Avro Anson very important British World War II trainer aircraft 'Annie'

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[@DaveGIS123]

My dad was an air navigator flying Avro Anson Mk.1's on Air/Sea Rescue flights with 280 Squadron, RAF. His squadron's Annies had a special modification: two extra Vickers K guns mounted one per side as beam guns. He personally only used them once, shooting-up a fishing trawler that was being used by the Germans to radio the size and heading of Allied bomber formations as they crossed the North Sea. Otherwise, my dad said, whenever they saw an enemy, it was far better to perform a "tactical withdrawal" and hide in the clouds rather than risk being shot down. He said it was a helpless feeling going to war in a plane that couldn't fight and couldn't run away.
Part of his job was to always know where Air/Sea Rescue launches were operating. On rescue missions, the drill was for a flight of Annies to fly in line abreast at a height of about 500ft toward the last known position of the lost aircraft and begin searching, sweeping back and forth over the ocean. Once they'd found the missing aircrew, usually in a dinghy, one of the Annies would circle the dinghy keeping it in sight, while another would fly straight to the nearest Air/Sea Rescue launch and guide it to the dinghy to complete the rescue.
Normally they used signal lamps and Morse code to communicate with the launches. However sometimes this wasn't possible, so they'd have to break radio silence. This was dangerous because the Germans were listening too, and could find the location of the dinghy by triangulation. Then they'd send one of their own boats to capture the aircrew. My dad said sometimes it was a race to see who'd reach the dinghy first -- an Air/Sea Rescue launch or an E-boat.
Sometimes they'd send out fighters to catch the Anson's too. One day my dad found a pilot in a dinghy and radioed his position. Then his pilot climbed into the clouds, far enough away so they could hide yet still drop down from time to time to see what was happening. As they were watching, a formation of Messerschmidt Me 110's showed up, obviously looking for my dad's plane. They found the dinghy and circled it like sharks, waiting for the launch to show up, which my dad had fortunately warned off. So, running low on fuel, the Messerschmitt's finally turned and headed for home. But then, as my dad watched, one of the Me110's dropped out of formation, dived down, pointed it's nose straight at the dinghy, and blew it out of the water...
My dad said that was the first time he realized he was in a real war.

[@TimTheInspector]

So you make a video on the Avro Anson and open with footage of an Airspeed Oxford…

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Cheetah 5 (V being the Roman numeral for 5). Although this was the first variant of the engine which were original known as the Lynx V or Lynx Major as it was a development of the Lynx family (and was the 5th model in that range).

[@perrydowd9285]

Thanks AM. I love The Anson. I never knew about Admiral Anson before. 👍

[@ross.venner]

I saw one of the last Ansons in RAD service. It was flying out of RAF Colerne.
Apart from the obvious error in the opening, you largely missed the Anson's role in Australia including the two that landed locked together as a result of a midair collision.

[@jfu5222]

The UA-cam channel Qxir has a great video about the mid-air collision of the Ansons. It's humorous though not exactly fit for children. Well worth looking at his channel.

[@RemusKingOfRome]

This aircraft can be seen flying in the computer sim IL2 - Cliffs of Dover Blitz.

[@avnrulz]

1:13 1934, not 1944.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

No, there was an accident involving a hammer and a time machine.

[@avnrulz]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 And a hot tub?

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@avnrulz not in the UK a the time.

[@avnrulz]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Right, warm beer and cold baths...LOL

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@avnrulz British beers are like red wine, you serve them at around 15°C to get the full flavour unlike those over-chilled and tasteless readily-available American beers.