Fairey Gannet

The Fairey Gannet is a carrier-borne anti-submarine and strike aircraft designed and produced by the Fairey Aviation Company of the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy. It was the first fixed-wing aircraft in Fleet Air Arm service to combine the search and strike elements of anti-submarine warfare in a single airframe. The prototype flew on 19 September 1949 and the type entered FAA service in 1954, serving from most Royal Navy carriers until 15 December 1978. It is identified by its Armstrong Siddeley Double Mamba coupled turboprop driving contra-rotating propellers and its double-folding Z-shaped wing.

Development

Formal design work began in response to Admiralty requirement GR.17/45, issued in 1945 for a two-seat ASW and strike aircraft. Fairey's submission, the Type Q or Fairey 17, competed against the Blackburn B-54/B-88. After 18 months studying the Rolls-Royce Tweed turboprop, Fairey approached Armstrong Siddeley to develop the Double Mamba, work on which began in December 1945. Two prototypes were ordered on 12 August 1946. R. G. Slate flew the first from Aldermaston on 19 September 1949, ten months before the Blackburn prototype; it crash-landed on 25 November 1949 and required three months of repairs. On 19 June 1950, flown by Lt Cdr G. Callingham, it made the first deck landing by a turboprop aircraft, aboard HMS Illustrious. The second prototype flew on 6 July 1950 with a third cockpit and lengthened bomb bay. An order for 100 AS.1s followed on 13 March 1951 under Korean War super-priority; the first production aircraft flew from RAF Northolt on 9 June 1953. Production was split between Hayes, Middlesex and Heaton Chapel, Stockport. The T.2 trainer first flew on 16 August 1954. The AEW.3, selected in 1958 to replace the Douglas Skyraider, involved a redesign with an under-fuselage radome, enlarged fin, lengthened undercarriage and deleted weapons bay; 44 plus one prototype were built.

Design

The Gannet was a mid-wing monoplane with tricycle undercarriage and a crew of three: pilot, plus two observers in separate canopies. The wing folded in two places to a Z-shape, with inboard anhedral and outboard dihedral. The Double Mamba comprised two Mamba engines side by side on a common gearbox driving 8-bladed Rotol contra-rotating propellers; one engine could be shut down and its propeller feathered without asymmetric thrust, extending endurance. Variants used the ASMD.1 (2,950 shp), ASMD.3 (3,145 shp) and ASMD.4 (3,875 shp). Search equipment was the Ekco ASV Mk.19 radar in a retractable radome aft of the bomb bay. Maximum speed was 310 mph, endurance 5–6 hours, service ceiling 25,000 ft.

Armament

The Gannet was the first FAA aircraft able to carry all its munitions except rockets internally, the bomb bay accommodating depth charges, sonobuoys, homing torpedoes, bombs, markers and mines, up to 2,000 lb. Underwing hardpoints carried 16 Mk.8 or 24 Mk.5 rocket projectiles, or 100-gallon external tanks.

Operational History

Deliveries began in April 1954, and 826 NAS became the first operational squadron on 17 January 1955, embarking in HMS Eagle. The Royal Australian Navy operated 33 AS.1s and three T.2s from HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Albatross, withdrawing 24 survivors in 1967. West Germany received 15 AS.4s and one T.5 from May 1958, flying with MFG 2 and later MFG 3 until replaced by the Breguet Br.1150 Atlantic in 1966. Indonesia ordered 18 aircraft in January 1959, receiving 17 AS.4s and two trainers converted from AS.1s and T.2s. By the mid-1960s Westland Whirlwind HAS.7 helicopters had replaced RN ASW Gannets, surviving airframes continuing as ECM.6 and COD.4 aircraft with 849 NAS until 1978.

Variants

• AS.1: Initial production anti-submarine and strike version with the ASMD.1 Double Mamba.
• T.2: Trainer with dual controls, retractable periscope for the second cockpit and radar equipment deleted.
• AS.4: Improved ASW model with the up-rated ASMD.3 engine, with the T.5 as its trainer equivalent.
• AS.6/ECM.6: AS.4s refurbished with new electronics and radar, later serving as electronic countermeasures aircraft.
• AEW.3: Airborne early warning version with ASMD.4 engine, ventral radome, enlarged fin and no weapons bay; 44 built.