Avro 652 and 652A Anson

For Production Tables of Type 652A Anson Military Variants see here.
For Production Tables of Type 652A Anson Civil Variants see here.

Contents

Type Description

• Type 652
• Low wing monoplane light transport to meet an Imperial Airways specification for a light airliner to transport four passengers for up to 420 miles. The fuselage was a box beam of welded steel tubes, fabric covered over spruce formers and stringers to a more rounded shape. The nose forward of the cockpit was an all light alloy monocoque structure, as were the engine nacelles back to the main spar. The one piece monoplane wing, of plywood and spruce construction with plywood covering, followed Avro's earlier adaption of Fokker's construction methods. The tailplane was also of plywood and spruce construction, with plywood covering. The rudder of the second prototype originally featured a horn balance, but this was later replaced by the mass balanced rudder similar to the first prototype. Each passenger was provided with a large rounded cabin window and cabin access was via a large door on the port aft side, a toilet being located to the aft starboard side. A mail/luggage compartment was located in the nose, the duralumin nose cone being hinged for access. The main undercarriage members, hand cranked, retracted forward into the engine nacelles, leaving the mainwheel projecting slightly underneath the engine cowling when fully retracted. Two 270 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah V powerplants.

• Type 652 Mk.II
• A variant for the Egyptian Government, it maintained the Type 652 fuselage but with glazed cockpit roof and a single long rectangular cabin window on each side. The wing, with smaller nacelles and close cowled engines, was almost Identical to the Anson I. Two 310 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IX powerplants.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.I
• Coastal patrol or trainer derivative of Type 652 to Specification 18/35 to meet the requirements of OR.23 for a General Coastal Reconnaissance Aircraft and manufactured under Specifications 16/37 and 34/37. Similar to the Type 652, the prototype featured rectangular cabin windows in place of the earlier type's rounded type, with the entry door moved to the starboard side, a horn balanced rudder and a gunners position in the upper fuselage above the main spar, fitted with a single Lewis machine gun in an Armstrong Whitworth turret. The roof line was slightly lower than the Type 652 and whereas that of the Type 652 was gracefully curved, that of the Anson was nearer a constant depth over the main cabin area, then featuring a distinct drop in line as it transitioned to a narrower rear fuselage. A crew of three was carried: pilot, wireless operator/gunner and navigator/bomb aimer, who could use a sliding panel in the extreme nose for his bomb aiming duties. A bomb load of 360 lb could be carried under the centre section, and the pilot was provided with a Vickers machine gun on the port side. The prototype was fitted with two 295 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah VI powerplants in close fitting lobed cowlings with smaller diameter nacelles than the Type 652.
  Production aircraft differed slightly from the prototype, with a higher, continuous line of cabin windows, a mass balanced rudder and larger span tailplane. Starting with Contract 766119/38, the cockpit glazing was revised, with a flatter windscreen and the addition of roof glazing, along with the addition of metal framed ailerons and the hydraulically operated Schrenk flaps. Two 350 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IX or, from serial NL121, 395 h.p. XIX powerplants, the later aircraft featuring larger diameter, cylindrical, cowlings to prevent overheating.
  313 Anson Mk.Is Trainers supplied to Air Gunnery Schools were fitted with the Bristol B.1 Mk.VI turret, hydraulically operated by electric motors under the floor.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.II
• Canadian built trainer. As Mk.I trainer but with reduced cabin glazing, redesigned and hydraulically operated main undercarriage and a Vidal moulded plywood veneer nose. Two 330 h.p. Jacobs L-6MB R-915 powerplants.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.III
• Canadian conversion of British built Anson Mk.I trainers fitted with two 330 h.p. Jacobs L-6MB R-915 powerplants.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.IV
• Canadian conversion of British built Anson Mk.I trainers and Canadian Mk.III's fitted with two 300 h.p. Wright Whirlwind R-760-E1 powerplants.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.V
• Canadian built navigation trainer fitted with a new fuselage and fin of Vidal moulded plywood, the remaining structure being as the Mk.II. Three round windows were fitted each side of the cabin, with an astrodome in the roof for navigational training and a glazed nose cap for bomb aimer training. The inner wing spars each contained a bomb bay with capacity for four light bombs each, with provision for eight further bombs under the fuselage. Two 450 h.p. Pratt and Whitney Wasp Junior R-985-AN12B powerplants.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.VA
• Early Mk.V aircraft built using Mk.II components.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.VP
• Mk.V modified for photographic reconnaissance. Internally, the fuselage was capable of being fitted out with vertical or oblique cameras.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.VI
• Gunnery training variant of Mk.V fitted with the Bristol B.1 Mk.VI turret.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.X
• Military transport. Mk.I with strengthened floor.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.XI
• Navigation trainer and light transport to meet the requirements of OR.141 and OR.143. New fuselage structure with raised roof, three new, square, windows per side and a hydraulically operated undercarriage. The cabin access door was relocated to the port side. Several were completed as ambulances with hinged wing root fillets on the port side to allow stretchers to be pushed into the cabin. Two 395 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah XIX powerplants.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.XII
• As Mk.XI fitted with two 420 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah XV powerplants and Rotol constant speed propellers.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.18
• General purpose variant of Avro 19 Series 2 with two 420 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah XVII powerplants.

• Type 652A Avro 19
• (Also known as the Avro XIX, carrying on the pre-war civil naming series that ended at the Type 642 Avro Eighteen): 9 seat civil transport variant of Mk.XII featuring oval windows, to satisfy the Brabazon feeder liner specification of 1944. Series 1 aircraft featured wooden wings, those of the Series 2 were metal and of one foot greater span, along with a metal tailplane. Two 420 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah XV powerplants.

• Type 652A Anson Mk.XIX
• (Later C.Mk.19) RAF communications and transport version of the Avro 19.

• Type 652A Anson T.20
• General purpose trainer version of the C.Mk.19 Srs.2 for Southern Rhodesia to Specification T.24/46 to meet the requirements of OR.212. It was fitted with a transparent nose for the bomb aimer and bomb racks to carry sixteen practice bombs were fitted under the fuselage and inner winner wings. An astrodome was located over the forward cabin in place of the forward roof window.

• Type 652A Anson T.21
• Navigational trainer version of the C.Mk.19 Srs.2 to Specification T.25/46 to meet the requirements of OR.212. Similar to the T.Mk.20 but without the bombing equipment and transparent nose.

• Type 652A Anson T.22
• Radio trainer version of the C.Mk.19 Srs.2 to Specification T.26/46 to meet the requirements of OR.224. It lacked the astrodome of the T.20 and T.21.

• Federal AT-20
• Designation of the Anson Mk.II in USAAF service.

Anson Work Orders

The table below is taken directly from the Avro Anson summary [15], with the exception of the indicated ammendment to 7799/14 and the addition of this authors Comments and Correlation.

* The Avro document gives 3968 for W.O.7799/14 Mk.I, which is actually the sum of all the Mk.I a/c to the various subsections of W.O. 7799; it has been corrected here to give the required W.O.7799/14 total.

Abbreviations used in table:
N.H. - Newton Heath
Y - Yeadon
C - Chadderton
M.W. - Metal Wing and Tailplane

Presumably the Avro table gives produced Marks as ordered as opposed to as produced. The Avro table and the tables produced on this site give very similar results, the differences being explained by aircraft being produced to a different Mark than originally ordered.

Notes

1. The disposition of Mk.I range DG689-DJ700 between Newton Heath and Yeadon has been deduced from the MAP production records over the relevant period, showing 39 aircraft produced at Yeadon, the remaining 661 therefore coming from Newton Heath.
2. The normal understanding is that a total of 11020 Ansons of all marks were produced, this figure presumably coming from Avro's Anson summary [15], reproduced here in the Anson Work Orders table. This same document, under W.O.9239, gives a total of 5 new Anson Mk.XIX being supplied to Misrair of Egypt, but only the four indicated aircraft have been reliably identified. A memo located in AVIA 49/229, dated December 1945, indicates that this fifth aircraft is Mk.XII PH806, supplied to Misrair under Contract Acft/5616 (though this Contract was apparently dated 16 January 1946). Sturtivant has this as SU-ADJ, delivered sometime in late 1945 [1], and A.M. Form 78 [2] has PH806 as transferred to Civil Contract on 28 September 1945. If PH806 is indeed the fifth aircraft, then it has already been accounted for under Avro Work Order 8824. Accordingly this author is forced to conclude, unless further evidence comes to light, that the Avro account is incorrect and the final total should be 11019.
   However, it must be noted that Avro c/n 1206 has not been identified, so the final result may still be 11020!
3. Conversions are from Mark to Mark and do not include civil conversions from military.
4. Includes first prototype K4771.
5. Between 1937 and 1945, Production Specifications were designated by the type and mark of aircraft, suffixed by the letter P and a sequence number identifying the individual order, i.e. "Anson I/P4", was the 4th Production Specification for the Anson Mk.I. (Note the aircraft type has been omitted from the table for convenience). Those in parentheses are assumed, based on Meekcoms and Morgan [26].

Production References

1. The Anson File, Ray Sturtivant (Air-Britain Publications, 1988)
2. Avro Aircraft Since 1908, A.J. Jackson (Putnam, 1965 and 1990)
3. Avro Anson Marks I, III, IV and X, Alan W. Hall and Eric Taylor (Almark Publications, 1972)
4. Air Britain RAF Aircraft Register Series, Various Volumes (Air-Britain Publications)
5. The British Roundel Various Issues (Roundel Research Publications)
6. Australian and New Zealand Military Aircraft Serial Numbers at http://adf-serials.com/
7. Canadian Aircraft Since 1909, K.M. Molson and H.A. Taylor (Putnam, 1982)
8. Canadian Military Aircraft Serial Numbers at CASPIR (Canadian Aircraft Serials Personnel Information Resource) at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
9. Aerodrome of Democracy: Canada and the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan 1939-1945, F.J. Hatch (Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1983)
10. Rhodesian Air Training Scheme, 1940 - 1954, Aeromilitaria 2013/3 (Air-Britain Publications)
11. Rhodesian Air Training Scheme, 1940 - 1954, Aeromilitaria 2016/2 (Air-Britain Publications)
12. Canadian Military Aircraft: Serials and Photographs, 1920-1968, John A. Griffin (Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, 1969)
13. Anson c/ns at Historic CCAR (Canadian Civil Aircraft Register) Project at http://www.historicccar.ca/notes#Anson
14. Argentine Civil Ansons at http://loudandclearisnotenought.blogspot.com/2012/08/lv-agn-avro-652a-anson-v-mdf-191.html
15. Avro document on Anson production dated January 1952 held by the Aviation Library at Farnborough.
16. The First 30 Years of Aviation in Afghanistan, Part 2 by Lennart Andersson (http://www.artiklar.z-bok.se/afghanistan-2.html)
17. Civil and Military Aviation in Iran 1924-1949, Part 2 by Lennart Andersson (http://www.artiklar.z-bok.se/Iran-2.html)
18. Iraqi military Ansons at http://iraqimilitary.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20
19. Portugeuse military Ansons at http://ex-ogma.blogspot.com/2009/03/avioes-da-am-avro-652a-anson.html
20. RAF Air Historical Branch: RAF Aircraft Movement Card (A.M. Form 78) (Dept of Archive and Aviation Records, RAF Museum, Hendon, Records MFC-77-15-1 through -6)
21. RAF Air Historical Branch: Contract Delivery Cards (Dept of Archive and Aviation Records, RAF Museum, Hendon, Records MFC-78-8-1)
22. RAF Air Historical Branch: Delivery Serial Ledger (A.M. Form 622) (Dept of Archive and Aviation Records, RAF Museum, Hendon, Records MF-1 thru 5)
23. National Archives of Australia NAA: A1196 1/501/213 Purchase of (Beaufort) Aircraft for RAAF Policy
24. National Archives of Australia NAA: A14487 12/AB/2182 Air Board Agenda 2182 (RAAF) - Supply of Avro Anson aircraft and Cheetah engines - Overseas Indent No. 613
25. Aeronaves Militares Portuguesas, Adelino Cardoso, 2nd Edition (Lisboa 2009)
26. British Aircraft Specifications File, K.J. Meekcoms and E.B. Morgan (Air-Britain Publications, 1994)
27. Ministry of Aircraft Production Aeroplane Price Books (Dept of Archive and Aviation Records, RAF Museum, Hendon, Records X005-2126/)