  
 Anson
Restoration Project
By
Colin Ainsworth, Project Leader
31 March 2006
This
past month Ernie Killen, Mike Dandurand, Keith Brenson and Peter
Campagna have completed about 60% of the starboard wing.
This part of the restoration project is very complicated and
demanding, the Anson wing is constructed of two spars a main spar at the
front and a secondary spar at the rear.
In between the spars are twenty-three ribs, these taper in size
from the wing root at the engine nacelle to a 3" thickness at the
wing tip. Last year we were
very fortunate in locating two Sitka spruce wing tip feathers from Mr
Don Annand in Stewiake, NS. Don
had read about the
Anson restoration in the Halifax Herald
newspaper and had offered to donate them to the project along with some
aircraft instruments.
The
starboard wing also contains two of the aircraft’s four fuel tanks and
these will be installed along with the fuel lines and
electrical wiring before they are covered with plywood and fabric.
Chuck
Calder, Butch Fleury, and Jerry Aucoin have been busy refurbishing a
genuine Anson rudder. This rudder, along with a starboard aileron
was, donated by the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa complete with all
the metal attachment fittings.
By
having these original items we are increasing the percentage
of original parts on the aircraft. At times this is very difficult as
original parts are hard to find. But when we can find them, this is our
preferred method.
Al
Sheppard, Peter Miller and myself have been busy installing more of the
electrical wiring in the cabin. Over the past two weeks we have located
and installed the wiring for the cabin lights, and the navigator, and
radio operators table lights and started the wiring harness located
behind the instrument panel.
At
present we are also trying to locate two Grimes cockpit utility
lights Part Number D-7825, if any readers have any and would like to
donate them to the project it would be a great help.
We
are also very fortunate to have Phil Wheedon, Dustin Colwell, and Mark
Lapointe coming into work on their time off to help in the
restoration.
 |
|
 |
| Cpl Dustin Colwell (Left in civvies) and Cpl Phil Weedon. |
|
Cpl Phil Weedon on left and Cpl Mark Lapointe. |
Over the
past two and a half years they have managed to rebuild and install both
Jacobs engines and fit the engine cowlings and covers, after
these had been repaired by 14 Wing ACS shop.
Over
the past year we have been very lucky to have such excellent
co-operation, without this type of co-operation the aircraft restoration
would not be on schedule.
Thanks
again to all the people who have contributed to the project.
This
month's "Anson Trivia" is part five of the Anson development
prior to WW2.
The
following is from Flypast Magazine July 1989 Page 56 by Ken Wixey.
During
the Battle of France, Ansons kept up patrols against German E-boats
which, now the Dutch ports were in enemy hands, sought to run down into
the narrow seas and prey on allied shipping. On May 20,1940 Ansons were
in action against E-boats of Texel, and for several days saw much
activity in this role
On
May 24, four miles off the Maas, an Anson blew one E-boat to pieces with
an anti-submarine bomb, while two other E-boats were raked by Ansons
with machine-gun fire.
Between
May 20 and 21 June, when France fell, Ansons made seventeen attacks
against E-boats.
During
July 1940, an Anson attacked four Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engine
fighters which were shooting-up British trawlers off the south coast.
One of the fighters turned on the Anson, whose dorsal gunner gave it a
short burst, sending his adversary crashing into the sea. In another
running aerial battle over the sea, an Anson shot down two Heinkels, one
an He 115 seaplane, the other an He 111 bomber.
Ansons
also patrolled over Dunkirk during the evacuation, often tangling with
the Luftwaffe. Endowed as they were with superb manoeuvrability Ansons,
when engaged against faster German aircraft, not only kept in a tighter
turn in the same direction as the enemy, but managed to avoid his fire
while at the same time bringing their own guns to bear, often with good
effect.
Next
month we will continue with part six on the development of the Avro
Anson.
WWII plane 'like a big jigsaw
puzzle'
By GORDON DELANEY / Valley Bureau
GREENWOOD--As
a retired aircraft electrician and specialist in armaments, Colin
Ainsworth has been around a lot of planes.
But
he's never built one from the bottom up
- until now, that is.
Colin
Ainsworth heads a team restoring a 1941 Avro Anson for the Greenwood
Military Aviation Museum. About 340 of the aircraft were built in Amherst
during the Second World War.
GORDON
DELANEY / Valley Bureau
Mr.
Ainsworth heads up an eight-member team that's rebuilding a 1941 Avro
Anson, a two-engine aircraft used for coastal patrols and training of
aircrews during the Second World War.
The
project began in 2003, and the aircraft is expected to be complete in 2007
and displayed in the Greenwood Military Aviation Museum in time for the
100th anniversary of flight in Canada in 2009.
"It's
like a big jigsaw puzzle," said Mr. Ainsworth, who is joined on the
team by Ernie Killen, Al Sheppard, Peter Miller, Chuck Calder, Mike
Dandur, Keith Brenson and Gerry Aucoin.
The
team has years of experience, with aircraft mechanics, a flight engineer,
radar controller and an air traffic controller.
The
main portion of the aircraft was found in Alberta by museum curator Brian
Nelson. At one time, it sat in a farmer's field after it had been sold for
parts following the war.
The
aircraft frame and other parts were flown to 14 Wing Greenwood in a
Hercules aircraft. The nose section was found in a farmer's field in
Saskatchewan, where it was home to a nest of rattlesnakes, Mr. Ainsworth
said Monday.
"We
think about that every time we reach our hand in there," he said.
The
Anson aircraft was one of 340 built by the Amherst plant of the Canada Car
Foundry during the war. Most were sent to the western provinces, where
they were used for training aircrews under the British Commonwealth Air
Training Plan.
The
aircraft Mr. Ainsworth and his team are restoring was sold to a farmer for
parts for $50. It was later moved to the Byron Reynolds Museum near
Calgary.
The
team has so far spent more than 4,000 man-hours restoring the aircraft.
The wood and steel tubular frame is mostly done, as are the tail assembly
and one of the two Jacobs engines.
The
aircraft, 12.5 metres long with a 17-metre wing span, will be restored
according to its original design, right down to the cockpit and working
flight controls.
"Everything
will be authentic," Mr. Ainsworth said. But the plane will not be
flown.
It
will join the museum's many other static aircraft displays, including an
Argus, a Lancaster and a Spitfire, said Mr. Nelson.
Restoration
of other planes is also in the works.
This article
appeared in the June 28, 2005 edition of the Halifax Chronicle Herald.
Used with permission.
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