"Whilst the Navy were frantically searching for some lost Harrier spares in one of the back hangars at Yeovilton they found a Gannet ECM6 hidden there. Wheeled it out, and a veteran fitter remembered how to start it up. Of course all the Sea Harrier jocks wanted to fly it but nobody was current. Wisely the RN sent an envoy to the Sir Francis Drake Rest Home for Tired Naval Airmen and rustled up a full crew. Whilst these old chaps were practising, a secret phone call went to the Canadian Armed Forces and a couple Chinooks were dispatched on a search mission up the northern BC coastline.
They found what they were looking for on a beach - a pair of Edo floats of C-47 size.
A few bottles of whisky changed hands and the Edos were helicoptered out. Shorts of Belfast took delivery and added a considerable stretch (the Edo design is very modular) and these things were duly fitted on massive pylons in place of the main gears of the Gannet. Flotation tests were not promising. Despit the massive size of the floats they were two thirds submerged with a full fuel load! It became necessary to operate with a light fuel load to get off the water at all and refuelling had to be carried out at a minimum of 10,000 feet because there wasn't enough power to maintain height with all the extra weight and drag. By the time the Gannet had sunk to 5,000 there was enough fuel burn to maintain height. All this was, as you know, done in a fantastic hurry.
Too late, even so, to be shipped down to the Falklands the Gannet had to be flown down there and the intrepid crew were all "on" for this. Several refuelling pick ups were made, but its a long way even to Ascension Island and the crew got sleepy.
Then they got lost, were running out of fuel, and were in real trouble. Mercifully they found a Navy ship and made a very rough landing in the big seas that were running. Both floats were ripped off but the Gannet floated (it was designed for good ditching) while they were rescued. The Navy then declared the Gannet a practise target/danger to shipping and after some 40 rounds managed to hit it and sink it."
Well, first I've ever heard of such a story. Is there any truth in it? Somehow I doubt it.
Although it was rumoured that some interest was expressed in the Gannet sitting quietly in a hangar at Leuchars....... Is it still there?