  
 Museum’s
Anson Restoration Project
By
Colin Ainsworth, Project Leader
31 Dec 06
This
past month we have been taking things easy getting ready for the
Christmas season. Most
of the restoration crew however spent the time constructing the two
forward bomb bays. This
entailed replacing two wooden frames in fuselage center
section and installing the plywood walls between the forward and rear
wing spars. The Avro Anson
is equipped with two forward bomb bays and two rear bomb bays, each one
having two sets of doors. These
doors were part of the many items that we received last month from the
Reynolds Museum. After the
doors were inspected, it was decided that it would be best to have
them "bead ballasted" and replace any damaged metal
fittings before they were installed.
What we
now require are the four Light Series Bomb Racks.
If anybody knows of any, could they please contact the curator at
the museum.
Al
Sheppard manufactured and installed the electrical wiring harness for
the radio transmitter and receiver. While I completed connecting the wiring harness for the bomb
release switches at the co-pilots position and started to connect the
wiring at the rear of the instrument panel.
Last
month's article mentioned that we would be moving the aircraft over to
14 Hanger. However we are still waiting for the door to be
installed in our present location. Once this is completed we will
be ready to move the aircraft out.
This
Month's "Anson Trivia" is the second article taken from the
book Avro Aircraft since 1908 by A J Jackson.
Avro
625A Anson Mks. 1-X
Powered
by 295 Cheetah V1s in helmeted cowlings, the Avro 625A had an estimated
cruising range of 600 miles at 160 mph and was offered with a gunner's
position (with single Lewis) in the roof above the main spar; or a
hand-operated turret (of the type used on the A.W. Whitley) aft of the
wings. a bomb load of 360lb could be carried in the centre section and
the pilot had a single Vickers gun on the port side, but the Avro 625A
was otherwise similar to the civil version except that the windows were
now square and the entry door was in the starboard side. Competition
within the aircraft industry was fierce, but prototype orders were
placed only with A.V. Roe and Co and the de Havilland Aircraft Co for
one Avro 625A (with turret) and one D.H.89M to be delivered in March
1935.
When
the first Avro 625 for Imperial airways was flown for the first time at
Woodford on January 7, 1935, by F.B. Tomkins, few adjustments were found
necessary and its handling qualities were in the true Avro tradition,
surpassing even those of the firm's classic biplanes. Both Avro 625,
G-ACRM Avalon and G-ACRN Aviatar (almost immediately changed to
Ava) were delivered at Croydon on March 11, 1935, and the military Avro
625A prototype K4771 first flew on March 24 piloted by S.A Thorn.
Service
trials conducted by the Coast Defence Development Unit at Gosport in
competition with the D.H.89M K4772 between May 11 and 17 favoured the
Avro 625A, and earned it a place in the New Types Park at the Hendon RAF
Display on June 29, 1935. Further Martelsharm trials, however showed
that a 25 per cent increase in tailplane span and a reduction in
elevator area were desirable.
Next
month we will continue with more excerpts from Avro Aircraft Since 1908
by A J Jackson
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