Built at Yeadon

MH120 was constructed at Avro’s Yeadon factory in Yorkshire in 1943, during the height of Britain’s wartime aircraft-production effort.

Yeadon was producing aircraft on a huge industrial scale, supported by engineers, craftsmen, inspectors and thousands of other workers whose contribution was essential to the production of every aircraft.

MH120 left the factory as an Anson Mk.I and was allocated the serial MH120. Unlike many wartime aircraft, its story continued long after military service ended.

Service in Australia

MH120 was sent to Australia and entered Royal Australian Air Force service, where it became part of the Commonwealth’s extensive aircrew training system.

The Anson was an important stepping stone for student aircrew, offering relatively forgiving handling while introducing them to a larger, faster twin-engined aircraft.

Its twin Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah engines, retractable landing gear and stable handling made the type particularly well suited to training. MH120 therefore represents an important part of the story of the thousands of Commonwealth airmen who learned to fly away from the front line.

From Warbird to Working Aircraft

Following the war, MH120 avoided the scrapyard and entered civilian service in Australia as VH-BAF.

It worked in several commercial roles, including passenger, freight and survey operations. That working life proved crucial to its survival at a time when most wartime Ansons were being retired, dismantled or lost. Even after suffering an accident during take-off at Moorabbin in 1960, MH120 was rebuilt rather than scrapped.

The aircraft later appeared in the 1990 television production Half a World Away, recreating the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race. For filming, the Anson was temporarily presented as a Boeing 247D.

By the end of the twentieth century, MH120 had become a remarkably rare survivor.

A Decade of Restoration

The next major chapter began when MH120 reached New Zealand and was acquired by Bill Reid.

Bill and his wife Robyn undertook an ambitious restoration that took approximately a decade. The aim was not simply to return the aircraft to the sky, but to recreate an authentic wartime Anson Mk.I.

The restoration involved extensive structural work, recreated equipment and interior details, together with the return of military features including the upper gun turret.

Registered ZK-RRA, the completed aircraft became one of the world’s most significant surviving examples of the type and a familiar sight on the New Zealand warbird scene.

K6183 – A Tribute

Today, MH120 carries the markings of K6183, VX-B of No. 206 Squadron RAF, rather than its own original identity.

K6183 was lost over the North Sea on 5 September 1939, during the opening days of the Second World War. The markings worn by MH120 serve as a tribute to that aircraft, its crew and the wider generation of Anson crews who flew early Coastal Command patrols.

It is important to distinguish the two identities: the aircraft is genuinely MH120; K6183 is the aircraft it represents.

Back to Europe

In 2024, MH120 began another remarkable chapter, leaving New Zealand for Europe.

Following reassembly and preparation at FASTAero in Belgium, the aircraft returned to flight from Brasschaat on 1 June 2025.

It subsequently moved to the Czech Republic, joining R.A.F. Station Czechoslovakia and operating from Podhořany.

Its arrival marked the return of one of the world’s rarest flying warbirds to the European airshow circuit.