Historical:

With the expansion of the Royal Air Force in the 1930s the service had an operational requirement (OR.42) for an advanced training aircraft, particularly for crews destined for bomber aircraft. The Avro Anson was considered for the role but it was thought an aircraft more difficult to fly was needed and Air Ministry Specification T.23/36 was issued on 10 July 1936 to Airspeed for a twin-engined training aircraft to meet OR.42.

The Oxford, built to Specification T.23/36, was based on Airspeed's commercial 8-seater aircraft, the AS.6 Envoy, designed by Hessell Tiltman. Seven Envoys had been modified for the South African Air Force as the "Convertible Envoy", which could be equipped at short notice with a machine-gun in a hand-operated Armstrong Whitworth dorsal turret and with bomb racks.

Airspeed Ltd. was founded by Nevil Shute Norway (later to become a well-known novelist under his first two names, Nevil Shute) and the talented designer Hessell Tiltman. In his autobiography, Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer, Norway gives an account of the founding of the company and of the processes that led to the development and mass production of the Oxford. (He received the Fellowship of the Royal Aeronautical Society for his innovative fitting of a retractable undercarriage to the aircraft.)

The Oxford was a low-wing cantilever monoplane, with a semi-monocoque constructed fuselage and wooden tail unit. Its main landing gear struts retracted into the engine nacelles. It used conventional landing gear configuration. With a normal crew of three, the seating could be changed to suit the training role. The cockpit had dual controls and two seats for a pilot and either a navigator or second pilot. When used for bomb aimer training, the second set of controls was removed and the space was used for a prone bomb-aimer. When used as a navigation trainer, the second seat was pushed back to line up with the chart table. Aft of the cockpit was a wireless operator station, facing aft on the starboard side of the fuselage. In the Oxford I a dorsal turret was located amidships. The aircraft could be used for training navigators, bomb-aimers, wireless operators, air gunners and camera operators. The Oxford could also be used as an air ambulance.

Info: Airspeed AS.10 Oxford Mk.I – MP425, No. 1536 Beam Approach Training Flight, RAF, 1943 (RAF Museum, Hendon)