Avro 652 Anson

The Anson was derived from the Avro 652 - two of which were built to an Imperial Airways order of 1933 - and was among the first aircraft in Europe to reach high performance by adopting the twin-engined, cantilever low-wing formula with retractable landing gear. Avro designers, having had experience with Fokker aircraft and derivatives, used a similar steel tube fuselage construction and basically moved the wooden wings of the earlier types from a high to a low position.

The production prototype flown in December 1935 was a forerunner of 7,195 Avro-built Anson I for the RAF, RN, RAAF, SAAF, RGAF, Greece and Egypt. Production Ansons were first issued to No 48 Squadron, which put the RAF's first low-wing, retractable landing gear monoplane into service on 6 March 1936. Armament included two 45kg and eight 9kg bombs, a forward-firing Vickers gun and a Lewis gun in a turret amidships. Operational with Coastal Command between 1936 and 1939 and for air-sea rescue until 1942, the majority were delivered as turretless trainers for the Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada, Australia and South Africa.

The Anson 10, introduced in 1943, had strengthened floors for continental freight runs by Air Transport Auxiliary. After the war surplus Ansons were sold to civil charter firms and the air forces of Belgium, Holland, Iran, Israel, Norway, Portugal and Saudi Arabia. Increased headroom, introduced in 1944, created the Anson 11 or 12 according to engine. The latter, furnished as a feeder-liner eight-seater, became the Avro 19 Series 1 or Series 2 (tapered metal wing) for the RAF, BEA and civil operators in the UK and abroad. Final variants of 1948-49 were Anson 18 trainers for Afghanistan and India; Anson T.20 (perspex nose) for navigation training in Southern Rhodesia; T.21 (metal nose) for the RAF in the UK; and T.22 radio trainer.

Avro 652 Anson on YOUTUBE

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