Great news! 5 Feb 2020! The Gannet has a new home!
After many years wherein the initial plan of its owners to turn XA-459 into a gate guardian met ever defeating set back, the aircraft had become ever closer to the point of no return even as scrap. I was looking at it just a few days ago and feeling beyond despondent - for quite some time now, even its spare dual mamba sat bare exposed to the elements in the long grass having lost its place in a hangar, presumably because space is money.
Tonight the Gannet and its spare engine(dual - so engines?) was aboard a low loader for a UK museum. A place of restoration, a place in the dry, a place where it will be loved, a place where young people will look on it in wonder and have the joy we knew as kids full of the imagery of sleek and swift elegant craft to go - "Bloody hell did that get smacked by the ugly stick or what!?...but that is exactly why we love it!
A super capable aircraft of immense character.