Originally Posted by
Warmtoast
Curious, I was told the aircraft being assembled at Northolt had been built at Fairy's Hayes factory, transferred by road to Northolt for assembly, and finally flown to White Waltham for collection by the Navy.
I lived about 15 miles north of White Waltham and it was a weekly event; you heard the Gannet taking off and it took a loooong time to pass overhead.
Last ones I encountered were a T5 accompanied by an AEW 3; the AEW was delivered to Farnborough in about '78 with the intention of removing the H2S and then scrapping the rest, whilst the T5 arrived at the same time to collect the crew and return them to (I think) Yeovilton.
Last one I saw was parked in somebodies back garden in 1991 next to the ring road at Cirencester.