Avro Anson
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The Avro Anson was a twin-engine, multi-role aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and numerous other air forces during World War II and afterwards. Named for British admiral George Anson, it was originally designed for maritime reconnaissance but was soon rendered obsolete. However it was rescued from obscurity by its suitability as a multi-engine air crew trainer, becoming the mainstay of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. By the end of its production life in 1952, the Anson spanned nine variants and a total of 8,138 had been built in Britain by Avro and, from 1941, a further 2,882 by the Canadian Federal Aircraft Ltd. Ansons served with most air forces of the British Commonwealth as well as Australia,Afghanistan, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Norway, Netherlands, New Zealand,Portugal, Rhodesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the United States.
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History
The Anson was derived from the commercial 6-seat Avro 652 and the militarised version, which first flew on 24 March 1935, was built to Air Ministry Specification 18/35. It was the first RAF monoplane with a retractable undercarriage. The first production run resulted in 174 Anson Mk.I aircraft for service with Coastal Command. No. 48 Squadron RAF was the first to be equipped in March 1936. At the start of World War II, there were 26 RAF squadrons operating the Anson I; 10 with Coastal Command and 16 with Bomber Command. However by this time the Anson was obsolete and in the process of being superseded by the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and Lockheed Hudson.
Limited numbers of Ansons continued to serve in operational roles such as coastal patrols and air/sea rescue. Early in the war an Anson scored a probable hit on a German U-boat. In June 1940, a flight of three Ansons was attacked by nine Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109s. Remarkably, the Ansons downed two German aircraft without losing any of their own (Gunston 1995). The aircraft't true role, however, was to train pilots for flying multi-engine bombers such as the Avro Lancaster. The Anson was also used to train the other members of a bomber's air crew, such as navigators, wireless operators, bombardiers and air gunners.
A distinctive feature of the Anson was its landing gear retraction mechanism which required no less than 140 turns of the hand crank by the pilot. To forgo this laborious process, Ansons often flew with the landing gear extended at the expense of 30 mph (50 km/h) of cruise speed (Gunston 1995).
A total of 11,020 Ansons were built by the end of production in 1952, making it the second-most-numerous (after the Vickers Wellington) British multi-engine aircraft of the war (Gunston 1995).
Operational history
The Royal Australian Air Force operated 1,028 Ansons, mainly Mk.Is, until 1955.
The Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy operated Ansons until 1952.
The USAAF employed fifty Canadian-built Ansons, designated as the AT-20.
The Royal New Zealand Air Force operated 23 Ansons as navigation trainers in World War II, (alongside the more numerous Airspeed Oxford), and acquired more Ansons as communication aircraft immediately after the war. A preserved navigation trainer is in the Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum at Wigram.
The Egyptian Air Force operated Ansons in communications and VIP duties. A specially outfitted Anson was gifted to the then King by the Royal Air Force.
The Royal Afghan Air Force obtained thirteen Anson 18 aircraft for various duties from 1948. These aircraft survived through 1972.
The last Ansons were withdrawn from RAF service on June 28, 1968.
Variants
The main Anson variant was the Mk.I, of which 6,704 were built in Britain. The other variants were mainly distinguished by their powerplant with Canadian-built Ansons using local engines. To overcome steel shortages, the 1,051 Canadian-built Mk.V Ansons featured a plywood fuselage.
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- Mk.I 6,688
- Armstrong Whitworth Cheetah IX (350 hp) or XIX (395 hp)
- Mk.II 1,822
- 330 hp Jacobs L-6BM, Canadian-built
- Mk.III
- 330 hp Jacobs L-6BM, British-built
- Mk.IV
- Wright Whirlwind, British-built
- Mk.V 1,069
- 450 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior, Canadian-built
- Mk.VI 1 built in Canada
- equipped with 450 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior,
- Mk.X 104 converted Mk.Is
- Mk.11 90 converted Mk.Is
- Mk.12 20 converted Mk.Is, 221 new
- Mk.XIII
- Gunnery trainer powered by two Cheetah XI or XIX engines, never built.
- Mk.XIV
- Gunnery trainer powered by two Cheetah XV engines, never built.
- Mk. XVI
- Navigation trainer, never built.
- Mk. XV
- Bombing trainer, never built.
- C.19 264
- Aircraft for the RAF, for use as communications aircraft.
- T.20 60
- For bombing and navigation training in Southern Rhodesia.
- T.21 252
- navigation trainers for the RAF.
- T.22 54
- radio trainers for the RAF.
- Anson 18 12
- Developed from the Avro Nineteen, aircraft for the Royal Afghan Air Force, used for communications, police patrol duties, and aerial survey work. It was .
- Anson 18C 13
- aircraft for the Indian government, for civil aircrew training.
- Avro Nineteen 56 in two series
- Civil transport version. Also known as the Anson XIX.
Specifications (Mk I)
References
- Donald, D, Lake J. (eds.) (1996) Encyclopedia of world military aircraft. AIRtime Publishing. ISBN 1880588242
- Gunston, B. (1995) Classic World War II Aircraft Cutaways. Osprey. ISBN 1855325268