Auster B.4

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Auster B.4 was a British attempt to make a light cargo aircraft based on the Auster family. Only one was built. It first flew on 7 September 1951. The design redesigned the fuselage into a pod-and-boom layout with the tail carried on a high boom. The rear of the pod had clamshell doors for easy loading and unloading. It used a quadricycle undercarriage, keeping the main wheels from earlier Austers and adding a tailwheel on each side of the pod. The cabin floor could hold seats, cargo restraints, or litters for an air ambulance. The prototype was shown at the Farnborough SBAC Show in September 1953. It was evaluated by the British Army, but no orders followed, and no more were built.