@ Tucson, AZ
March 2018
Touring the wonderful collection at the Pima Air & Space Museum brought me face to face with this Fairey Gannett. The most striking feature of the Gannet is the twin turboprop powerplant driving two contra-rotating propellers. It was possible to shut down one of the engines in flight to reduce fuel consumption and extend the aircraft’s range. This aircraft was introduced in 1959 to replace the obsolete Douglas Skyraider, and was intended as an interim carrier-based airborne early warning (AEW) solution. As an “interim” aircraft, the AN/APS-20 radar from the Skyraider was mounted in a radome under the fuselage of an ordinary Gannet, though major modifications to the fuselage had to be done to provide adequate ground clearance. A total of 44 Gannet AEWs were ordered for the Royal Navy to replace the Skyraider, serving until retirement in 1978.
