Avro Anson, part Seven, Franco-Greek Users

The Avro Anson was a British twin-engine multi-role airplane that, with more than 11.000 exemplars manufactured, was widely used by many countries.
France was among those users when the Free French Air Force took the delivery of eight Anson Mk.I in May 1943. They were delivered to French West Africa and were followed in December 1944 by nine more. All of them were assigned to Groupe Artois (Artois Squadron) which was formed in August 1942 and operated from Pointe Noire, in French Equatorial Africa. This squadron, which was committed to coastal defence duties, was initially equipped with Westland Lysanders until the Ansons replaced them.
After the War, the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) set up many training units (named with the acronym B.E. which stand for 'Base École' - Basic School) which had the Anson as the main operating aircraft.

• BE.710: The most important of these units. It was the French Military Academy at Salon-de-Provence, close to Marseille. By 1949 this unit had 31 Ansons on its rows. 
• BE.702: It was another training unit which was formed in Avord, central France, for multi-engine conversion and had detachments at Cazaux, South-Western France. 
• BE.703 was the radio-training school.
• BE.705: This unit was the basic training school. It was located at Cognac, close to the French Atlantic coast. In 1949 it was transferred to Marrakech, in the French Protectorate in Morocco, and became BE.709.
• BE.706: AKA E.M.N.E. (sorry but we couldn't find what this acronym means) this unit trained navigators and bombardiers at Cazaux. By 1949 it had 31 Ansons, 11 Miles Martinet, 35 Vickers Wellington T.Mark.X and 40 miscellaneous types on strength.

There were also some colonial units under French command which used the Anson Mk.I. Most of them were Escadrille de Police et Securité (AKA Escadrille d'Outre Mer - Overseas Squadrons) which operated mainly in French Africa and Madagascar.

The French Navy's Air Arm ('Aeronautique Navale' or 'Aeronavale') employed the Anson too for both communications and training. In 1946 an initial batch of 20 Ansons was delivered with a few more arriving later and being supplemented by surplus aircraft coming from the Armée de l'Air. In 1947 there was one communications unit at Querqueville, in Normandy, and two training squadrons, 50S and 52S with this last one having also the duty of giving officer cadets from the Ecole Navale at Lanvéoc, in Brittany, air experience flights, as part of their training. In October 1948 52S was renamed as 56S and used Ansons to train non-pilot aircrew including radar training. After having been temporarily based in many different locations, it was based in Agadir, French Protectorate of Morocco. 

One final French Anson was permanently based in the United Kingdom and was used by the French Naval Attache in London during late 1945-1946.

Another important user of the Anson was Greece. The Royal Hellenic Air Force received 12 Anson Mk.I during May-June 1939 and were used as communications aircraft during the Greco-Italian War of 1940-1941. During the German Invasion of Greece, five of them escaped to Egypt where they were repainted in Royal Air Force's colours.

After the War, four RAF Ansons Mk.XII were loaned to the Royal Hellenic Air Force between 1945-1946 and formed the Royal Hellenic Air Force's Communications Squadron with base at Maleme airfield, in Crete. Thirty-six additional ex-RAF Anson Mk.I were sold to the Greeks in 1946-1947.

Sources:

1. Hall Park Books - Warpaint 53 - Avro Anson

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

3. http://britishaviation-ptp.com/avro652_3.html