RAAF A25 Airspeed AS.10 Oxford

Airspeed Oxford Image Gallery

The Airspeed A.S.10 Oxford was a multi-engine three-seat advanced trainer monoplane used as a military trainer by the RAF in the 1930's. The Oxford was developed to fit specifications T.23/26 for a trainer aircraft, and the prototype Oxford which first flew in 1937, was the military version of the Airspeed Envoy. The aircraft was of the cantilever low-wing monoplane type, powered by two Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah air-cooled radial engines of 375 hp, giving a speed of 190 mph at 10,000 feet.

On the outbreak of World War II, Oxfords were selected as one of the favoured trainer aircraft in Canada, Australia and New Zealand as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) or British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP).  The RAAF received 391 Oxfords - the first aircraft, P6878, was received on 5 November 1940 and the last, LW999, on 12 March 1944. They were delivered as 265 Mk.I, 127 Mk.II and 1 Mk.I/II Inter between August 1940 and November 1943 and they all retained their original RAF serials in RAAF service. Several Oxfords are also known to have been used be RAAF Article XV Squadrons operating from the UK as communication hacks. The Oxford served from October 1940 until the last Oxford was retired from service in 1949.

Known as the 'Ox Box' to trainees around the globe, the Oxford was used for instruction on: flying; navigation; gunnery; radio; bombing; direction finding; high-altitude bombing; air gunnery; aerial photography; night flying and twin-engined flying.

After WWII large numbers of aircraft (mostly of metal construction) were sold for scrap or further post-RAAF civilian usage.  However, the Oxford aircraft was primarily of glued wooden construction and for this reason the Department of Civil Aviation would not permit civil registration.  By 1947 there were hundreds of Oxfords that could not be readily sold because of the DCA ruling so the Department of Aircraft Production decided to get rid of all the Oxfords by selling them by public auctions at selected RAAF Bases for very cheap prices. A standard price of five pounds ten shillings was set to promote quick sales.  To ensure the aircraft were not airworthy the aircraft had to be removed through a Bases' front gate, which meant the wings had to be hacked off before removal.  Not surprisingly, there are no airworthy Oxfords or complete static display aircraft in Australia at the time of writing.

The complete summaries of the histories of these aircraft are on the following pages:

RAAF Airspeed Oxford Serial Summary

The Authors of this page are Brendan Cowan and Paul McGuiness.

Source: RAAF Museum Website, Accident cards supplied by Darryl Gibbs, Classic Wings Downunder Magazine, Aircraft Status Cards, The Oxford, Consul & Envoy File, John Hamlin Air-Britain.

Emails: Gordon Birkett, Clive Lynch, Howard Curtis, Grahame Higgs, Matt Bolton. David Burns

Converted to CMS 5th September 2025

Updated 31st October 2016