Gannet AEW3's
Alize tale...
...I met, during a NATO exercise, a French navy premier-maitre (warrant officer equivalent) whose prime job was accompanying sprog pilots as they went through their carrier landing quals. First on shore and then on the carrier. He was 36 years old and completely grey haired but had no other signs of stress.
Who was it said that night carrier landings were the ONLY situation where one could experience stark terror, a bowel movement and an orgasm inside a couple of minutes?
The Ancient Mariner
Who was it said that night carrier landings were the ONLY situation where one could experience stark terror, a bowel movement and an orgasm inside a couple of minutes?
The Ancient Mariner
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Rossian, don't know the attribution, but concur! I once went to the MO and said "Sir, I worry about night deck landings, should I?"
His response was "The day you STOP worrying about night deck landings, tell me and I'll ground you!"
For further vivid accounts of operating Gannets from the deck, carrier flying, flying training in Jet Provost and Vampire - and the RN in general, see if you can get your hands on a copy of "The Raging of the Sea" by Charles Gidley.
Better known to those of us who flew with him in 849 Squadron as Gidley, Charles Gidley Wheeler was a prolific writer of both books and TV scripts some years back ("Wings" and "Warship" come to mind). His death from ALS was a real loss to the world of semi-military literature, mainly 20th century but his range was wide and included the Portuguese wine trade.
Reverting to topic, I knew of, but never flew the Seamew and Alize.
Mike
His response was "The day you STOP worrying about night deck landings, tell me and I'll ground you!"
For further vivid accounts of operating Gannets from the deck, carrier flying, flying training in Jet Provost and Vampire - and the RN in general, see if you can get your hands on a copy of "The Raging of the Sea" by Charles Gidley.
Better known to those of us who flew with him in 849 Squadron as Gidley, Charles Gidley Wheeler was a prolific writer of both books and TV scripts some years back ("Wings" and "Warship" come to mind). His death from ALS was a real loss to the world of semi-military literature, mainly 20th century but his range was wide and included the Portuguese wine trade.
Reverting to topic, I knew of, but never flew the Seamew and Alize.
Mike
feature of being able to blow the U/C off (prior to ditching)
Jettisonable undercarriages go back a long way , for example the 1919 Sopwith Atlantic which used the feature for drag reduction , but which ending up ditching anyway.
JENKINS, although you have your undoubtedly well founded foul thoughts of the Seamew, as a little heard of aircraft, might you be persuaded to expand on your experience. A separate thread perhaps? With only 40 built it's a rare bird. I know your thoughts are well founded from general reading - a camel among racehorses I read.
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I think a Seamew thread is a great idea. Recall it well from schooldays.
Despite the Shoreham tragedy, this is still very much Air Show season. I thought that memories of Farnborough 1966, as seen from a Gannet's cockpit, might be appropriate.
HMS Hermes' Air Group was chosen to do the Fleet Air Arm's bit at Farnborough in 1966 and, on Sept. 9th, repeat the performance for the ships' Families Day. Hermes was at sea, somewhere off the Nab Tower I think. I thought a view of both might stir memories, Farnborough first.
What follows is written from the point of view of a Gannet's cockpit, flying in close formation and so missing some of the bigger stuff, but I hope it gives an idea.
The FAA's 7-minute contribution to Farnborough was all action and variety, VERY careful co-ordinated and controlled. Manoevring around the Farnborough area with approx. 25 FAA aircraft anyway was interesting, let alone those in the display before and after us, the trip to Spithead simply added complications, mainly for Southern Radar. The various controllers that week, and especially that day had my profound admiration.
The Hermes Air Group was Buccaneer 2s (809), Sea Vixen 2s (892), Gannet AEW 3s (849 B Flight) and Wessex HAS.1s (826) and the FAA display began with a combined Air Group flypast followed by individual squadron performances - Royal Marines abseiling from Wessexes, Sea Vixens refuelling each other, Gannets doing a formation re-light, Buccaneers at really low level, Sea Vixen aerobatics and so on. You name it, Hermes' Air Group did it for a non-stop seven minutes.
The flypast axis was Runway 06/24, with our initial combined approach up 06, heights and speeds on the approach were carefully worked out, timing and accuracy were everything.
The Choppers were at 200 feet and 90 knots, Gannets at 300 feet and 180 knots, the jets (6 Buccaneers and 10 Sea Vixens) at 500 feet and 360 knots, all converging as a vertical stack of aircraft as we passed the President's tent. And yes, it worked every time.
However, Tweezledown Racecourse is immediately SW of the airfield and higher than the runway. So the choppers had to be over it and down to 200 feet before we came across the treetops in the Gannets - the jets were safely out of reach at 500 feet.
For those who remember him (with affection) Paul "Bloggs" Bootherstone was our Senior Pilot and led the formation each day with the CO, Lt-Cdr Cobb in his rear cabin as timekeeper/co-ordinator.
Loose formation from Yeovilton to Odiham, then tighten up and orbit Odiham airfield while the CO in Paul's Gannet checked timing and all the other Hermes aircraft joined us on the Farnborough frequency - which was fairly busy anyway. We all set the Farnborough QFE, there was a count-down and, at the precise moment called out by the CO, we all set off.
I forget where the actual turning point was, but we would leave Odiham in a SE direction to do a very specific dog-leg intersection with the extended centreline of 06/24 and call out at passing a certain checkpoint for timing. Speed absolutely constant, we slowly lost height and passed over Tweezledown at 300 feet relative to the runway ahead. So we weren't much above the trees, or the several Army officers exercising their horses in the woodland on the hill.
One horse clearly didn't like Gannets and threw its rider into a bush. We flew on, and were suddenly over the airfield. At the edge of my field of vision the choppers passed below and the jets above, bang on time. Now we had to get clear and set up for our party piece in about 4 minutes.
Lots of familiar voices in our headsets as the action continued over the field. We climbed to 1,000 feet and flew a big clockwise oval so we could approach again up runway 06. A view of Guildford Cathedral on the hill and the line of the Hog's Back and, on a count from Paul, each of us shut down one engine. We were going to do a formation relight.
The Gannet's relight in flight sounds really good from the ground, somehow reminiscent of a Merlin running up to full power. Three at once is even better, with the addition of the visual factor when done in unison in tight formation. It means releasing the brake on the stopped prop and unfeathering it while starting fuel flow and running the igniters. The prop rapidly windmills up to speed, the engine lights up and produces power.
So, around onto the extended centreline again, very specific timing again and over Tweezeldown again. The unfortunate Army officer was chasing his horse, but he paused long enough to shake his fist at us.
Amid all the RT chatter, Paul came through strongly "Gannets, stand by to relight! "ONE" (HP fuel cock on) - "TWO" (press the relight button to unfeather the stopped prop, release its brake and start the igniters) - be aware of it windmilling up and "THREE" (once everything is clearly working, match throttles). And away we went, each leaving a Gannet's signature puff of black smoke behind us.
We were now directed southwards by Southern Radar. Bob Humphries, in the back of my aircraft was kept busy changing frequencies throughout while I stuck to Paul's starboard wing across Hampshire - and then we were over water, and there was Hermes with a Flight Deck full of people and splashes of colour amongst the blue.
We used the Ship's head as our display axis. After almost fifty years my memory of the precise display details are a bit vague. I know we did most of the Farnborough display, we Gannets certainly did our relight party piece and judging by photos taken at the time, the jets had a high old time at high speed and VERY low level.
The Flight Deck we would so soon be using in earnest was happily occupied by families, who looked as though they were having a great day at sea. Sunshine, calm sea, it looked like a perfect day for a party.
Time to leave, but we would soon be back to embark. We said farewell to the ship, contacted Southern Radar again and flew back to Yeovilton across soft, green and gold sunlit Hampshire, Dorset and Somerset in loose formation. It had been a great day.
Mike
There are two good links to the Farnborough performance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdUTb19O1wU at 2 mins 22 secs and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6IJtuq_j3g at 4.06 (briefly) and 4.52.
In the second one there's quite a dramatic low flyby of Sea Vixens very close to Mach 1, with massive condensation in the shock waves above the wings. Both videos are silent (old 8mm film) but lots of other good aircraft in each, including replicas built for the film "Those magnificent men and their flying machines".
Despite the Shoreham tragedy, this is still very much Air Show season. I thought that memories of Farnborough 1966, as seen from a Gannet's cockpit, might be appropriate.
1966, Farnborough and Families Day
HMS Hermes' Air Group was chosen to do the Fleet Air Arm's bit at Farnborough in 1966 and, on Sept. 9th, repeat the performance for the ships' Families Day. Hermes was at sea, somewhere off the Nab Tower I think. I thought a view of both might stir memories, Farnborough first.
What follows is written from the point of view of a Gannet's cockpit, flying in close formation and so missing some of the bigger stuff, but I hope it gives an idea.
The FAA's 7-minute contribution to Farnborough was all action and variety, VERY careful co-ordinated and controlled. Manoevring around the Farnborough area with approx. 25 FAA aircraft anyway was interesting, let alone those in the display before and after us, the trip to Spithead simply added complications, mainly for Southern Radar. The various controllers that week, and especially that day had my profound admiration.
The Hermes Air Group was Buccaneer 2s (809), Sea Vixen 2s (892), Gannet AEW 3s (849 B Flight) and Wessex HAS.1s (826) and the FAA display began with a combined Air Group flypast followed by individual squadron performances - Royal Marines abseiling from Wessexes, Sea Vixens refuelling each other, Gannets doing a formation re-light, Buccaneers at really low level, Sea Vixen aerobatics and so on. You name it, Hermes' Air Group did it for a non-stop seven minutes.
The flypast axis was Runway 06/24, with our initial combined approach up 06, heights and speeds on the approach were carefully worked out, timing and accuracy were everything.
The Choppers were at 200 feet and 90 knots, Gannets at 300 feet and 180 knots, the jets (6 Buccaneers and 10 Sea Vixens) at 500 feet and 360 knots, all converging as a vertical stack of aircraft as we passed the President's tent. And yes, it worked every time.
However, Tweezledown Racecourse is immediately SW of the airfield and higher than the runway. So the choppers had to be over it and down to 200 feet before we came across the treetops in the Gannets - the jets were safely out of reach at 500 feet.
For those who remember him (with affection) Paul "Bloggs" Bootherstone was our Senior Pilot and led the formation each day with the CO, Lt-Cdr Cobb in his rear cabin as timekeeper/co-ordinator.
Loose formation from Yeovilton to Odiham, then tighten up and orbit Odiham airfield while the CO in Paul's Gannet checked timing and all the other Hermes aircraft joined us on the Farnborough frequency - which was fairly busy anyway. We all set the Farnborough QFE, there was a count-down and, at the precise moment called out by the CO, we all set off.
I forget where the actual turning point was, but we would leave Odiham in a SE direction to do a very specific dog-leg intersection with the extended centreline of 06/24 and call out at passing a certain checkpoint for timing. Speed absolutely constant, we slowly lost height and passed over Tweezledown at 300 feet relative to the runway ahead. So we weren't much above the trees, or the several Army officers exercising their horses in the woodland on the hill.
One horse clearly didn't like Gannets and threw its rider into a bush. We flew on, and were suddenly over the airfield. At the edge of my field of vision the choppers passed below and the jets above, bang on time. Now we had to get clear and set up for our party piece in about 4 minutes.
Lots of familiar voices in our headsets as the action continued over the field. We climbed to 1,000 feet and flew a big clockwise oval so we could approach again up runway 06. A view of Guildford Cathedral on the hill and the line of the Hog's Back and, on a count from Paul, each of us shut down one engine. We were going to do a formation relight.
The Gannet's relight in flight sounds really good from the ground, somehow reminiscent of a Merlin running up to full power. Three at once is even better, with the addition of the visual factor when done in unison in tight formation. It means releasing the brake on the stopped prop and unfeathering it while starting fuel flow and running the igniters. The prop rapidly windmills up to speed, the engine lights up and produces power.
So, around onto the extended centreline again, very specific timing again and over Tweezeldown again. The unfortunate Army officer was chasing his horse, but he paused long enough to shake his fist at us.
Amid all the RT chatter, Paul came through strongly "Gannets, stand by to relight! "ONE" (HP fuel cock on) - "TWO" (press the relight button to unfeather the stopped prop, release its brake and start the igniters) - be aware of it windmilling up and "THREE" (once everything is clearly working, match throttles). And away we went, each leaving a Gannet's signature puff of black smoke behind us.
We were now directed southwards by Southern Radar. Bob Humphries, in the back of my aircraft was kept busy changing frequencies throughout while I stuck to Paul's starboard wing across Hampshire - and then we were over water, and there was Hermes with a Flight Deck full of people and splashes of colour amongst the blue.
We used the Ship's head as our display axis. After almost fifty years my memory of the precise display details are a bit vague. I know we did most of the Farnborough display, we Gannets certainly did our relight party piece and judging by photos taken at the time, the jets had a high old time at high speed and VERY low level.
The Flight Deck we would so soon be using in earnest was happily occupied by families, who looked as though they were having a great day at sea. Sunshine, calm sea, it looked like a perfect day for a party.
Time to leave, but we would soon be back to embark. We said farewell to the ship, contacted Southern Radar again and flew back to Yeovilton across soft, green and gold sunlit Hampshire, Dorset and Somerset in loose formation. It had been a great day.
Mike
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There are two good links to the Farnborough performance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdUTb19O1wU at 2 mins 22 secs and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6IJtuq_j3g at 4.06 (briefly) and 4.52.
In the second one there's quite a dramatic low flyby of Sea Vixens very close to Mach 1, with massive condensation in the shock waves above the wings. Both videos are silent (old 8mm film) but lots of other good aircraft in each, including replicas built for the film "Those magnificent men and their flying machines".
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yes - two AEW3s were resurrected during the Falklands war. The apprentices at Yeovilton did one in the museum workshops, while I believe the apprentices at Culdrose did the other. They were backstops in case the Sea King conversion failed.
Both were sold out of service: one to Hamilton Standard, one to Dowty-Rotol, both for prop research/development
Both were sold out of service: one to Hamilton Standard, one to Dowty-Rotol, both for prop research/development
1966, Farnborough and Families Day
A fantastic write-up. More, please, more!
I lived in Maidenhead during the 60s, so I was very familiar with the sound of Gannets. I was at every Farnborough show from 62 to 70 and I vividly remember the FAA's contributions to the displays. I find it hard to believe that the 66 display all happened in seven minutes. I particularly remember the buddy tanking and the FLY NAVY banners in the Buccaneer bomb bays.
Thanks also for the YouTube links. Besides the FAA footage, there are some very nostalgic sights there. The four-ship Turbulent formation was very impressive and it was nice to see the BAC 221.
Gannet Driver; just one small point, the Farnborough runway was 07/25 in those days; it didn't change to 06/24 until I got permission from D/Flying DPA at Boscombe to change it when it was re-surfaced and hence re-painted in late 2001! The new 'epoch' of the change of magnetic variation actually didn't start until March 2002 but I got permission to change it early to save another re-paint.
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Nobody so far has mentioned anything about their arrival and stint at HMS Gannet RNAS Eglinton. Does anyone here remember this? Perhaps I'm going back too far!
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Thanks for the input on Farnborough, I enjoyed writing it almost as much as the event itself. Will try to dredge up some more.
Runway 07/25, 06/24 change. I confess I could not remember the direction except it was approx. NE, so looked it up. Hence error!
Gannets to Eglinton (A/S versions), can't be many who will recall that by now. My CO in 849 "B" Flight in 1965 was the very correct, immaculate and scrupulous pilot, Lt-Cdr Eric Taylor. It was my first sea-going appointment, I was somewhat in awe of him.
It was only later I found out it was he who pulled too much G in an A/S Gannet recovering from a dive - and lost BOTH outer wing sections. He somehow got it back to Eglinton where, I suspect, he had an interesting interview with his CO!
Mike
Runway 07/25, 06/24 change. I confess I could not remember the direction except it was approx. NE, so looked it up. Hence error!
Gannets to Eglinton (A/S versions), can't be many who will recall that by now. My CO in 849 "B" Flight in 1965 was the very correct, immaculate and scrupulous pilot, Lt-Cdr Eric Taylor. It was my first sea-going appointment, I was somewhat in awe of him.
It was only later I found out it was he who pulled too much G in an A/S Gannet recovering from a dive - and lost BOTH outer wing sections. He somehow got it back to Eglinton where, I suspect, he had an interesting interview with his CO!
Mike
I was at Lossie from '74 to '81 on 8 Sqn Shacks. In July 78, I was lucky to be asked by 849 to fill a lookers slot on a 2 ship detachment to Aalborg.. (Ex Early Star)
Had a famil with Bill Covington in XL502 a few days before departure - before leaving Lossie on 3 Jul 78 with Cov in XL482. Flew twice at Aalborg on 4 Jul - one sortie each with Dave Moojen (XL482) and Cov (XL500) before returning with Cov in XL500 on 5 Jul. Total 9hr25.. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the RN looker I flew with.. I can see his face clearly - he had a blond-ish beard. Think he went to 360 afterwards.
I remember being mightily impressed by the radar picture quality compared to that of the Shack. Tribute to the RN maintainers.
Very enjoyable few days..! (but 37 years ago - ye gods!)
Had a famil with Bill Covington in XL502 a few days before departure - before leaving Lossie on 3 Jul 78 with Cov in XL482. Flew twice at Aalborg on 4 Jul - one sortie each with Dave Moojen (XL482) and Cov (XL500) before returning with Cov in XL500 on 5 Jul. Total 9hr25.. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the RN looker I flew with.. I can see his face clearly - he had a blond-ish beard. Think he went to 360 afterwards.
I remember being mightily impressed by the radar picture quality compared to that of the Shack. Tribute to the RN maintainers.
Very enjoyable few days..! (but 37 years ago - ye gods!)
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Ian16th -
With your fine pedigree Sir, I very much doubt it. I was lucky enough to stop the Line Chief at Shawbury confidently putting AVGAS in my Gannet one day.
I re-fuelled some that passed through Istres.
So I must qualify as the least knowledgeable of all that touched one.
So I must qualify as the least knowledgeable of all that touched one.
Proggie - I sort of knew your Dad when he was around Brawdy and then flew with him several times at Lossie in Spring of 1970. Commiserations to you all - he was a bit young to go. Was Bevis a traditional family name ?
I also found this old thread of nice testimonials that you may not have seen - you'll have to excuse some of their spellings though.
http://www.pprune.org/where-they-now...ml#post5413604
...............LFH
I also found this old thread of nice testimonials that you may not have seen - you'll have to excuse some of their spellings though.
http://www.pprune.org/where-they-now...ml#post5413604
...............LFH