Museum’s Anson Restoration Project

By Colin Ainsworth, Project Leader  
31 Jan 07

Over the past four weeks the restoration of the Anson has picked up speed. Peter Campagna, Chuck Calder and Ernie Killen covered both of the wing leading edges with metal. This entailed cutting the metal into long narrow strips attaching one side of the metal skin and rolling it around the leading edge and fastening to the underside with screws and rivets. Since the wing is tapered from the engine nacelles to the wing tip each strip of metal has to be tapered to fit flush along the wing.

While this was taking place Keith Brenson and Mike Dandurand started to install the bombay doors in the two forward bombays. The bombay doors are operated by a chain drive system which opens and closes the two doors. When the doors are fitted, the chain drive system must be rigged to enable both doors to close at the same time. Being able to open and close these doors will allow the museum staff to demonstrate how the armourers loaded bombs on the light series bomb carriers during WW2.

Al Sheppard and Brian Handley are still installing the electrical wiring at the Radio Operators table. The electrical plugs have to be taken apart and cleaned before the new wiring can be installed; this is very time consuming and involves a lot of patience.

Butch Fleury, and myself installed the fuel selector and shut-off panel which is located on the starboard side of the instrument panel.  Then Butch and Peter Miller took apart, cleaned and overhauled both the flap actuating rods. These rods are ten feet long and have to be taken apart and stripped down and cleaned in the "Bead Blaster" before they are re-installed on the aircraft.

Last month I mentioned that we would be moving the aircraft over to 14 hangar, well the weather finally caught up with us. Now we will have to wait until the road conditions improve, if we did move it now the salt and moisture would play havoc with the metal tubing and plywood. 

This month's "Anson Trivia' is the third article taken from the book "Avro Aircraft Since 1908" by A. J. Jackson

Avro 625A Anson Mks 1 to X

Later in 1936 two further contracts were placed for a total of 135 aircraft during the construction of which metal framed ailerons and steeper windscreens with opening direct-vision panels were introduced and hydraulically operated Schrenk flaps were fitted to steepen the glide.

Anson 1 deliveries to the RAF proceeded rapidly and five complete squadrons flew past in mass formation at the Hendon RAF Display of June 26, 1937.  For three and a half years they formed the backbone of Coastal Command and although already obsolescent when war was declared, adopted an unexpectedly warlike attitude, first evinced by an Anson 1 of No 500 Sqn, Detling which bombed a German U-boat on September 5, 1939. Ansons of this squadron carried two additional machineguns firing through the side windows and the CO's machine had a 20mm anti-submarine cannon in the bottom of the fuselage. In September one of 269 Squadron's Ansons shot down a Dornier Do 18 flying-boat and in June 1940 three Ansons on patrol over the English Channel not only survived an attack by three Messerschmitt Bf 109s but by surreptitiously throttling back succeeded in destroying two and damaging the third as they overshot. In July 1940 a Bf 110 fighter, an He 115 seaplane and an He111 bomber were also shot down by Ansons.

Next month we will continue with more excerpts from "Avro Aircraft Since 1908" by A J Jackson