A.N.E.C. II

The Air Navigation and Engineering Co Ltd at Addlestone in Surrey was successor to the war time Blériot and Spad Manufacturing Co. In 1923 their chief designer, Australian W S ‘Bill’ Shackleton, designed the A.N.E.C. I, an ultra-light monoplane around the new 1,070cc Bristol Cherub. 

Despite a generally favourable official appraisal of the aeroplane, except for the difficulty of getting into and out of the front cockpit, the engine let it down badly, first with a broken valve and then a malfunctioning carburettor, so that it missed the elimination preliminaries and failed to start in the Trials.

About this aircraft

After the abortive Lympne entry the A.N.E.C. II was certificated, registered G-EBJO and sold to G L P Henderson who fitted a 32hp Bristol Cherub and modified the undercarriage to strut type to improve ground clearance. ‘BJO was then sold to Norman Jones who raced it in various events before selling it in 1929 to Allen Wheeler. He flew it extensively before himself selling it in 1931, by which time it was in a sorry state minus engine, undercarriage and instruments, to Jimmy Edmunds – a friend of Richard Shuttleworth - at Old Warden for £8. During all this time the aircraft was flown as a single seater  from the rear cockpit.

Six months later Edmunds had completed a rebuild and ‘BJO was then based at Old Warden until January 1935. After that it passed through three more private owners until the registration was cancelled in 1937. The remains of the aircraft were then stored at Old Warden until a rebuild to the post Lympne configuration was undertaken by Don Cashmore (who also built the Cygnet replica).

Specification