Avro Anson Mk.I serial number MH120 was manufactured in 1943 and it is now the only flying example of the original Mk.I version worldwide. Although a total of 11,020 Ansons were built most of the wartime era Ansons have been lost to the ravages of time. Only this example has been lovingly restored by Bill and Robyn Reid over an intensive decade long mission, to return her not just to pristine airworthy condition, but to 1940 RAF service stature right down to every internal detail. This magnificent aircraft, one of only five active WW-II RAF-type multi-engined bombers still operating worldwide, has thrilled audiences at airshows throughout New Zealand, won numerous restoration awards, and even hosted Royalty.
At its first airshow demonstration at the Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow, the aircraft attracted a standing ovation of 50,000 people. When it was restored in 2012, it was the winner of the FlyPast Magazine ''Most significant warbird restoration of the year" poll. In a decade of flying, it has never missed an airshow due to unserviceability, and its popularity with the public has kept it in high demand for events. Towards the end of World War 2, Roy Chadwick - Avro’s chief designer - developed a plan to replace the Anson’s wooden wing and tail plane with metal units based on a scaled down Lancaster design. This little known retro-fit of metal wings and metal tailplane is a legitimate conversion (Avro mod. 703/704) and was carried out on this Anson in 1961 after all the remaining wooden wing Ansons were grounded due to the risk of glue failure in their joints. As a globally significant warbird, it has appeared on the cover of most international warbird magazines.
Bill and Robyn Reid presenting their eyecatching Anson to Prince William and Catherine Duchess of Cambridge whilst visiting Omaka Airfiled in 2014
Fitted with a Holmsly Smoke System, it provides a significant plume from both engines to add to its airshow presence and can be made to smoke from a single engine to simulate combat encounters. This Anson is one of only a handful of British Bomber types from World War Two still flying. The type saw extensive front line service during the first eighteen months of the war with Coastal Command as a coastal reconnaissance bomber. During the Battle of Britain, among their other duties of anti-submarine and convoy protection, Ansons were tasked to bomb the French ports where the Germans were assembling their invasion barges. This aircraft [MH 120] has been refitted with its fully functioning Armstrong Whitworth mid upper gun turret complete with an accurate replica Lewis Mk ll machine Gun. The Bomb bays in the rear of the centre section of the wing have been refurbished and are fully operational. Replica bombs have been dropped at several Airshows around New Zealand during airfield attack scenarios.
Built at Avro’s Yeadon plant near Leeds during 1943, MH120 was soon issued to the Royal Australian Air Force for use under the Empire Air Training Scheme, arriving at No 2 Aircraft Park at Bankstown on 20 March 1944. It served with No 1 Air Observers School at Evans Head, on the New South Wales coast, and the Advanced Flying and Refresher Unit at Deniliquin, close to the NSW/Victoria border. During 1953 it was sold to Greenfield’s Air Taxis of Albury, NSW for just £100, and highlights of its subsequent civil career included victory in a pylon air race at Moorabbin in January 1971 and a starring role in the 1990 TV mini-series Half a World Away about the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race, when it was painted to represent Roscoe Turner’s Boeing 247D NR257Y The Warner Bros Comet. It then spent 12 years on display at the Wangaratta Air World Museum before being purchased by Bill Reid.