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Old 31st Jan 2012, 22:25
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Milo Minderbinder
 
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Sorry to resurrect this, but something needs clarifying
When the Falklands war kicked off, the Navy got the FAA Museum at Yeovilton to resurrect one of its AEW3 Gannets, using apprentices for labour. It was completed too late to take part, but when finshed was airworthy. Eventually it was sold for prop research, but I don't know if it was the one that went to Dowty-Rotol, or the one that went to Hamilton-Standard.
They had to do a major hunt for parts, and found a cache of unused Mambas which had been purchased for potential conversion into electrical generators during the 1970's miners strikes
Hamilton got XL482, while Dowty got XL500 - but I can't remember which was the one the museum rebuilt in a hurry
Was one fixed at Yeovilton and one at Culdrose???

Theres an interesting photo taken at Yeovilton Air Day at https://secure.flickr.com/photos/stumitc/6297384337/
which shows one Gannet (of a pair) plus a bunch of shrink-wrapped Mambas. Maybe thats the one??

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edit- it looks like the one restored at Yeovilton for potential Falklands use was XL482

Last edited by Milo Minderbinder; 2nd Feb 2012 at 13:11.
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