Britain in late 1945 hardly seemed ripe for a revival in something so apparently frivolous as light aviation. The economy had all but been brought to its knees by six years of hostilities, and an age of austerity was looming. Petrol was among those items still subject to rationing. The resurgence of private-owner and aero club activity would have to wait until more favourable times, surely? Not so. "It has always surprised me how private flying bounced back with such enthusiasm" says Mark Miller, chief engineer of de Havilland Support Ltd, and co-custodian of an aeroplane that exemplifies the period. "Aviation must still have been synonymous with wartime carnage and tragedy. Raw material shortages surely would have constrained new production of aircraft, and release of impressed pre-war equipment took some time. It seems remarkable that brand-new Auster Autocrats and, soon, Miles Messengers and Geminis, were in full production at all, let alone finding ready buyers -around the Empire, even. Excellent and enduring aeroplanes, all of them."
展开▼
