The Avro Anson is a twin-engine, low-wing cantilever monoplane multi-role aircraft used extensively as a trainer for bomber crews before, during and after WW2. It was originally designed as a civilian passenger plane but adapted for military use by A.V. Roe Aircraft Company after an Air Ministry specification G.18/35 for a coastal patrol aircraft. Developed from the civilian Avro 652 and renamed the Avro 652A, the militarised version entered service in 1936 and was renamed Anson after British Admiral George Anson. The design had high load carrying ability, long range and robust build powered by two Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IX, seven-cylinder radial engines driving twin bladed propellers. It was armed with a forward firing Vickers .303 machine gun in the fuselage, a turret with a single Lewis gun on the dorsal fuselage and two Lewis guns in the large greenhouse cockpit/flightdeck.
It was originally used as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft alongside the flying boats but with the outbreak of the war they were quickly deemed obsolete for front line operations. 16 Bomber Command squadrons operated the Anson at the start of the conflict, but these were reassigned to training roles as they were considered ineffectual for the bombing role. The Anson remained in Coastal Command for a short time before being relegated to training becoming the main aircraft in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Over 11000 were produced and supplied to many Commonwealth countries, 2900 of which were manufactured in Canada under licence. The Avro Anson remained in service with the training programme after the war and was finally retired in June 1968, one of the longest serving aircraft of the RAF and FAA.
Many variations were built for civilian use or converted from military versions for the transport market. The Anson was used by 38 countries worldwide after the war in various roles. There are numerous surviving aircraft on display in many aircraft museums worldwide and a few airworthy examples still flying, notably an Anson XIX with the Shuttleworth Collection, UK and WD413, an Anson C.21 at Coventry Airport, UK.
