NEW AIRCRAFT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25015, 8 September 1942, Page 2

NEW AIRCRAFT

DOMINION DEFENCE AVRO ANSON MONOPLANES The twin-engined Avro Anson coastal reconnaissance monoplanes, which are now being added to the equipment of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, are of the type used by the Coastal Command of the Royal Air Force for convoy escort work and anti-submarine patrols in the early days of the war. They carry a substantial load of bombs and are heavily enough armed to beat off enemy fighters. These aircraft are produced by a famous British firm, which is now making some of the biggest bombers of the Royal Air Force. They are machines for general reconnaissance work, but they are also used for advanced training and the instruction of navigators. The crew consists of pilot, navigator-bomb aimer, and wireless operator-gunner, but for navigation school work the aircraft carry five or six pupils. There is a rotating gun-turret on the aircraft, and other armament is fitted. A number of bombs are carried under the wings, and heavier bombs are stowed internally. Besides being used by the Royal Air Force, these aircraft have formed part of the equipment of the Royal Australian Air Force, the Egyptian Air Force, and the Greek Air Force. They are now in large-scale production in Canada as twin-engined advanced training aircraft under the Empire air training scheme.

In the early days of the war, aircraft similar to those now in New Zealand escorted convovs of merchant ships and explored the English Channel and the coasts of Britain for floating mines and submarines. They shot down Heinkel reconnaissance or mine-laying seaplanes over the North Sea and with their bombs sank or caused the surrender of German submarines. When more heavily armed they successfully beat off attacks on convoys by German fighters and brought down several of them.