The Victa Aircruiser was a 1960s Australian four-seat touring monoplane designed by Henry Millicer and built by Victa. It was not put into production by Victa, and the rights were sold to AESL in 1969.
Following the success of the earlier Airtourer, Millicer designed a four-seat version which he called the Aircruiser. The prototype registeredVH-MVR first flew on 18 July 1966.[1] Like the Airtourer it was a low-wing monoplane with a fixed nosewheel landing gear and powered by a 210 hp (157 kW) Continental IO-360-H piston engine.[1] Rather than the sliding clear Perspex canopy of the Airtourer, the four-seat Aircruiser had a fixed cabin roof with a single "car type" door on the left hand side.[2]
Although Victa completed certification testing, no production of the Aircruiser followed, as Victa closed down its Aviation Division after failing to get financial assistance from the Australian government.[3] Both Victa and Transavia Corporation had requested subsidies for Australian-designed and -built light aircraft, with Victa seeking a subsidy of up to 60% of the factory cost.[4]
Following the sale of the design rights of the Airtourer to Aero Engine Services Limited (AESL) of New Zealand, the rights to the Aircruiser were also sold to AESL in 1969.[1] AESL's Chief Designer Pat Monk re-designed the aircraft as the AESL CT/4 Airtrainer, a fully aerobatic (+6G, -3G) military trainer.
