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Thread: Gannet AEW3's
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Old 2nd Sep 2015, 17:02
  #44 (permalink)  
JW411
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: UK
Age: 83
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This doesn't really have a lot to do with the current discussion but here is my Gannet story. I was, at the time, a young co-pilot sprog on Argosys at Benson and the year was about 1962 or 1963.

Fairey's were doing their production Gannet flying from White Waltham at the time. It had been raining for some time and White Waltham became water-logged. They asked the Station Master at Benson if they could use Benson in the meantime while WW dried out.

The first one (an AEW3) duly turned up and created a great deal of interest. On its first take-off, the driver (who was probably trying to impress us Crabs) yanked the gear up about 1 nano-second after rotation. Sadly, the whole contraption sank down again wrecking the radome and doing the contra-rotating props no good at all.

He decided to keep going.

The noise produced by this now demented piece of kit as it went downwind was quite spectacular and this managed to ensure that when he fortunately made a rather rapid successful landing, just about everyone at Benson was outside watching as he taxied in.

What fascinated me was that the forward propeller tips were bent forward and the rear propeller tips were bent aft. I thought at the time that this was a lucky combination!

I don't think we ever saw another Gannet at Benson.
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