Avro Anson, part four, Asian Users

The Avro Anson is a British multi-role aircraft of which more than 11.000 units were made. It was exported to many countries all around the globe. Among them, the following ones:

• Afghanistan: The Royal Afghan Air Force obtained 13 (or 12, it's not clear as one source claim it was 13 but others claim it was 12) Anson XVIII. They were a modified version of the C.19 variant. They were used for communications, police patrol and aerial survey until 1972 when the country fell apart into a civil war.
• Bahrein: The Bahrein-based charter airline Gulf Aviation Ltd. was founded in 1949 by Freddie Bosworth, former RAF pilot. Initially it's fleet comprised just two Ansons T.21 modified to carry passengers. However, some sources claim it was a C.19. Anyway, they were used in the initial aerial routes this company made to Doha, in Qatar and Sharjah, in the Trucial States (nowadays United Arab Emirates).
• British Raj: The Royal Indian Air Force employed an unknown number of Anson Mk.I in the Navigation and Armament training role. They were assigned to the No.1 Service Flying Training School, which was based at RAF Ambala, in the Punjab province (nowadays Haryana state). It seems that the Ansons continued flying in the training role well after the war and even after the Independence of India in 1947. But it's unknown when they were written off. As we couldn't find any colour profile and the available photos are in black & white, the colours and the registration should be considered as speculative.
• Republic of India: The Indian Air Force (IAF) bought in 1948 a ad-hoc variant of the Avro Anson. It was called Anson C.18C and it was a civil crew training aircraft. Thirteen of them were bought by the Directorate of Civil Aviation and were used as civil aircrew trainers and communications aircraft. They were delivered from Yeadon, in Yorkshire one year later, in 1949.
• Indonesia: At least four Anson Mk.I were acquired by the Indonesian Air Force in 1947 from second hand retailers. One was known to have been serialed as RI-001 which was initially registered in Australia. During the Indonesia Independence War, it was captured by Dutch troops at Maguwo, in Jakarta in December 1948 and was broken up. The fate of the other three aircraft is unknown but it's known that they came from Australian civil register.
• Iraq: In March 1946 (or late 1944 according to other sources) thirty-three (30 depending on which source you check) Anson Mk.I were delivered to the Iraqi Air Force. They were assigned to I and VII Squadrons and it seems that some of them saw action as light bombers against Israel in the First Arab-Israeli War in 1948. Oddly enough, one of them was piloted by 1st Lt. Arif ar-Razzaq who in 1963 became the Commander in Chief of the Iraqi Air Force and later would be Defence Minister of that country. As the only available photo of the Anson in the Iraqi Air Force is blurry and in black and white, the colours and the registration should be considered as speculative.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Anson

2. https://web.archive.org/web/20120803171431/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/History/1940s/Trg-1SFTS.html

3. https://web.archive.org/web/20120711122408/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/History/1940s/Trg-1SFTS02.html

4. http://www.bahrainaviators.com/fleet.html

5. http://britishaviation-ptp.com/avro652_2.html

6. http://iraqimilitary.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20

7. Hall Park Books - Warpaint 53 - Avro Anson