Avro 652 Anson

Avro 652 Anson серийно выпускался с 1934 года по 15 мая 1952 года, что является рекордом для британской авиапромышленности. Изначально машина проектировалась согласно требованиям авиакомпании "Imperial Airways" к коммерческому одномоторному самолету, способному перевозить четырех пассажиров на расстояние 676 км с крейсерской скоростью не менее 209 км/ч, продолжать полет с одним работающим двигателем на высоте не менее 610 м и иметь скорость сваливания не более 97 км/час. Спецификация была выдана фирме "Avro" в апреле 1933 года.
   В августе 1933 года группа конструкторов под руководством Роя Чедвика приступила к полномасштабному проектированию Avro 652 - низкоплану с убираемым шасси и силовой установкой из двух звездообразных моторов Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah V. Максимальная взлетная масса составляла 2948 кг, но затем изменение требований со стороны заказчика заставило конструкторов увеличить максимальную взлетную массу до 3470 кг. Заказ на постройку двух самолетов поступил в апреле 1934 года, первая из этих машин поднялась в воздух 7 января 1935 года. Сертификат типа был получен в марте того же года, а первые две машины "Imperial Airways" получила уже 11 марта.
   7 мая 1934 года Министерство авиации обратилось к фирме "Avro" с предложением разработать новый двухмоторный самолет с колесным шасси, предназначенный для разведки и патрулирования прибрежных морских акваторий, или же адаптировать под вышеозначенные задачи уже готовую конструкцию. На фирме началась работа над морским разведчиком, за основу был взят Avro 652. Новый вариант получил обозначение Avro 652A. Проектирование велось согласно спецификации Министерства авиации, которое в марте 1935 года заключило контракт на постройку прототипа. Конструкторам фирмы "Avro" потребовалось менее шести месяцев для выполнения полного комплекта рабочих чертежей и постройки военного варианта самолета. От самолетов авиакомпании "Imperial Airways" новую машину отличали круглые иллюминаторы и наличие турели Armstrong Whitworth с одним пулеметом Lewis калибра 7,7 мм.
   Прототип выполнил первый полет 24 марта 1935 года, затем, после доработки горизонтального оперения, машину передали в исследовательское подразделение Береговой обороны для проведения сравнительных испытаний с бипланом de Havilland DH.98M. По результатам испытаний конкурс выиграл самолет фирмы "Avro".
   Первые серийные Anson GR.Mk I строились по спецификации 18/35; первая серийная машина поднялась в воздух 31 декабря 1935 года, а 6 марта следующего года самолеты Anson поступили в первую строевую часть - 48-ю эскадрилью (авиабаза Мэнстон). Эта эскадрилья дольше всех в частях первой линии британских ВВС эксплуатировала самолеты данного типа - до января 1942 года, когда им на смену поступили самолеты Lockheed Hudson. Самолеты Anson состояли на вооружении 21-й эскадрильи Берегового командования, а также экспортировались в Австралию, Египет, Эстонию, Финляндию, Грецию и Ирландию. Всего до сентября 1939 года было построено почти 1000 самолетов Anson, включая тренировочные машины, внесшие наиболее весомый вклад в победу союзников.
   Хотя "Avro" предложила учебно-тренировочный вариант еще в ноябре 1936 года, тогда он востребован не был. Потребовалось время, чтобы первые Anson Trainer с двойным управлением поступили в эскадрильи авиационных училищ летчиков и штурманов, школ воздушной стрельбы, училищ летнабов и корректировщиков артогня. Последние использовали самолеты с турелями типа Bristol B1 Mk VI. Всего было построено 6742 самолета Anson Mk I.
   18 декабря 1939 года Anson был утвержден одним из основных учебно-тренировочных самолетов Британского содружества наций. Британская промышленность получила контракт, по которому собранные в Великобритании планеры без двигателей морем доставлялись в Канаду, где на них ставили моторы Jacobs L-6MB (Anson Mk III) или Wright R-975-E3 Whirlwind (Anson Mk IV). Ha Mk III позже установили закрылки и шасси с гидроприводами. Планеры поставлялись вместе с пулеметными турелями, хотя на большинстве самолетов, летавших в Канаде, турелей не имелось.
   Ухудшение обстановки на Европейском ТВД заставило полностью перенести постройку самолетов Anson в Канаду - до этого из Британии в Канаду доставили 223 планера. Первым полностью канадским вариантом стал Anson Mk II с двигателями Jacobs, выклеенной из фанеры носовой частью фюзеляжа, гидравлическими закрылками и шасси. Первый Anson Mk II поднялся в воздух 21 августа 1941 года, а всего было построено 1832 самолета, 50 из которых поступили на вооружение авиации Армии США под обозначением AT-20.
   Удачный опыт использования фанеры в носовой части фюзеляжа позволил распространить данную технологию на весь фюзеляж. Самолет Mk II с новым фюзеляжем получил обозначение Mk V. Дальнейшим его развитием стал вариант Mk VI с двумя 450-сильными моторами Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-12B Wasp Junior и увеличенным количеством курсантов (с трех до пяти). Самолет Mk V для обучения штурманов был построен в количестве 1050 экземпляров, а еще одна машина в 1943 году была собрана в варианте учебного самолета воздушных стрелков, она оснащалась турелью Bristol В1 Mk VI. Обозначения Mk VII, Mk VIII и Mk IX были зарезервированы для еще не построенных канадских самолетов.


ТАКТИКО-ТЕХНИЧЕСКИЕ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКИ

   Avro 652A Anson GR.Mk I

   Тип: трехместный патрульный и разведывательный самолет прибрежного действия
   Силовая установка: два звездообразных мотора Armstrong-Siddeley Cheetah IX мощностью по 350 л. с. (261 кВт)
   Характеристики: макс, скорость на высоте 2135 м - 303 км/ч; крейсерская скорость на оптим. высоте 254 км/ч; скороподъемность на уровне моря 293 м/мин; практич. потолок 5790 м; дальность полета 1271 км
   Масса: пустого 2438 кг; максимальная взлетная 3629 кг
   Размеры: размах крыла 17,20 м; длина 12,88 м; высота 3,99 м; площадь крыла 38,09 м1
   Вооружение: один неподвижный стреляющий вперед 7,7-мм пулемет и один 7,7-мм пулемет на турели; до 163 кг бомб в бомбоотсеке

Flight, March 1935

FOR IMPERIAL AIRWAYS CHARTERS
Two Avro 652 Low-wing Monoplanes With Siddeley "Cheetah" Engines: Finely Finished Passenger Accommodation

   WITH the exception of Imperial Airways, Ltd., practically all the air-line companies operating at Croydon have several low-wing monoplanes among their fleets. Now, Imperial Airways will cease to be an exception, for their latest acquisitions are two Avro 652 low-wing, twin-engined monoplanes, which are to be called Avatar and Avalon. It is understood that they will be used primarily for long-distance charter work.
   As will be seen from our table of performance figures on the next page, they should be eminently suitable for this purpose; even with “Cheetah V” engines their cruising speed of about 150 m.p.h., while with "Cheetah VI" engines, which will be fitted to subsequent models, this speed will be increased to at least 165 m.p.h.
   A head-on view of the 652 shows that the makers have studied the question of interference very carefully, and have evolved a particularly clean and well streamlined layout. The engines are cowled-in completely with ring-type cowlings, having a double surface in keeping with the usual Avro and Armstrong Siddeley practice. Behind these cowlings a large tapering "egg" forms the fairing, which merges into the top and bottom surface of the wing. The top half of this fairing carries the oil tank, and the bottom half houses the retractable undercarriage. The aluminium fuel tanks are on each wing, outside the engines.
   Structurally, the 652 follows the lines of other Avro commercial machines. The rectangular fuselage is built of welded steel tubes, and has the corners carefully rounded off by plywood bent to a large radius, and spruce stringers running the length of each side carry doped fabric. The wing and tail units are all of plywood and spruce construction with plywood covering, so that the combination forms a rigid structure which should require very little maintenance.
   The tail plane is fixed, and merges into the fuselage with generously dimensioned fillets, as does the fin. Both fore and aft and directional trim are achieved by "tabs" on the elevators and rudder. These are worked from small serrated knobs situated above the pilot, and in flight they are sensitive and easy to operate. The ailerons are of the narrow cord and long span type, and are Frise-balanced.
   The cabin accommodation, as arranged for Imperial Airways, has been tastefully done in blue and buff by L. A Rumbold and Co., Ltd., with a generous use of figured wood panelling for the sides, between which and the fabric covering of the fuselage there is a sound-damping layer of Seapak, a seaweed substance which, between layers of brown paper, is very effective for deadening noise.
   There is accommodation for four passengers on seats of the adjustable type, in which a reclining position is possible. Each passenger has a small table, a fiddle for carrying glasses, a reading lamp, and an individual fresh-air supply, while alongside each of the two front passengers are controls for a hot-air supply. In the rear end of the cabin there is a wash place and lavatory, while abaft that again with an external door on the starboard side of the machine (the main cabin door is on the port side) there is the luggage compartment. Further luggage or mails can be carried in the nose of the machine in front of the pilots. This is a separate riveted duralumin shell, with a hinged nose door which, incidentally, also carries a Harley landing light.
   The pilots' cockpit is very fully equipped, with two side-by-side seats and a full set of dual controls. The dashboard has an extensive layout of instruments, including those for both engines. Behind the pilots, on the bulkhead which separates them from the passenger cabin, and in which there is a door, is the Marconi wireless equipment. Between the pilots' seats there is a small flap in the floor of the cockpit, which can be raised to expose an open-grid type of drift sight.
   Electric starters, which can be worked from the cockpit, are fitted to each engine. The windscreen has a very pronounced slope, and the sides of the cockpit have windows of ample proportion so that either pilot can see out with great ease.
   The retractable undercarriage fitted to this model is, as can best be seen from the sketch, of the articulated type, with the wheel raised forward and upward so that it projects slightly underneath the engine cowling when in the "fully-up" position. It is operated by a screw gear of rather low pitch, actuated by a handle between the pilots' seats.
   In the air the 652 is easy to fly, having those amply proportioned, effective controls for which Avro's have become so well known. The gliding angle is extremely flat, even with the undercarriage down, and it would seem that the addition of some form of air brake to steepen the angle of glide is likely to be considered desirable by most pilots, particularly if, as is generally the case in the course of charter flights, the machine has to be landed in confined aerodromes with high obstructions around the boundaries. Steepening the glide is always preferable, from the passengers' point of view, to side-slipping as a method of losing height quickly, because any prolonged deviation from the horizontal tends to make them think that there is something wrong.

Flight, October 1935

FOR COASTAL RECONNAISSANCE
Some Constructional Details of the Avro Anson Monoplane, which is to Equip the General Reconnaissance Squadrons of the Royal Air Force

   ONE hundred and seventy-four Avro Anson high speed twin-engined monoplanes have been ordered by the Air Ministry for the equipment of several general reconnaissance squadrons. The first unit to receive the machine will be No. 48. It is intended that the Ansons should be used on medium-range reconnaissance missions, for patrol and probably for anti-submarine work.
   The Anson, or 652A. is a direct development of the Avro 652 commercial monoplane originally designed and constructed to the order of Imperial Airways as a feeder line and charter type (this machine was fully described, from the passenger-carrying point of view, in Flight of March 7, 1935). It is the first development of a commercial design to go into service with the R.A.F. and, structurally, resembles its civil counterpart.
   Of cantilever type, the wing is built in one piece, and consists of two main spars of box section with laminated spruce flanges and plywood webs, joined by closely spaced ribs of plywood and spruce, the whole framework being covered with plywood. This form of construction, besides being easy to maintain, provides ample buoyancy should the machine be forced to descend into the sea.
   The construction of the empennage follows the same lines as that of the wing, being built up of spruce frames with plywood covering.

Steel Fuselage

   For the fuselage a welded tubular steel framework, with wood fairings and doped linen covering, is used. The fuselage frame is braced by rigid struts and stout flooring is fitted throughout the length of the pilot's cockpit and the rear cabin. Panels of electron sheet cover the nose portion.
   In the prototype machine the engines are of the Siddeley Cheetah VI type, developing 290 h.p. each at 6.000ft. In the production machines, however, the power plants will be Cheetah IX's which are designed to run on fuel of 87 octane number and are normally rated at 310 h.p. at 6,000 it. Their maximum power is 339 h.p. at 6.800 ft.
   The engines themselves are carried on welded tubular steel frames built out from the wing and are mounted well forward of the leading edge. Long-chord ring cowlings are fitted, with "helmets" for each cylinder. The two engine installations are entirely independent, each unit being provided with fuel and oil tanks of welded aluminium which are mounted in cradles in the wing. Fuel is fed by duplicated pumps.
   It seems likely that the Anson will be the first armed military type with a retractable undercarriage to go into service with the R.A.F. This undercarriage consists of two separate units each mounted beneath an engine nacelle. Each wheel has pneumatic shock absorbers, medium-pressure tyres and pneumatic brakes. Retraction is mechanical and there is a crank handle for alternative operation. When the wheels are in the “up” position a small section of the tyre projects, and at all times the undercarriage is visible to the pilot.
   Parallel-motion rudder pedals and stick and wheel for elevators and ailerons form the flying controls. Both rudder and elevator are mass balanced, and the ailerons are of the Frise type. The tailplane is, of necessity, fixed, but the elevator, like the rudder, is trimmed by small hinged flaps in the trailing edge, actuated by hand wheels from the cockpit. The instruments are arranged on a large panel, those for blind flying being provided with a shock-proof mounting.
   On the port side, in the extreme nose of the fuselage, is the pilot's seat. The corresponding place on the starboard sides provides a prone bombing position. Dual controls can be fitted for training purposes, but when these are fitted the prone bombing position cannot be used. Either one or two fixed machine guns can be provided for the pilot (the R.A.F. type will have one). There is, of course, no interrupter gear.
   Immediately behind the pilot's cockpit is the main cabin, which has ample windows on each side and in which provision is made for wireless telegraphy, navigation and photography.
   At the extreme rear of this cabin is the rear gunner's station. On account of the high speeds attained by the Anson it is impossible to use an ordinary wind-balanced gun ring and an open cockpit. Guns can, however, be mounted to fire on each side of the rudder with movement through a few degrees (the gunner being protected by an adequate windscreen) or an enclosed revolving turret can be provided. In the R.A.F Ansons an Armstrong Whit worth turret will be used.
   Racks for a maximum of eight 20 lb. bombs and two 100 lb. bombs are provided inside the wing; any variation or increase in this bomb load necessitates external stowage.
   Recently a member of the staff of Flight was privileged to fly in the prototype Anson and to occupy the rear, gun turret during a mock combat with a fast two-seater biplane. He found the Anson to be extremely manoeuvrable for a machine of its type, and that the rear gunner, from his comfortable turret, has an excellent field of fire.
   It is claimed that with one engine stopped and when fully loaded, the Anson can maintain level flight at 6,000 ft.

AVRO 652A (ANSON)
Coastal Reconnaissance Monoplane
Two Siddeley Cheetah VI. 290 h.p. at 6,000 ft. (to be replaced by Cheetah IX's)

DIMENSIONS
   Span 56 ft. 6 in. (17.2 m.)
   Height 9 ft. 8 in. (2.94 m.)
   Length 43 ft. 3 in. (12.9 m.)
   Track 13 ft. 8 in. (4.16 m.)
   Mean chord of wing 8 ft. 4 in. (2.54 m.)

WEIGHTS
   Tare weight 4,826 lb. (2189 kg.)
   Crew (three with parachutes) 600 lb. (272 kg.)
   Fuel and oil 1,005 lb. (456 kg.)
   Maximum military load 1.219 lb. (553 kg.)
   Maximum permissible gross weight 7,650 lb. (3 470 kg.)

PERFORMANCE
   Maximum speed at sea level 169 m.p.h. (272 km/h.)
   Maximum speed at 6.000 ft. (1,828 m.) 188 m.p.h. (302 km/h.)
   Cruising speed at 6,000 ft. 160 m.p.h. (257 km./h.)
   Stalling speed 86 m.p.h. (106 km/hr.)
   Rate of climb at sea level 750 ft./min. (3.81 m/sec)
   Rate of climb at 6,000 ft. (1,828 m.) 850 ft./min. (4.32 m/sec)
   Service ceiling 19.500 ft. (5844 m.)
   Absolute ceiling 21.000ft. (6400 m.)

Flight, January 1936

MODERNITY for the RAF.
A Low-wing Cantilever Monoplane Goes Into Service - the Avro Anson, Equipped for Long-range Over-water Reconnaissance: High Performance and a Comfortable Cabin

   WITHIN a few weeks the first machines of a very large batch of Avro Anson general reconnaissance monoplanes will be leaving the Avro works for duty with Royal Air Force units. They will be the first machines of their class to be issued, for the general reconnaissance squadron is something entirely new to this country. Such units, based near the coast, will, in time of war, fly out to sea and report the position of any enemy ships which might venture into these waters. The G.R. machine can, if required, carry a light bomb load, and possessing, as it does, two machine guns and a high performance would not be "cold meat" to any enemy pilot.
   The Anson, although designated in its Service guise a general reconnaissance aircraft, is essentially a highly efficient general-purpose type, and the uses to which it could be put by an air force are manifold. Obviously, with its twin engines, good load-carrying ability and long range, it is admirably suited to foreign service, and could fulfil its many and varied duties with economy, and, by virtue of its simple, robust, and well-tried structure, within the minimum of upkeep.
   The Anson is essentially a development of the Avro 652 commercial monoplane described in Flight of March 7 last year. Testimony is borne to the structural similarity of the two machines by the fact that the Anson bears the Avro works number 652A. In external appearance, however, there are numerous features of dissimilarity.
   It may be advantageous to recall that the one-piece cantilever wing embodies two main box spars with flanges of laminated spruce and plywood webs, joined by closely spaced ribs of spruce and plywood. The fuselage is a framework of welded steel tubes with fairings of wood and fabric covering, excepting the nose portion, which is panelled with Elektron.
   The Anson is the first machine with a retractable undercarriage to be adopted for the R.A.F. Each of the two separate portions of the undercarriage is mounted under each engine nacelle, and is normally retracted by mechanical means; there is a crank handle for alternative operation. Dunlop wheels, tyres and pneumatic brakes and Turner legs are fitted as standard. When the wheels are in the "up" position a small portion of each tyre protrudes below the nacelles. The swivelling tail wheel is not retractable.
   Mass balances are used on the rudder and elevator, and the ailerons are of the Frise variety. The tail plane is fixed, but the elevator, like the rudder, has a small trimming “tab” actuated by a handwheel in the cockpit.
   Siddeley Cheetah IX seven-cylinder radials are fitted to the Ansons under construction for the R.A.F. The Cheetah IX is rated at 310 h.p. at 6,000 ft., and is designed for operation on the new Service fuel of 87 octane number. Each of the Anson's Cheetahs is provided with its own fuel and oil tanks, these being of welded aluminium and mounted in cradles in the wing. Duplicated fuel pumps mounted on the engines themselves feed the fuel to the carburetters. The engine mountings are welded tubular steel frames.
   An interesting form of cowling is being used. It is fairly long in chord and small in diameter, the actual cylinder heads and valve gear being housed in scallops or helmets standing out from the main body of the cowling. This arrangement permits a nacelle of comparatively small diameter to be used, and improves, in consequence, the lateral vision, which is of great importance in a reconnaissance machine. The airscrews are two-bladed metal Faireys.
   At the moment the Anson is not fitted with flaps, but an experimental Dowty-operated set is being prepared, and due weight allowance has been made in the production Ansons for their fitting. Apart from increasing the gliding angle they should reduce the landing speed of 66 m.p.h. by 9 m.p.h., thus facilitating small-aerodrome operation.
   For general reconnaissance duties a crew of three is carried, consisting of a pilot (who operates the fixed gun), the navigator (who performs the duties of bomb aimer), and a wireless operator, who is alternatively the rear gunner.
   In the extreme nose of the fuselage is the prone bombing position, with the bomb sight and appropriate instruments, a drift sight, and a Harley landing light. The pilot's cockpit is immediately aft of this and is provided, in the production model, with Cellastoid panels in the roof in place of the original metal covering. Parallel-motion rudder pedals are fitted on the port side, where the pilot sits, and the ailerons and elevator are operated through a normal stick and wheel control. The main instrument panel bears all the usual dials, the instruments for blind flying being attached to a shockproof mounting. Indirect instrument lighting is provided for night flying.

Pilot's Equipment

   The pilot has a single Vickers 0.303in. machine gun, the breech of which is easily accessible to his left hand; the barrel protrudes into a channel in the nose fairing. Four hundred rounds of ammunition can be accommodated in the belt box, and the sights are of the ring and bead type, the ring being mounted in an inverted position actually inside the cockpit. A set of bomb release controls is also provided for the pilot's use. Other items suitably placed near the pilot are warning signals showing the position of the retractable undercarriage, petrol controls and handles for the operation of the trimming tabs. Just behind the pilot's seat are racks for two parachute packs, which are clipped in an emergency to the harness of the pilot and navigator. There is a small folding seat nearby, on the starboard side. Dual control may be fitted for training, but it is not then possible to use the prone bomber's position.
   The cabin proper starts behind the pilot's seat and extends rearward as far as the gun turret. Windows of Triplex and Cellastoid now extend for its entire length on both sides, those in the centre being arranged to hinge inboard. Entering the cabin from the forward end one finds the navigator's position, between the spars, on the port side. The navigator has a chair and table, bearing compasses, Bigsworth chart boards, sea markers, course and wind calculators, course and speed calculators, signalling lamp and float flares, all stowed in convenient positions in the cabin. Aft of the rear spar is that portion of the cabin occupied by the wireless operator when he is not working the rear gun. Here, on the starboard side, is a table bearing standard Service W/T apparatus, the trailing aerial winch, parachute pack, fire extinguisher, etc. The fixed aerial sprouts from the fuselage roof behind the cockpit.
   A door in the bulkhead at the rear of the cabin gives entry to the Armstrong-Whitworth gun turret, of the type described in Flight last week. In this is a Lewis gun and five 97-round ammunition drums. A first-aid box, accessible from the exterior of the machine, is also included.
   The main door to the cabin is located on the starboard side just forward of the turret. Two emergency exits are provided in the roof.
   Normally the bomb load, which is stowed in the wings, consists of two 100 lb. bombs and four or eight 20 lb. bombs, which are dropped through trap doors. All bombs are released electrically but are fused by mechanical means. If eight 20 lb. bombs are carried instead of four, the petrol load is reduced to 128 gall, and the duration of the aircraft to 4.25 hrs.
   Stowed in the tail fairing of the starboard nacelle is an inflatable dinghy which is provided with automatic actuators to the rear of the engine and in the nose of the fuselage. The Walter Kidde system of inflation is used; this makes use of a bottle of liquid carbon dioxide. An emergency release cord is also fitted on the outside of the fuselage. A marine distress signal is provided under a tear-off patch at the bottom of the fin, and two further signals are secured to the handline on the dinghy.
   The internal layout of the Anson is clearly shown in Max Millar's double-page drawing, which will be found overleaf.

Flight, October 1938

British Commercial Aircraft

AVRO

   THE Avro 652 high-speed commercial monoplane may be considered as the type from which the now well-known Anson was developed, and it was, in fact, the first low-wing commercial monoplane, to be built at the Newton Heath works. Two of these were originally ordered and flown by Imperial Airways who, however, now require types of a rather greater seating capacity for all their services. These two are now in good use at Air Service Training, Hamble, for navigation and wireless instruction, while more recently the type has reappeared and is used by the Egyptian Government. In its latest form the general layout is more similar to the Anson, without, of course, this machine's rear gun turret.
   The 652 has, like every machine produced by the company since 1929, a fuselage of welded steel construction. The covering is of fabric on wood fair­ing, while the nose is panelled with electron sheet. The wing is cantilever and is built in one piece with two box-section main spars and ply-wood covering. The tail unit is cantilever, and of similar construction. It is normally fitted with two Siddeley Cheetah IX moderately supercharged engines with fixed-pitch airscrews. Mechanical operation is employed for the retraction of the undercarriage. At the time when the 652 first appeared flaps were not usual, but the later production Ansons have all been so fitted. Six passengers are normally carried, with a crew of two, the second pilot acting as radio operator.
   Avro 652 Data.- Span, 56ft. 6in.; length, 42ft. 3m.; all-up weight. 8,000 lb.; weight empty, 5,550 lb.; maximum speed at sea level, 175 m.p.h.; maximum speed at 7,000ft., 195 m.p.h.; cruising speed at rated height, 160 m.p.h.; stalling speed, 62 m.p.h.; rate of climb, 750 ft./min. (905 ft./min. at rated altitude); service ceiling, 19,500ft.; absolute ceiling on one engine, 6,000ft.; normal range with full load. 600 miles; maximum range with standard tanks, 845 miles.
Makers: A. V. Roe and Co., Ltd., Newton Heath. Manchester, 10 (Collyhurst 2731).

Flight, November 1939

Britain's Military Aircraft
A Survey of Our Service Machines

AVRO

   SOME years ago the Avro Company developed a small twin-engined transport aircraft of high efficiency. At the time the Air Ministry required a machine for general reconnaissance work and decided that this little Avro transport, modified for military use, would meet their requirements. Accordingly, large orders were placed for the militarised version, which was named the Anson and which is now in service in very large numbers not only as an overwater reconnaissance type, but as a trainer.
   The Anson, or Avro type 652A, is a low-wing twin-engined monoplane with a retractable undercarriage. Structurally the machine is interesting in that bakelite plywood is used extensively in the stressed skin wooden wing while the fuselage is of welded steel tube construction with fabric covering. The Avro Company claim that the wing will never need complete overhaul and that, in the event of a crash, the steel fuselage has a higher shock absorbing capacity than one of wood.
   The normal crew for military operations is three men - pilot, navigator-bomb aimer and wireless operator-gunner. The stations of these are on the port side of the fuselage, the starboard side being free for their passage to and fro when they require to change position.
   The pilot has a fixed gun and behind the cabin is an Armstrong Whitworth manually operated gun turret. In order to avoid damage to the airscrews when the turret gun is being fired forward, the limits of the field of fire are marked by broad red and black lines on the upper surface of the wing.
   A light bomb load is accommodated in the centre section of the wing.
   Two Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IX engines are carried on welded tubular steel mountings and drive Fairey fixed-pitch metal airscrews.
   In its present form the Anson, which has a span of 56ft. 6in., a length of 42ft. 3in. and an all-up weight of 8,000 lb., is capable of 180 m.p.h. at 7,000ft.
   In addition to Ansons the Avro concern has built large quantities of Blenheim high-speed bombers.

A. V. Roe and Co., Ltd., Newton Heath, Manchester 10.