Avro Anson Mk. V
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
The Museum's Anson Mk. V was built by MacDonald Brothers in Winnipeg in 1944. It flew with No. 7 Photographic Wing and No. 414 Squadron in Ottawa on photo survey work until the late 1940s. In 1956, it was purchased by INCO and used for mineral surveying until 1980, when it was donated to the Museum. The exterior is painted in the yellow colour common to all BCATP trainers and is in its same wartime RCAF markings.
The Avro Anson was known by a number of nicknames including "Faithful Annie" or "Flying Greenhouse". It was the first aircraft to be flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force to have a retractable undercarriage, which was a comparative novelty in 1936. In 1940, a Canadian government owned company, Federal Aircraft Limited, was created in Montreal to manufacture the Anson for Canadian use. Nearly 3,000 Anson aircraft were produced and, in the early days of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), the Anson was the standard trainer for many pilots, observers (navigators), wireless operators and bomb aimers. More than 20,000 aircrew received training on the Anson. In Canadian service, the aircraft was substantially re-designed with the substitution of North American engines and many other airframe and equipment changes.
Harold Skaarup web pages
Ex RAF W2521. To No. 1 Training Command on 5 August 1941, for use by No. 16 Service Flying Training School at Hagersville, Ontario. Minor damage at 11:30 on 27 September 1941, when Anson 6735 struck this aircraft while taxiing. Category A crash at Hagersville aerodrome at 17:10 on 4 December 1941. Collided on approach with Anson 6477. No fatalities in this aircraft, but student pilot in 6477 was killed. Scrapped by No. 6 Repair Depot.
Ex RAF W2226. To No. 1 Training Command on 2 May 1941, for use by No. 5 Service Flying Training School at Brantford, Ontario. Category C10 damage at 08:35 on 19 June 1941, at Ononadaga, Ontario. Category A crash at 17:00 on 4 December 1941 at the Hagersville aerodrome, reported by No. 16 Service Flying Training School at Hagersville. Collided on approach with Anson 6734. Pilot in this aircraft, Leading Aircraftman F.R. Cook, killed. Scrapped by No. 6 Repair Depot.
Graduates of the EFTS "learn-to-fly" program went on a Service Flying Training School (SFTS) for 16 weeks. For the first 8 weeks the trainee was part of an intermediate training squadron; for the next 6 weeks an advanced training squadron and for the final 2 weeks training was conducted at a Bombing & Gunnery School. The Service schools were military establishments run by the RCAF or the RAF.
There were two different types of Service Flying Training Schools. Trainees in the fighter pilot stream went to an SFTS like No. 14 Aylmer, where they trained in the North American Harvard or North American Yale. Trainees in the bomber, coastal or transport pilot stream went to an SFTS like No. 5 Brantford where they learned multi-engine technique in an Airspeed Oxford, Avro Anson or Cessna Crane.
Class115 SFTS16
For More Info on RCAF Station Hagersville see here