Discussion
Just reading the Winkle biography, without gtting into the ins and outs of the bloke, there's mention of a Fairey Gannet with twin engines and counter rotating propellers.
Just had a look at a photo, how the hell does that work? Must be a hell of a lot of gearing and therefore transmission losses.
Just had a look at a photo, how the hell does that work? Must be a hell of a lot of gearing and therefore transmission losses.
tog said:
Eric Mc said:
There's a flying example for sale in the US at the moment. I think it's the last airworthy example.
There's some fairly confusing things going on with camera frame rate and prop speed as it starts up!
I do love a Gannet, such an unwieldy looking thing but also very purposeful. However in many ways it's a terrible name, as the actual feathered variety is a stunning looking thing.
jimothyc said:
Saw one of these rotting under a tarpaulin at White Waltham airfield a few years ago and have been obsessed with them ever since. A very odd but very cool looking aeroplane.
White Waltham was Fairey Aviation's flight testing airfield, where all the Gannet's made their first flights from. They were built at Fairey Aviation's factory in Hayes, Middx, and then transported by road to White Waltham for flight testing etc., before delivery to the FAA.Gannet AEW.3 XL500, after a number of years in storage at NAS Culdrose, was made airworthy again in the early 80's for use by Dowty-Rotol for propellor noise testing trials, and made a number of airshow appearances during the mid 80's, usually at RNAS open days, and I remember seeing it fly on several occasions.
It only flew for a couple of years, and when the testing trials were over it was returned to storage at NAS Lee-On-Solent, before ending up as a gate guardian back at Culdrose in the early 90's.
It was eventually sold in the early 2000's to Tim Manna at North Weald with a view to restoration to airworthy, but I don't believe any work was done on it before it was sold again to a new owner and went to Hunter Flying at Exeter for restoration to airworthy in the late 2000's, and moved with them to St.Athan about 10 years ago, but I think the project stalled some years ago, and nothing has been done on it for a while, for whatever reasons.
It's sad that more hasn't been done to preserve these. I guess they're not pretty enough or have an interesting deployment history. But for me they are such a unique an interesting machine. Gas turbine powered, twin concentric counter rotating props and folding wings, along with some pretty odd looking proportions, there's really nothing else like it.
adamInca said:
Yep, that's AEW.3 XL502 (G-BMYP) the other Gannet that was airworthy back in the late 80's and early 90's on the airshow circuit, owned/flown by Neil Moffet, and again, I saw that fly numerous times at shows back then. Not sure when it was last flown, maybe 93/94? and it changed hands I think a few times, but I'm not sure whether it was flown into YAM sometimes in the 90's or whether it was transported there by road after its civil registration was cancelled.
aeropilot said:
White Waltham was Fairey Aviation's flight testing airfield, where all the Gannet's made their first flights from. They were built at Fairey Aviation's factory in Hayes, Middx, and then transported by road to White Waltham for flight testing etc., before delivery to the FAA.
Gannet AEW.3 XL500, after a number of years in storage at NAS Culdrose, was made airworthy again in the early 80's for use by Dowty-Rotol for propellor noise testing trials, and made a number of airshow appearances during the mid 80's, usually at RNAS open days, and I remember seeing it fly on several occasions.
It only flew for a couple of years, and when the testing trials were over it was returned to storage at NAS Lee-On-Solent, before ending up as a gate guardian back at Culdrose in the early 90's.
It was eventually sold in the early 2000's to Tim Manna at North Weald with a view to restoration to airworthy, but I don't believe any work was done on it before it was sold again to a new owner and went to Hunter Flying at Exeter for restoration to airworthy in the late 2000's, and moved with them to St.Athan about 10 years ago, but I think the project stalled some years ago, and nothing has been done on it for a while, for whatever reasons.
I saw it fly at Yeovilton when I was based there about 1987/88 or was it at Culdrose in 1984?Gannet AEW.3 XL500, after a number of years in storage at NAS Culdrose, was made airworthy again in the early 80's for use by Dowty-Rotol for propellor noise testing trials, and made a number of airshow appearances during the mid 80's, usually at RNAS open days, and I remember seeing it fly on several occasions.
It only flew for a couple of years, and when the testing trials were over it was returned to storage at NAS Lee-On-Solent, before ending up as a gate guardian back at Culdrose in the early 90's.
It was eventually sold in the early 2000's to Tim Manna at North Weald with a view to restoration to airworthy, but I don't believe any work was done on it before it was sold again to a new owner and went to Hunter Flying at Exeter for restoration to airworthy in the late 2000's, and moved with them to St.Athan about 10 years ago, but I think the project stalled some years ago, and nothing has been done on it for a while, for whatever reasons.
andy97 said:
aeropilot said:
White Waltham was Fairey Aviation's flight testing airfield, where all the Gannet's made their first flights from. They were built at Fairey Aviation's factory in Hayes, Middx, and then transported by road to White Waltham for flight testing etc., before delivery to the FAA.
Gannet AEW.3 XL500, after a number of years in storage at NAS Culdrose, was made airworthy again in the early 80's for use by Dowty-Rotol for propellor noise testing trials, and made a number of airshow appearances during the mid 80's, usually at RNAS open days, and I remember seeing it fly on several occasions.
It only flew for a couple of years, and when the testing trials were over it was returned to storage at NAS Lee-On-Solent, before ending up as a gate guardian back at Culdrose in the early 90's.
It was eventually sold in the early 2000's to Tim Manna at North Weald with a view to restoration to airworthy, but I don't believe any work was done on it before it was sold again to a new owner and went to Hunter Flying at Exeter for restoration to airworthy in the late 2000's, and moved with them to St.Athan about 10 years ago, but I think the project stalled some years ago, and nothing has been done on it for a while, for whatever reasons.
I saw it fly at Yeovilton when I was based there about 1987/88 or was it at Culdrose in 1984?Gannet AEW.3 XL500, after a number of years in storage at NAS Culdrose, was made airworthy again in the early 80's for use by Dowty-Rotol for propellor noise testing trials, and made a number of airshow appearances during the mid 80's, usually at RNAS open days, and I remember seeing it fly on several occasions.
It only flew for a couple of years, and when the testing trials were over it was returned to storage at NAS Lee-On-Solent, before ending up as a gate guardian back at Culdrose in the early 90's.
It was eventually sold in the early 2000's to Tim Manna at North Weald with a view to restoration to airworthy, but I don't believe any work was done on it before it was sold again to a new owner and went to Hunter Flying at Exeter for restoration to airworthy in the late 2000's, and moved with them to St.Athan about 10 years ago, but I think the project stalled some years ago, and nothing has been done on it for a while, for whatever reasons.
However, it might have been XL502 at Yeovilton in 87/88.?
Landlubber said:
jimothyc said:
Saw one of these rotting under a tarpaulin at White Waltham airfield a few years ago and have been obsessed with them ever since. A very odd but very cool looking aeroplane.
There used to be an old Vampire there at one time.This is the state it was in when I saw it,
looks a lot better now.
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