Avro Anson 1 (REAF, No. 3 Squadron, c.1946). No. 3 Squadron’s Avro Anson, serial number W205, was the same aeroplane in which General Aziz al-Masri and two colleagues had tried to fly out of Egypt in 1941 (see Volume 6). That resulted in a forced landing and a small amount of damage to the machine. Subsequently W205 had been repaired, the gunner’s turret removed, and was given a completely new colourscheme. The latter was almost certainly desert warfare “sand and stone”, though painted in much larger areas than was the case on British aircraft. The serial number was now also only written in Arabic numerals on the fuselage and the tail. Whether this new camouflage scheme was present when the Anson escorted or transported a group of senior Egyptian Army officers around the Sudan in March 1943 is unknown. It was, however, certainly in place in April 1946 when W205 accompanied Spitfires of the REAF’s No. 6 Squadron to Damascus to take part in celebrations marking the departure of French troops from Syria. (Artwork by Peter Penev)