[1] It was a way of producing an all-metal aircraft with an airframe built up from simple, non-machined metal shapes, covered with very thin e.g. 0.016 in (0.4 mm) corrugated light alloy sheets.

[2] The Viastra was envisaged as a one or three-engined commercial aircraft capable of carrying ten passengers and designed with an eye to operations in countries with poor surface transport facilities.

The wings, like the rest of the aircraft were covered with the corrugated skin and carried balanced ailerons and outboard slots.

There was a biplane tail unit with a pair of narrow chord planes, the lower attached to the fuselage underside and the upper mounted clear above.

[2] The first Viastra, registered as G-AAUB and powered by three 270 hp (200 kW) Armstrong Siddeley Lynx Major 7-cylinder radial engines first flew on 1 October 1930.

The Australian operation showed that the twin-engined Viastra II was a little underpowered in that it could not hold altitude on only one engine.

The Viastra X G-ACCC was a one-off twin powered by Bristol Pegasus IIL3s 9-cylinder radials, built as a "Royal barge" for the Prince of Wales and lavishly kitted out.