VH-BEL  Avro 652A Anson 1

                                

                                      Originally allocated VH-BBK, this Anson was civilianized in 1947 as VH-BEL.  By the time
                                      Geoff Goodall saw it at Kalgoorlie in 1970 it had long since been grounded and left to rot in
                                      this hangar  The owner at the time that its CofA was not renewed was veteran WA outback
                                      pilot George Lewis who had operated since before WW2 as Goldfields Airways of Kalgoorlie
                                  .   The shot of the nose (below) of this grand old lady gives graphic expression to George's thoughts
                                      on its grounding!  The Airforce Association Aviation museum group obtained the Anson, and it
                                      was professionally dismantled for the museum in January 1971 by RAAF groundstaff who flew
                                      out from Pearce in a Dakota for the exercise, then trucked it to Perth for long term storage await-
                                      ing the AFA Museum to grow into the Aviation Heritage Museum of WA, with a display building
                                      on the AFA country club in the Perth suburb of Bull Creek.  The final Goodall shot (bottom)
                                      shows it laying in the RAAFA yard.  Fortunately reconstruction began almost immediately after
                                      this photograph was taken.