Warpaint 023 - Fairey Gannet.pdf - Warpaint Series - MiliFan

Fairey Gannet AEW.3

XL471 043-R of 849 Squadron, B Flight, Fleet Air Arm, HMS Ark Royal,

December 1977 This aircraft has been zapped by US Navy squadron

VAW-124 on the starboard rear fuselage A black map of Australia appears

on the nose to signify B Flight winning the FAA's Australia Shield in1975.

Drawings by David Howley

By Steve Hazell

boats had not been lost on the Soviets so

when they set about constructing an ocean-

going navy it was to include a large submarine

force. It took several years before the true

extent of the USSR's aspirations became

apparent then in 1944 the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization was established to

safeguard the interests of the former western

allies in the lace of increasing S o v i e t

belligerence.

As one of the chief maritime powers within

NATO the United Kingdom was tasked w i t h

providing a contribution towards the alliance's

aircraft carrier and anti-submarine warfare

forces, and although it s t ill had sufficient ships

for this it was very short of effective, modern

aircraft.

Gannet AS.4 (COD) XA466:777-LM on the

Lossiemouth flight line in February 1977. By

this time it was one of the few Headquarters

Flight aircraft to have a nose code number,

and the small squadron badge was again

being marked on the tail sides. Note how it

was necessary for indentations to be made

in the weapons bay doors of the anti-

submarine Gannets so that the main wheels

could be raised or lowered with the doors

open (author)

DURING World War 2 Britain was again made all

too aware of how vulnerable it was to

submarine warfare, and how its very

existence depended upon keeping the sea-

lanes open. It took the Battle of the Atlantic to

bring about an integrated air. surface and sub-

surface approach to anti-submarine warfare

and by the end of the war the UK possessed a

potent anti-submarine capability. However,

w i t h peace came the inevitable reduction in

Britain's armed forces, and in the absence of

any obvious threat the Royal Navy's anti-

submarine forces did not escape their share of

the force reductions. Besides the

cancellation of many aircraft contracts lower

priorities were assigned to projects which, had

the war continued, would have provided

Britain's future combat aircraft. One such was a

dedicated anti-submarine aircraft for the

Fleet Air Arm.

Also w i t h peace came the emergence of

die USSR as a major power with global

ambitions, and the dawning of the era of the

Cold War put a check on western disarma-

ment. The effectiveness of the German U-

The second prototype Gannet was VR557

shown here during the early 1950s In a two-

seat configuration with the ventral radome

below the jet-pipes, aft of the longer weapons

bay. It carries a yellow prototype P' marking

aft of the fuselage roundel which was

common practice at that time. (APN)

During the war the Meet Air Arm had gen-

erally used its torpedo-bomber and recon-

naissance aircraft to attack submarines, rely-

ing upon either ships' ASDIC (later Sonar)

information or on visual sightings to locate

targets Late m the war the RN planned to

acquire the Fancy Firefly as a dedicated anti-

submarine aircraft, and the same company

Above: The Gannet T.2 prototype WN365 in the

standard trainer finish of overall aluminium with

yellow wing and fuselage trainer bands. Evident are

the fixed instructor's periscope in front of the

second canopy and the twin portholes to let more

light into the rearmost cockpit. (MAP) Left: One of

the training units to use the Gannet AS.1 was 796

Squadron at Culdrose, which used XA393:772-CU in

1958. The front spinner is red and the rear one

black with a silver band between the two, and

the squadron badge is marked below the cockpit

front. A coloured pirate's head is marked on the

upper auxiliary fin. (APN)

was also starting to produce the Spearfish

torpedo-bomber which would have also had

a limited anti-submarine role. Various

technical problems with the latter type

resulted in its cancellation soon after the

war but the former did enter front line service

as the Firefly AS.5, AS.6 and eventually the

definitive three-seat AS.7.

The main troubles with the Firefly however,

were that it was a wartime design with limited

development potential, and had a single

engine and limited payload. Because of

payload considerations it was necessary for

carrier-based anti-submarine aircraft either

to work in pairs with one carrying the detection

equipment and the other the offensive

weapons, or else to act as a weapons carrier

under the control of surface vessels. The

Admiralty therefore viewed the Firefly as a

short-term solution and set about formulating

a specification for a more capable anti-

submarine aircraft making the most of

modern electronics and weapons, able both

to locate and attack submarines .

COMPACT POWERPLANT

came from two engines yet with the weight

and size of a single-engined type. In fact

Fairey had already been addressing this

problem for several years. A version of the

Firefly had been proposed powered by two

Rolls Royce Griffon piston engines mounted in

tandem in the fuselage but this had failed to

find favour partly because gas turbine

engines were viewed as the power plants of

the future. A second attempt was made with

the Spearfish, a version of which was prot-

posed to meet Specification 0.21/44 pow-

ered by two Rolls Royce Merlins . These

were mounted in tandem w i t h i n the fuselage

When the Admiralty's intentions became

known it was natural that Fairey Aviation

should take an interest since the company

had much experience of producing naval air-

craft and its Firefly was already in production

for the RN. Up until then Fairey had produced

single-engined aircraft for the ser vice but now

the company decided to design a twin-

engined aircraft with the advantages which

In May 1964 Gannet AS.6 WN464:395 was in

use with 831 Squadron at RAF Watton. This

aircraft features the usual nose code and

has the squadron badge below the cockpit

side. Evident in this view are the additional

decking whip aerials and the blade aerial

below the forward fuselage. (APN)

Fairey Gannet camouflage and markings

Drawings by David Howley

Warpaint 023 - Fairey Gannet.pdf

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