  
 Museum’s Anson Restoration
Project
By Colin Ainsworth, Project
Leader
30 Jun 07
This past month we have managed to make up
quite a bit of lost time on the Anson restoration project. After the
aircraft arrived in 14 Hgr, we had to take all the tools that we
required over to the new facility. Since there was no secure storage
available, Ernie Killen, Keith Brenson and Mike Dandurand constructed a
wooden shed to store all the required aircraft hardware, spare parts and
tools. When this task was completed, Ernie Killen, Keith Brenson, Mike
Dandurand, and Al Sheppard began work on re-installing the horizontal
tailplane assembly, and then the rudder assembly. The reason it had to
be removed was to get it through the door at the museum annex. Hopefully
this is the final time that we have to do this.
 Work then began in earnest to install the
wings. The work on the wings began about three years ago and they had to
be manufactured in three sections. The wingspan of the Anson is 56'
5" in length from tip to tip. During the construction we had to
take care to ensure the wing also sloped upward at 5 degrees from the
engine nacelles to the wing tip. The first section that was constructed
was the centre part of the wing which fits between the forward and rear
spar attachment brackets in the fuselage to outboard of the engine
nacelles. Then we took a measurement and sloped the centre section
outboard at 5 degrees and then started the construction of the starboard
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wing section. Since the space in the old building was limited we could
only install the starboard wing. After it was decided that we were on
the right track we removed the wing and started to construct the port
wing. The two outer wing panels were then stored until the aircraft was
moved to 14 Hanger.
On the 25 of June Ernie, Keith, Peter Miller,
Chuck Calder, "Doc" Mekeil and myself positioned the starboard
wing next to the aircraft, and with the help of two aircraft jacks
lifted the wing into position. After we had trimmed off the excess wood,
we then installed the four steel upper and lower wing spar caps, which
had been manufactured by 14 Wing ACS shop. The spar caps would then
support the two outer wing panels, and hopefully give us the required
5-degree slope. After the starboard wing was installed, work began the
next day on the port wing and by 2pm both wings were installed.
Now it was time to take the measurement from
the hanger floor to the centre of the wing tip, if the measurement we
had taken three years ago was correct both wing tips should be 56'
5''from the floor. The starboard came in at 5' 6 1/2' and the port came
in at 5' 7''. Needless to say we were all very happy and pleased with
the result. Next month work will start on both the trailing edges of the
wings and the wooden frame over the rear engine nacelles.
While the Anson restoration was progressing
work was being carried out on the Dakota project. The restoration crew
lead by Butch Fleury, consisting of Brian Handley, Chuck Calder, Bob
McElman, "Doc" Mekeil, Bob Fettes, and Eric Welin, removed the
complete undercarriage assemblies from both wheel wells. Now the crew is
waiting for the new centre section to arrive and will then start the
restoration. Hopefully the centre section will arrive next month.
This month's "Anson Trivia' is the sixth
article taken from the book "Avro Aircraft Since 1908" by A.
J. Jackson.
Avro 625A Anson Mks 1 to X
To husband stocks of steel it was
decided to abandon Avro-Fokker tradition and build an all-wooden version
with the fuselage entirely of Vidal moulded plywood. Trainees were
increased to five and "greenhouse" windows replaced by three
circular portholes. A prototype fuselage made by Vidal at Bristol, Mass,
and equipped with major components from Avro Anson Mk 1 RCAF 6013 (ex
RAF N9943 flew in 1942 as the first Anson MkV, 8649X. Production of
1,050 turret less navigation trainers began immediately at three
aircraft plants, and a single Anson Mk V1 gunnery trainer, 13881 with
Bristol B.1 Mk V1 turret was also built. Both marks were powered by the
450 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior R985-AN12B or AN14B radials
driving Hamilton or Hover constant-speed airscrews. Marks V11, V111 and
1X were reserved for later Canadian variants which did not materialise.
The Anson Mk V remained in RCAF and Royal Canadian Navy service until
the late '50s when the last four flew from Uplands to Trenton, three for
civilian disposal and 12518 for preservation by the RCAF.
Production of 7,195 Anson Mk 1s
ordered from A.V. Roe and Co, was speeded by the establishment of a
shadow factory at Yeadon, Yorks, where the output reached 130 aircraft a
month in 1943-44. They included a batch of 20 urgently needed by the RAF
in Egypt in 1943, which were temporarily disguised as civil machines and
given BOAC markings for an audacious delivery flight in camouflage from
Croydon to Lisbon and thence to Aboukir via Takoradi and the
trans-African route,
Next month we will continue with more excerpts
from "Avro Aircraft Since 1908" by A J Jackson.
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