Airspeed AS.10 Oxford, part one, Australian & New Zealand Users

The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford was a British twin-engined monoplane aircraft that was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Ltd.It was initially considered as just a trainer version of the AS.6 Envoy, however it quickly became a design of its own as it saw use as aircrew trainer in many countries of the British Commonwealth. Its main use was navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles through the World War 2.
In this post we're focusing on the use that Australia and New Zealand gave to the Oxford.

• Australia: In Australia, the imported Oxfords retained their original RAF serials, in spite of having been assigned the prefix A25 (just like it happened with the Fairey Battles). The first Oxford was imported into Australia on 28th October 1940 and the last one on 20th March 1944, making a total of 391 machines having served with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). These aircraft were both of the Mk.I and Mk.II variants which, the first ones, had a turret (designed by Armstrong-Whitworth) for gunnery training, and the second ones hadn't. They were mainly employed for pilot and navigation training.
  The Oxford was commonly known by the trainees as the "Ox-Box" and they were employed at the Empire Air Training Schools for instruction in flying, navigation, gunnery, radio and bombing. Additionally, Mk.II versions operated with Nos. 1, 2 and 5 Communication Units, in the communications role.
  In the years after the World War II, the Oxford was retained by the RAAF in the trainer and communications role until 1953 when they finally withdrew from service. Together with the Avro Anson, the Airspeed Oxford was the main trainer in service with the RAAF for more than 10 years.
• New Zealand: Between 1938 and 1954 (some sources claim it was until 1952) the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) operated a total of 299 Oxfords. This was more than nearly other type of aircraft then in service with the RNZAF. They were ordered in 1937, making New Zealand one of the first nations to operate the type. An initial batch of five aircraft was delivered with the fifth aircraft being intended to be use as a survey airplane. They were shipped disassembled to New Zealand and were assembled at RNZAF Hobsonville during late 1938. The RNZAF ordered six more machines and later, 30 more of them. When the Commonwealth Air Training Plan was created, further 140 were allocated, which included the last batch of 30 ordered. They were used by many Air Training Schools (ATS) in New Zealand in the trainer role.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Oxford

2. https://www.airforcemuseum.co.nz/aircraft/airspeed-oxford/

3. https://www.airforce.gov.au/sites/default/files/minisite/static/7522/RAAFmuseum/research/aircraft/series2/A25.htm