Museum’s
Anson Restoration Project
23
January, 2004
by Colin Ainsworth, Project Leader.
This
past month great strides have been made regarding the fuselage. After
we
 received
the fuselage back from Soda Blasting at Gord Cousins in
Oakfield, we had to wash the whole frame down with TCP. Once this
was done the fuselage frame was painted, (see photo). To accomplish this
we took a sample of the an original painted metal to Fraser's Hardware
in Kingston and they matched up the colour, interestingly enough the
name of the paint is English Ivy, very fitting for  an aircraft designed
in England. While researching the history of the Avro Anson it seems
that during the 1920's a Dutch aircraft designer moved to England and
was very instrumental in the final design. Apparently if one looks at
the fuselage frame tubing it is nearly identical to the type of frame
construction used in building the World War 1 fighter the Fokker D-7.
Over
the past few weeks Ernie Killen has cut out and fabricated the wooden
frames required to be installed around the fuselage. These frames were
installed by team members Mike Dandurand and Keith Brenson and myself.
While
this was going on the two nacelles and wheel wells were being stripped
prior to cleaning, by Peter Miller, Mike Buchanan and Jerry Aucoin. This
past week John Saunders came in for a day and sanded the remaining
wooden frames prior to them being fitted. Interestingly John is
presently building his own aircraft so his expertise is a welcome
addition to our team. (Photo shows Peter Miller, John Saunders and Keith
Brenson at work).
Over
the past fifty odd years numerous pieces of metal tubing had been cut
and removed from the fuselage and these required replacing. This posed
quite a problem for the team as none were qualified aircraft welders.
Speaking with the Museum Curator, he mentioned that a Doug Sanderman had
just donated an Avro Anson Maintenance Manual to the museum and had
incidentally rebuilt an Avro Anson Mk 5 for the Byron Reynolds museum.
Doug was contacted and during conversation mentioned that he was a
qualified structural engineer and qualified to weld aircraft structures.
After explaining our problem, Doug kindly offered to do the required
welding and could do it for us the following Tuesday evening.
Three
of the team members offered to return to help Doug replace the missing
pieces. The only item left to weld is the cockpit overhead frame
assembly, which had been damaged during transit. The fuselage frame will
have to be straightened and repositioned before welding. Since we do not
have a fuselage jig, the fuselage will have to be plumbed and measured
to ensure it is straight and in line, this will entail quite a bit of
work and preparation.
On
the engine side, the work is being carried out by 14 AMS members, Dustin
Colwell and Phil Weedon. These engines have to be stripped and the
components cleaned and then reinstalled. This work will require a great
deal of time and effort. We appreciate their involvement. It is
anticipated that the engines will be sent back to the Museum by mid
summer.
Next
week the team will start the construction of the wing main spars and
finish installing the fuselage frames. The two nacelles will be sent to
14 AMS for pressure cleaning and then returned to be refitted.
It
should be mentioned that the excellent co-operation we have received
from the Wing has enabled the restoration to be ahead of schedule.
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