The Airedale was a four-seat, high-wing braced monoplane with a fixed, tricycle undercarriage, mainly of steel tube construction and fabric covered.

Although similar in many respects, the Airedale was not based on the earlier Auster C.6 Atlantic design,[2] of which a single aircraft was built and flown in 1958 (registration G-APHT).

[6] The performance of the Airedale, although faster than the D.6 on the same engine, was decidedly lacklustre, largely due to its comparatively high structural weight, and it was unable to compete in the market with its US competitors.

This was largely because of the out-dated steel tube/fabric construction,[7] compared to the more modern all-metal Piper Cherokee and Cessna 172 designs, but also the performance was worse[5] and production quality was poor.

[15] It appears that a decision in 1962 to continue production past the first 25 aircraft was only made due to the optimistic outlook and predictions of the Chairman, Peter Masefield.