at which
3311-532: The group was the production of Handley Page Halifax bombers for the Royal Air Force , ammunition, gun parts, armoured vehicles and spare parts for vehicles. The group was led by London Transport from its works at Chiswick and Aldenham and the new De Havilland factory at Leavesden, Hertfordshire , which had a large purpose-built factory and airfield (construction of both was authorised on 10 January 1940) for production, assembly and flight testing of completed Halifax bombers. The following list of eight members of
3388-486: The head of each firm received a silver model of a Halifax bomber and representative workmen received scrolls of commendation. Due to the high priority placed on aircraft production, large numbers of workers were drafted with little experience or training in aircraft production, with over half the workforce eventually being female. At its peak the LAPG included 41 factories or sites, 600 sub-contractors and 51,000 employees, producing one aircraft an hour. The first Halifax from
3465-406: The highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing configuration and is the simplest to build. However, during the early years of flight, these advantages were offset by its greater weight and lower manoeuvrability, making it relatively rare until the 1930s. Since then, the monoplane has been the most common form for a fixed-wing aircraft. The inherent efficiency of the monoplane is best achieved in
3542-705: The initiative (most of the facilities to be developed were alongside existing motor vehicle factories), and the technical liaison with the aircraft industry to Charles Bruce-Gardner . He also handed the delivery of the key new factory in Castle Bromwich , that was contracted to deliver 1,000 new Supermarine Spitfires to the RAF by the end of 1940, to Lord Nuffield, though in May 1940 the responsibility had to be taken from Nuffield and given to Vickers. The buildings were sheds up to 2,000 feet (610 m) long lit either by glazed roofs or " north-lit ". Office accommodation
3619-478: The intense cold whilst in the water, and may then have been dragged underneath a rescue vessel. In difficult sea conditions, the Captain of the rescue vessel (Lt Cmdr Walter Fletcher) entered the water in an attempt to retrieve what was thought to be a body, but he lost consciousness in the extreme cold, and died in hospital several days later. The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) used 137 Oxfords on loan from
3696-555: The intense training, 256 aircraft were lost to accidents. Most survivors were withdrawn in 1945 and had been sold by 1947. In January 1941, whilst flying an Oxford for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), the aviator Amy Johnson flew off-course in adverse weather conditions, until her aircraft crashed into the Thames Estuary . Accounts vary, but it is generally accepted that she bailed out, then succumbed to
3773-430: The knotted rope being their only positive remedy for an Oxford in a spin. From November 1940, the Royal Australian Air Force received 391 Oxford I and IIs from RAF contracts for use in Australia. Most of the survivors were sold in the early 1950s. The Royal Canadian Air Force ordered 25 Oxford Is in 1938. They were taken from RAF stocks and shipped to Canada in 1939 and assembled by Canadian Vickers at Montreal. Issued to
3850-454: The last was withdrawn from service in 1956. A small number of ex RAF Oxfords were converted to civilian use post-war, along with 152 more that were converted into 6-seat commercial airliners called the AS.65 Consul . Meanwhile a fair number of surplus RAF aircraft were sold for use by overseas air arms, some as early as 1943, but mostly post-war. (see below) Most Oxfords in the UK were equipped with
3927-427: The low-wing position is its significant ground effect , giving the plane a tendency to float farther before landing. Conversely, this ground effect permits shorter takeoffs. A mid wing is mounted midway up the fuselage. The carry-through spar structure can reduce the useful fuselage volume near its centre of gravity, where space is often in most demand. A shoulder wing (a category between high-wing and mid-wing)
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#17327829343514004-554: The main distinction between types of monoplane is where the wing is mounted vertically on the fuselage . A low wing is one which is located on or near the bottom of the fuselage. Placing the wing low allows good visibility upwards and frees the central fuselage from the wing spar carry-through. By reducing pendulum stability, it makes the aircraft more manoeuvrable, as on the Spitfire ; but aircraft that value stability over manoeuvrability may then need some dihedral . A feature of
4081-452: The majority of training was carried out), New Zealand, South Africa, and Southern Rhodesia. 27 Oxfords were on the strength of No 4 Flying Training School RAF Habbaniya , Iraq in early 1941 and some were converted locally for use as light bombers to help in the defence of the School against Iraqi forces . Oxfords continued to serve the Royal Air Force as trainers and light transports until
4158-447: The occupants' heads, leaving the wing in the ideal fore-aft position. An advantage of the high-wing configuration is that the fuselage is closer to the ground which eases cargo loading, especially for aircraft with a rear-fuselage cargo door. Military cargo aircraft are predominantly high-wing designs with a rear cargo door. A parasol wing is not directly attached to the fuselage but held above it, supported by either cabane struts or
4235-584: The outcome of the Shadow Scheme , a plan devised in 1935 and developed by the British government in the buildup to World War II to try to meet the urgent need for more aircraft using technology transfer from the motor industry to implement additional manufacturing capacity. The term 'shadow' was not intended to mean secrecy, but rather the protected environment they would receive by being staffed by all levels of skilled motor industry people alongside (in
4312-416: The pioneer era were braced and most were up until the early 1930s. However, the exposed struts or wires create additional drag, lowering aerodynamic efficiency and reducing the maximum speed. High-speed and long-range designs tend to be pure cantilevers, while low-speed short-range types are often given bracing. Besides the general variations in wing configuration such as tail position and use of bracing,
4389-409: The retraction mechanism is normally achieved via an engine-driven pump, a manual fall-back mechanism is provided to force the wheels down in the event of an in-flight engine failure. The undercarriage wheels are equipped with pneumatically-operated brakes, controlled by a lever set on each control column. For inspection purposes, access panels are located beneath the pilot's cockpit for internal access to
4466-601: The scheme in May 1938, on his appointment as Secretary of State for Air in place of Lord Swinton . Many more factories were built as part of the dispersal scheme designed to reduce the risk of a total collapse of production if what would otherwise be a major facility were bombed, though these were not shadow factories. It was impossible for these facilities to be secret, though they were camouflaged after hostilities began. They were war materiel production facilities built in "the shadow" of motor industry plants to facilitate technology transfer to aircraft construction and run, for
4543-476: The second pilot's position is also provided with a fully furnished suite of key flight instrumentation. It was equipped with the standard blind-flying panel, incorporating an airspeed indicator , altimeter , artificial horizon , directional gyroscope, rate of climb indicator and turn indicator. Life support equipment includes three oxygen regulators, a flowmeter, three bayonet unions and three high-pressure oxygen cylinders of 750 litres capacity. The external view of
4620-477: The shadow of) their own similar motor industry operations. A directorate of Aeronautical Production was formed in March 1936 with responsibility for the manufacture of airframes as well as engines, associated equipment and armaments. The project was headed by Herbert Austin and developed by the Air Ministry under the internal project name of the Shadow Scheme. Sir Kingsley Wood took responsibility for
4697-568: The small arms supplied to Britain's forces during the war. In June 1939 the response to a question in parliament was: 31 shadow factories were complete or under construction. The Air Ministry was responsible for 16 and, of those 16, 11 were working to full capacity. By that time large numbers of Bristol engines and aircraft were being made in Government owned shadow factories and in the Dominions and other foreign countries. In February 1944
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#17327829343514774-460: The specialised high-output engines required by the RAF were made by Armstrong Siddeley , Bristol Aeroplane , Napier & Son and Rolls-Royce , all of which employed a high number of sub-contractors. Despite their new factories, protestations by Wolseley Aero Engines (Nuffield) and Alvis were ignored. Their products were not required. Engines were specified by the aircraft's designers. Nuffield did participate after Wood's appointment, providing
4851-406: The starboard side of the fuselage . On the Oxford I, a dorsal turret was located amidships; it could be used for training navigators, bomb-aimers, wireless operators, air gunners and camera operators. The centre section can contain up to 16 11 lb. practice bombs, which are controlled via bomb-release switches installed at the pilot and bomb-aimers' stations. The Oxford was normally powered by
4928-471: The third and smallest reached Scotland in the shape of the factory at Hillington producing Rolls-Royce's Merlin engines. Ferranti's factory in Crewe Toll, Edinburgh will have been secret. Similar plans were introduced in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The White Paper on Defence published in February 1937 revealed that steps had been taken to reduce the risk of air attack delivering
5005-687: The world in both the Soviet Union and the United States in the early–mid 1930s, with the Polikarpov I-16 and the Boeing P-26 Peashooter respectively. Most military aircraft of WWII were monoplanes, as have been virtually all aircraft since, except for a few specialist types. Jet and rocket engines have even more power and all modern high-speed aircraft, especially supersonic types, have been monoplanes. British shadow factories British shadow factories were
5082-425: Was Austin . The first motor manufacturers chosen for engine shadows were: Austin, Daimler , Humber (Rootes Securities), Singer , Standard , Rover and Wolseley . In the event Lord Nuffield took Wolseley out of the arrangement and Singer proved to be in serious financial difficulty. Wood handed the overall project implementation to the Directorate of Air Ministry Factories, appointing Herbert Austin to lead
5159-606: Was bombed by the Luftwaffe in August–November 1940, it caused delays in productions, which reportedly worried PM Churchill the most among all the industrial damage during the Blitz. The Government Ministry of Supply and BSA immediately began a process of production dispersal throughout Britain, through the shadow factory scheme. Later in the war BSA controlled 67 factories from its Small Heath office, employing 28,000 people operating 25,000 machine tools, and produced more than half
5236-532: Was a low-wing twin-engine cantilever monoplane , featuring a semi- monocoque constructed fuselage , a conventional landing gear configuration and a wooden tail unit . It was capable of reproducing the flight characteristics of many contemporary front-line aircraft then in military service. It was specifically developed to be suitable for a range of training missions, including navigation, flying instruction, night flying, instrument flying, wireless , direction-finding, gunnery, and vertical photography . The Oxford
5313-459: Was added, then a flight shed 500 feet (150 m) by 190 feet (58 m) was attached to the airframe factory. The new factory buildings were models of efficient factory layout. They had wide, clear gangways and good lighting, and they were free of shafting and belt drives. The five shadow factories in Coventry were all in production by the end of October 1937 and they were all making parts of
5390-466: Was adopted for some fighters such as the Fokker D.VIII and Morane-Saulnier AI in the later part of the First World War. A parasol wing also provides a high mounting point for engines and during the interwar period was popular on flying boats, which need to lift the propellers clear of spray. Examples include the Martin M-130 , Dornier Do 18 and the Consolidated PBY Catalina . Compared to
5467-590: Was arranged that de Havilland Aircraft would build them at Hatfield later, to meet the demands for Oxfords for training. Other companies also manufactured the aircraft. By the end of production, a total of 8,751 Oxfords had been completed. Of these, 4,411 had been produced by Airspeed at its Portsmouth factory, another 550 at the Airspeed-run shadow factory at Christchurch , Dorset , 1,515 by de Havilland at Hatfield , 1,360 by Percival Aircraft at Luton and 750 by Standard Motors at Coventry . The Oxford
5544-493: Was brick, and wherever possible faced a main road. These buildings were extremely adaptable and would remain part of the British industrial landscape for more than 50 years. One of the largest was Austin's Cofton Hackett, beside their Longbridge plant , started in August 1936. 1,530 feet (470 m) long and 410 feet (120 m) wide, the structure covered 20 acres (81,000 m ). Later a 15 acres (61,000 m ) airframe factory
5621-507: Was first flown by chief test pilot C H A 'Percy' Colman from Portsmouth. Initially, two variants were planned; the Mark I, which was viewed as a general-purpose training aircraft equipped with a dorsal gun turret , and the Mark II, which lacked any turret but was instead fitted with dual controls. As further large contracts for the aircraft were placed with Airspeed, (100 Mk Is and 100 Mk IIs) it
5698-408: Was government funding for the building of these new production facilities, in the form of grants and loans. Key to the plan were the products and plans of Rolls-Royce, whose Merlin engine powered many of the key aircraft being developed by the Air Ministry, as well as Bristol Hercules engine. Bristol Aeroplane would not allow shadow factories to build complete engines, only components. The exception
5775-643: Was specifically planned and developed to incorporate various modern innovations and equipment fittings, including a full array of instruments and controls within the cockpit, which assisted in its principal trainer role. In addition, the Oxford could also be used in various secondary roles, such as an air ambulance and maritime patrol aircraft. In terms of flying experience, the Oxford was suitably representative as to enable pilots to migrate onto larger transport aircraft with ease while possessing smooth flight characteristics. The controls were relatively straightforward, typically remaining consistent and easily adjustable;
5852-553: Was the 1907 Santos-Dumont Demoiselle , while the Blériot XI flew across the English Channel in 1909. Throughout 1909–1910, Hubert Latham set multiple altitude records in his Antoinette IV monoplane, eventually reaching 1,384 m (4,541 ft). The equivalent German language term is Eindecker , as in the mid-wing Fokker Eindecker fighter of 1915 which for a time dominated the skies in what became known as
5929-653: Was used to prepare complete aircrews for RAF Bomber Command and could simultaneously train pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, gunners and radio operators on the same flight. In addition to training duties, Oxfords were used in communications and anti-submarine roles and as air ambulances in the Middle East . The Oxford was the preferred trainer for the Empire Air Training Scheme and British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), with over 2,900 sent to Commonwealth countries; Australia , Canada (where
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