Fairey Gannet AEW.3

Gannet AEW.3
Gannets lined up on the flightline at RAF Lossiemouth in 1977
Role	Airborne early warning aircraft
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Fairey Aviation Company
First flight	20 August 1958
Introduction	August 1959
Retired	15 December 1978
Primary user	Royal Navy
Produced	1958-1963
Number built	44
Developed from	Fairey Gannet

The Fairey Gannet AEW.3 was a variant of the Fairey Gannet anti-submarine warfare aircraft intended to be used in the airborne early warning (AEW) role on aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy. It was introduced to service in 1959 to replace the obsolete Douglas Skyraider, and was intended as an interim solution until the planned introduction of a new, purpose built AEW platform for use on the planned CVA-01 aircraft carriers. Neither the new aircraft carriers nor the new AEW aircraft were proceeded with, and the Gannet AEW remained in service until the last aircraft carrier that could operate it was retired.

In the late 1950s, the Royal Navy operated the piston-engined Douglas A-1 Skyraider from its aircraft carriers in the AEW role. However, the Skyraider was a design that originated during the Second World War. It entered service with the RN in 1951 but, owing to its World War II vintage, would be considered obsolete by the late 50s. As a consequence, the Royal Navy issued its directive AEW.154 to begin planning for a replacement for the Skyraider. The aircraft considered most suitable for this were seen as those already under development for the Navy's GR.17/45 Specification for a new anti-submarine aircraft, of which the front runners were the Blackburn B-54/B-88 and the Fairey Type Q/17. In this competition, it was the Fairey Aviation aircraft that proved the winner, eventually entering service as the Gannet.

The intention was to use the Gannet as a stop-gap measure prior to the acquisition of a new, purpose built system intended to be used on the planned new generation of aircraft carriers. As a consequence, it was intended to undertake as little in the way of modification as possible - the AN/APS-20 radar from the Skyraider would be mounted in a radome under the fuselage of an ordinary Gannet AS.1, with the associated electronics and space for two operators inside. However, the size of the radome meant that the existing airframe was too close to the ground to accommodate the radar, and so a significant modification to the fuselage was required. This involved removing the observer's cockpits and creating a new cabin within the fuselage; this was accessed via a pair of hatches next to the trailing edge of the wing, which also meant that the exhausts had to be moved from this position to the leading edge; increasing the total area of the vertical stabiliser to compensate for the instability caused by the radome; and extending the length of the undercarriage to increase the clearance for the radome, which consequently increased the aircraft's overall height by 3 ft (1 m), and gave the aircraft a more level stance than the anti-submarine version. Such were the extensive modifications required that, in December 1954, it was suggested that the AEW version be renamed as the Fairey Albatross, as it was to all intents and purposes a completely different aircraft from its ASW predecessor. As it was, by the time the Gannet AEW was entering service, the ASW version was in the process of being replaced, avoiding any potential confusion.

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