First Flight of the Avro Anson 24-March-1935

24-March-1935 – First Flight of the Avro Anson
On this day in 1935, the Avro Anson took to the skies for the very first time—marking the beginning of a remarkable legacy in aviation history. More than just a coastal patrol aircraft, the Anson became a cornerstone of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), helping train thousands of pilots, navigators, and aircrew across Canada during the Second World War.

Over 4,000 were operated by the RCAF with Canadian factories (notably Federal Aircraft Ltd.) producing over 1,000 Mark II and Mark V variants.

The Anson was crucial for training pilots, navigators, wireless operators, and bomb aimers and was the standard twin-engined trainer for the BCATP, with thousands of aircrew training on the type, logging over one million flying hours.