The twin-engine Avro Anson (named after British Admiral George Anson), was originally developed in 1933 as a passenger aircraft for Imperial Airways, to carry up to six passengers across the English Channel between Croydon, England, and Brindisi, Italy. As the war clouds gathered, the Air Ministry sought an aircraft for use in maritime reconnaissance, and purchased 174 Anson 652s, which went into service in early 1935 as coastal patrol aircraft and, once the war began, as light bombers.

The start of the Second World War led to the formation of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) in mid-December of 1939. Soon, large numbers of upgraded Anson Mark I aircraft were being shipped to various training centres across the Canada to train bomber crews.

More than 1,500 Ansons were sent to Canada and distributed by a new Crown corporation called Federal Aircraft Limited. But production in England could not match the demand for the Ansons needed for the BCATP, so the corporation began building Ansons in Canada. Parts were made in Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver, with final assembly being done by National Steel Car in Toronto a subsidiary of Federal Aircraft Ltd. in Montreal.

The manufacturer’s serial number/tail number of this particular Avro Anson is not known, as it was nothing but a steel frame with two Jacobs L-6 MB engines when it arrived at the Museum from a farmer’s field in Westaskiwin, Alberta. The wood and fabric wings and fuselage covering had rotted away in the decades it spent stored outside, and thus no RCAF markings remained to identify it. Though its original serial number is not known the Museum has chosen 7207 due to its local history.

Avro 652A Anson Mk. II 7207 was built by Federal Aircraft Limited in Montreal, Quebec. It was taken on strength with the Royal Canadian Air Force on January 26, 1942 and immediately placed into storage with No. 1 Training Command at Picton, Ontario and in 1942 it was placed on strength at No. 31 Bombing and Gunnery School at Picton, Ontario. On June 28, 1942, while during an instrument training flight the aircraft was observed to do a stall turn, then loop and strike the water north of Waupoos Island in Lake Ontario, 16 km east of Picton. As a result of the crash, Sergeant William Craig Rodger, (RAF) and Sergeant Raymond Cecil Evans Brown, (RAF Volunteer Reserve), were killed. The aircraft was recovered from the lake and was officially struck off charge on July 26, 1943 by No. 6 Repair Depot at R.C.A.F. Station Trenton, Ontario.