In the 1930s A.V. Roe Company (Britain) built the Avro Anson as a reconnaissance
airplane for the RAF.
The aircraft began its military service in 1936, becoming the RAF's first monoplane.
By 1939 it was
already obsolete, and the Lockheed Hudson superceded the Anson in the reconnaissance role. More than 11,000
Ansons were built.
In Canada the Anson is best known for its employment in the BCATP as a multi-engined trainer. It quickly
became the mainstay of the Air Training Plan that graduated many of the pilots who would fly multi-engined
aircraft for the RCAF and RAF. Ansons rendered excellent service to the RCAF until the last one left active
service in 1954.
The CWH Anson Mk V-P is a long-range, photographic reconnaissance version. It is an all-wooden aircraft,
made in 1944 by MacDonald Brothers Aircraft, Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was donated in 1980, after being used
in post-war era for conducting mineral surveys. It now bears the yellow colour of the BCATP's trainers and
markings of the wartime RCAF.
