picture 172469

Starting in 1944, Iraq acquired at least 30 Avro A.652 Anson twin-engined aircraft of different marks. Assigned to the reconstituted Nos. 1 and 7 Squadrons, these were used for a wide variety of purposes, from transport and reconnaissance to ground attack against several uprisings in Iraq of the 1940s, and against Israel in 1948. As far as is known, most were painted in silver dope overall, but the few available photographs also indicate the application of an unknown shade of light- or medium-grey overall. Several examples seem to have received nose-turrets with reconnaissance cameras, and these were painted either in green, as shown here, or in blue. (Artwork by Tom Cooper)