  
 Museum’s Anson Restoration
Project
By Colin Ainsworth, Project
Leader
28 Feb 07
Over
the past few weeks the restoration crew have been working the
following projects. Peter
Campagna, and Brian Handley finished installing the metal
skins on the leading edge of the tailplane, Ernie Killen worked on the
port and starboard wings finishing off a few minor jobs before the wings
are moved over to 14 Hangar. Keith
Brenson, and Mike  Dandurand
installed and painted the bomb bay doors in the two
forward bomb bays. Al
Sheppard helped at times by Peter Miller and myself started installing the
engine electrical harnesses from the firewall to the engines.
Quite a few of the original harnesses were missing
electrical plugs. These had
been cut off at one time over the past sixty years, but with
luck we managed to find quite a few of the missing connectors
and rewire them.
Butch
Fleury, Chuck Calder helped by Peter Miller started to organize all the
tools and equipment that will be needed for the Douglas C47 Dakota
restoration project. All of
the tools had to be checked first and cleaned.
Once this was completed they were made up into five
separate tool kits. When
the go ahead is given Butch and his crew will be ready to start the
Museum's Dakota restoration.
During
the next couple of weeks while we are waiting for the whether to
improve, we are trying to complete many of the small jobs remaining on
the Anson. Once the weather is in our favour we will move the aircraft
over to 14 Hangar to install the wings and the fabric covering.
This
month's "Anson Trivia' is the forth article taken from the
book "Avro Aircraft Since 1908" by A. J. Jackson
Avro
625A Anson Mks 1 to X
When
the Lockheed Hudsons arrived Ansons were withdrawn from front-line
service although a number were fitted with early ASV radar and remained
with Air Sea Rescue Squadrons until 1942.
The majority were regulated to instructional duties which they
performed with distinction at Flying Training, Navigation and Air
Gunnery Schools until the end of the war.
Those fitted with dual control for pilots' twin conversions
generally had the A.W. hand-operated turret removed, but it was retained
as an astrodome on flying classroom Ansons used by W/T operators and
navigators until the aircraft next came up for major overhaul.
The balance of the 2,476 Anson 1s built under six Air Ministry
contracts placed in 1937-40 were completed as turretless trainers.
Later when the Blackburn Botthas and other types used by the Air
Gunnery Schools were no longer considered satisfactory, they were
replaced by 313 Anson 1s specially built with Bristol B.1 Mk V1 turrets,
hydraulically-operated by electric motors under the floor.
Training Ansons had twin landing lights in the leading edge of
the mainplane in place of the single unit in the nose and a number were
loaned to the USAAF in England for communications duties, e.g., AX623 at
Steeple Morden.
Supplementary
orders were placed in 1939 for 1,500 more Anson 1s (later increased by a
further 800), 40 of which were loaned to Australia for use by Nos. 2, 4
and 6 (Bomber) Squadrons RAAF, while others were supplied to the SAAF
under Specification 33/35. In 1940 they replaced Junkers Ju86s on shipping patrol
work off East Africa with No.60 Sqn, and on anti-submarine work off the
Cape with Nos. 31,32 and 33 Flights SAAF.
One serial 3138 was fitted with floats as a non-flying seamanship
trainer for Sunderland squadrons using Congella flying-boat base,
Durban. Dutch aircrews who
fled to the UK in 1940 were also given Ansons with which to form No. 320
Sqn Coastal Command, and after the war were presented with surplus
machines to take home for the newly unified Royal Netherlands Air Force.
Next
month we will continue with more excerpts from "Avro Aircraft Since
1908" by A J Jackson.
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