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| A restored Avro Anson. [Source 1, photo by Rick Radell] |
According to Dad, the RCAF had a saying in wartime: "If it flew in, it'll fly out."
That was an optimistic sentiment in places like No. 6 Repair Depot, where training aircraft often did not fly out, and were either patched up or added to the salvage piles in Trenton.
Prangs were common at the training centres, and rookie pilots learned their lessons the hard way.
What was not common, Dad noted, was common sense. He related one tale of a downed aircraft:
Circa 1943, a late model Avro Anson landed in a country farm field in Ontario. Perhaps it ran out of fuel.
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| Another Anson awaits help from 6RD after landing on its belly. [Source 2, p. 35] |
At any rate, the test pilot from No. 6 Repair Depot was sent to check out the possibility of flying it out.
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| Flying Officer and Fire Chief Whitney (at left), with Sgt. Pilot R. Reid, 6RD's first test pilot. Perhaps this was the intrepid pilot Dad wrote about. According to Dad, "the test pilot was a character. He had an ancient penny farthing bicycle which he rode about the station." [Source 2, p. 15] |
Our indomitable test pilot and supporting crew - crash wagon, ambulance, and fuel truck - were sent to the site. It was summertime and the field was in grass.
The main hazard was a barbed wire fence at the farthest end of the take-off run.
To dismantle the airplane and truck its parts back to base would have been a costly alternative.
The Anson was fuel checked, and it had enough to get to Trenton with minimum weight to get airborne.
With engines warmed up, a take-off run began at full throttle. Wheels were retracted as soon as airborne, and the aircraft pulled up to clear the fence.
It almost made it.
The tailplane (horizontal stabilizer) was dragging and was half torn off by a fence post.
The pilot was cool. At full throttle the Anson was climbing, but he had no elevator control. His first thought after gaining some altitude was to aim it out over Lake Erie, cut the throttle and bail out over land.
But our intrepid test pilot found that he had some control. At full throttle it was climbing. Throttle back and it would descend. He radioed, "Clear the runway, I'm going to fly it in!" With a long, slow approach using throttle control for elevation, he set her down carefully.
The station turned out to celebrate his success. He was given some award - not the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).
What is wrong about this story? Why did no one in Technical Support have the common sense to cut and clear the damned barbed wire fence?
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| Dad and a fellow Leading Aircraftman (LAC) at St. Thomas, 1941, in front of what appears to be an early model Avro Anson. |
The British Anson was first used operationally overseas as a light bomber and coastal patrol. It helped protect British troops during the evacuation of Dunkirk. However, the Anson was limited in range, fire-power and bomb load capacity, and was soon relegated to non-combat roles like training and transport.
The aircraft found its true purpose training pilots for flying other multi-engined bombers such as the Avro Lancaster. It was also used for training other aircrew: navigators, wireless operators, bomb aimers and air gunners.
The Avro Anson featured a plywood fuselage (earlier ones were fabric-covered) and was the most widely used twin-engine training aircraft during the war. The plane was British, designed by A.V. Roe and Company and produced from 1936 to 1952. The RAF used Ansons until 1968.
Rookie pilots aside, the plane was very adaptable, known for its strength, stability and reliability.
Ode to an Anson
Oh, the Crane may fly much faster,Inside she may be neat,But to me the draughty AnsonIs very hard to beat.Her plywood may be warping,Her window glass may crack,But when you start out in an AnsonYou know that you'll come back.She may be a flying greenhouse,With her windows all around,But in that draughty AnsonYou're as safe as on the ground.She may creak and she may shudder,As she comes out of a dive,But if her pilot knows his stuffShe'll bring him back alive.Her landing gear is sturdy,It will stand for quite a drop,If you doubt it, watch your studentsBring her in, and let her flop.Fifteen, twenty, twenty-five,She doesn't care a jot,All in all, our AnsonWill stand for quite a lot.The wind may make her weather-cock-That's nothing to these craft,For when you fly an AnsonYou never mind a draft.You can keep your Moth and Battle,Your Harvard and your Crane,Give me the good old AnsonIn which our pilots train.When she comes in with a panel,All split from front to rear,And the rigger starts to fix it --They don't need a lot of gear.A chisel and some plywood,Some brads and a pot of glue,Quite a bit of elbow greaseAnd very soon they're through.They wheel her back out to the line,Her Cheetahs start to cough --And Anson knows they're lads to trainAnd she's eager to be off.
By Andy (#7 SFTS; Fort MacLeod) [Source 3]
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| Avro Anson V in the collection of the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa. This actual aircraft was built by MacDonald Bros. Aircraft in Winnipeg, in 1945. [Source 4] |
Manufacture of the Anson expanded to Canada in the 1940s, and several Canadian companies produced a total of 2,882 Ansons, under the supervision of Federal Aircraft Ltd. of Montreal. MacDonald Bros. Aircraft was contracted to manufacture 749 Avro Anson V aircraft, and expanded its plant on Berry Street in Winnipeg in order to meet the demand.
The Anson V could accommodate a crew of five, with two pilot seats side by side. It had a wing span of 56 ft. 6 in. and a cruising speed of 174 mph, with a maximum speed of 190 mph. It was powered by two Pratt and Whitney 450-hp, 9-cylinder radial engines.
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| Anson fuselages on the MacDonald Bros. assembly line in Winnipeg. [Source 5] |
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| Anson V assemblies in #4 Building, MacDonald Bros. Aircraft. [Source 5] |
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| Anson V built by MacDonald Bros. Aircraft, ready for delivery. [Source 5] |
Over the years, there were 13 versions of the Avro Anson. After the war, the plane was used for light transport. Although made of plywood, it was relatively draft-free, which was appreciated in Canada's climate, and the all-wood Anson was popular for magnetic surveys in Canada's north. [Source 4]
The Avro Anson played a vital role in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. As a trainer, the tough bird was a reliable favourite that took a lot of abuse.
But it was not invincible, and rookie pilots did things with Ansons that were never anticipated.
How Not to Land an Avro
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| An Anson from Malton caught in a bad snowstorm crashed into a wood pile near Sunderland, Ontario. [Source 2, p. 35] |
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| June 25, 1936. This Avro Mark I of 48 Squadron RAF was written off after its engine failed and it wound up in the English Channel, ten miles off Kent. All occupants survived. [Source 6] |
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| An early Avro Anson (known as a flying greenhouse) comes in hard. [Source 7] |
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| New South Wales, October 19, 1943. In this night flying accident, the Anson pilot mistook the airfield controller's signal and landed on top of an Armstrong Whitley bomber that was starting to take off. No one was injured, but the Whitley was a write-off. The Anson was repaired and flew again. [Source 8] |
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| Not again! Oops, sorry, Mate. [Source 3] |
Prangs during training exercises were to be expected, and all-too numerous. But the most famous example of aircraft colliding with each other is the "Brocklesby Incident" of September 29, 1940, when two Australian Ansons from No. 2 Service Flying Training School in New South Wales collided in mid-air.
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| The tight turn was too tight for these two pilots. All four crewmen survived with an amazing story to tell. [Source 9] |
The engines in the upper Anson stopped when the crash occurred, but the two aircraft remained locked together. The two navigators and pilot of the bottom plane bailed out. The pilot in the top plane flew both planes another five miles after the collision, using the controls of the top plane and the power from the one below. He made a remarkable, safe crash landing in a paddock.
And, as they say, "If it flew in, it'll fly out." The top Anson was repaired and returned to service.
[Source 10]
Sources
[1] Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Hamilton.
[2] Major E. T. Karkut, ed. The History of No. 6 Repair Depot and the Aerospace Maintenance Development Unit. Erin, Ontario: The Boston Mills Press, 1990.
[3] Bomber Command Museum, Nanton, Alberta http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/anson.html
[4] The Canadian Aviation and Science Museum, Ottawa.
[5] Bristol Aerospace Limited. 50 Years of Technology 1930-1980. Volume One: The First Quarter Century. Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1980.
[7] AV Canada RCAF History Forum
