3D model
Turn it over
A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as G-AHKX in its blue and silver Avro Nineteen scheme, as flown by the Shuttleworth Collection. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.2 MB)
History
The Anson
The Anson grew out of the Avro 652, a small six-seat airliner built for Imperial Airways. A military version, the 652A, flew in March 1935 to meet an Air Ministry need for a coastal reconnaissance aircraft, and in 1936 it became the first RAF monoplane with a retractable undercarriage to reach squadron service.
It was soon outclassed as a front-line aircraft, but it found its true calling in training. Thousands of navigators, wireless operators and air gunners learned their trades in Ansons in Britain and across the Commonwealth, and Canada built its own versions. Its gentle manners earned it the name “Faithful Annie”.
After the war Avro gave it a taller cabin with oval windows, and later a metal tapered wing, and sold it as the Avro Nineteen while the RAF flew it as the C.19 communications aircraft. Production ran until 1952, and the last RAF Ansons retired in 1968.
This airframe
Avro Nineteen Series 2 G-AHKX
G-AHKX first flew in November 1946 and went to Smiths Instruments at Staverton, which used it for communications and instrument development until 1959. It then flew aerial survey work for several operators before passing to the Strathallan Collection in Scotland. British Aerospace took it back to Woodford, where volunteers restored it to fly in March 2002. Owned by the BAE Systems Heritage Flight, it is flown from Old Warden by the Shuttleworth Collection in its blue “Avro Nineteen” company colours.
Where to see one
In the gazetteer
The gazetteer records the Anson in 8 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.