Airspeed A.S. 10 Oxford   V3354

                                

                                     Some 300 Oxford Mk 1s advanced trainers were in operation by the RAF when war broke out in
                                     1939.   The final number constructed was a staggering 8,586.  Initially in 1941 some 60 or so were
                                     shipped out to Australia, although the total number finally used was over 400.        V3354 was one
                                     of the first 60, and is seen above flying over Australia in this shot from the archives of the Goulburn
                                     War Memorial Museum.   The Oxfords were never given Australian A- type serials, and retained
                                     their original RAF serials throughout their operation.   After the war, and oddly, the Australian DCA
                                     would not permit them to be sold on the civilian market.      Ostensibly because they were of glued
                                     wooden construction.  Although this rule would apply to all wooden aircraft eventually, in the mean-
                                     time in the immediate post war period there were many examples of wood-glued aircraft imported,
                                     namely Percival Proctors and all the Miles types.  This mandatory suspension of all all-wood bonded
                                     aircraft was not enforced until 1962, so theoretically Oxfords could have been used by civil operators
                                     for almost twenty years.    In the event they were sold off as scrap, some being purchased for as little
                                     as five quid or so.  (There were a number of them at rotting in the long grass Bankstown in the early
                                    1950s when I made my visits).       Anyway, because of this no samples of Oxfords are to be found
                                     today in Australia    In fact, I don't think there are any in museums, either.