Twenty-odd years ago I was lucky enough to have contact with a number of former Auster people, among them designer 'Dicky' Bird, company director Ambrose Hitchman and sales director/test and demonstration pilot the late Ranald Porteous. All regaled me with fascinating stories of the marque, and Ranald became a particular friend. His tales (over the odd libation or six) were legion. The only one I can call accurately without a trip to my 'archive' (great heaps of paperwork in the loft) concerns his invention of the famous 'Porteous Loop' or 'Avalanche' as it is more commonly known in aerobatics circles these days. Over to Ranald:
"Finding that Farnborough (1951) was upon us and not wishing to be accused of serving up the mixture as before, I took up one of our new Aigiet Trainers shortly before lunch at Rearsby, determined to piece together a different and hopefully improved routine. After some thought and practice I proved to my own satisfaction that the Aiglet's quite remarkably crisp characteristics enabled it to flick reliably from inverted to inverted at the top of the loop, and decided to try this out on the dog. Arriving back over Rearsby Airfield I saw my colleagues and the workforce generally streaming towards the canteen for lunch, and entertained them overhead for a few minutes, including a few of my new-found 'Avalanches'. After landing I strolled over to join Frank Bates, my Managing Director, and asked him if he had noticed what I had been doing and whether he thought this strange manoeuvre would look effective at Farnborough. He looked at me quizzically and said: 'Are you trying to tell me that was intentional?'"