Aye aye, I.I. !
Could well be Fred Ayris given that Stace came up with the same name. Truly don't know however as the photo only mentions Fred "A" thereby leaving us all in the dark plus .. good ol' Fred is standing
behind the Whirler!
Regarding the Auster; my godfather used to fly them before he joined the AAC. In those days he was an Officer in the Royal Artillery and was seconded to the RAF to join their Air Observation Post Squadrons which flew sorties on behalf of the Army.
Keeping it 'in the family', Ferranti's Operations Manager was the late great Major "Warby" Warburton ..
.. an Army observation pilot in North Africa, Italy and Burma.
After the Operation Torch landings at Algiers in French North Africa in 1942, "Warby" - a nickname which reflected his warm and colourful personality - was quickly in action spotting artillery with 651 Squadron.
It was a perilous occupation, pottering about over enemy positions in an a fragile, unarmed, single-engined Auster that seemed more suited to a flying club than to the hazards of war. Derived from the American Taylorcraft, this light monoplane cruised no faster than 100mph, and was restricted to a range of 250 miles.
As the First Army made its bold but unsuccessful dash for Tunis, there was a constant demand from Air Observation Post (Air O.P.) crews for tactical information. Careless of the risk, Warburton circled enemy positions and directed artillery fire. Constantly attacked by enemy fighters, he was also highly vulnerable to ground fire. But Warburton became known as "The Artful Dodger", so canny was he in manoeuvring his Auster until German pilots were forced to break off their attacks for lack of fuel.
He was awarded the Croix de Guerre in recognition of the operations he had flown in support of the Free French 19 Corps around d'Oum El Abouab, where his courageous observation in the face of enemy fire made possible the destruction of an ammunition dump and artillery battery.
More Aussie [Jet] Rangers ..
Agusta-Bell 206A JetRanger VH-BHW at Jandakot Airfield, WA, in 1970. This craft was originally G-AWIM (the 18th 206 on the British register) but was transferred to Bristow's Aussie ops in 1968 (Photo: Peter Rye)