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Gannet Photo: Robert Deering 4/9/2019 Technik Museum Speyer, Germany |
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Fairey Gannet
The Fairey Gannet is a British carrier-borne aircraft
of the post-Second World War era developed
for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) by
the Fairey Aviation Company. It was a
mid-wing monoplane with a tricycle
undercarriage and a crew of three, and a
double turboprop engine driving
two contra-rotating propellers.
The Gannet was built
in response to the
1945 Admiralty requirement GR.17/45, for
which prototypes by Fairey (Type Q or Fairey
17, after the requirement) and Blackburn
Aircraft (the Blackburn B-54 / B-88) were
built. After
considering and discounting the Rolls-Royce
Tweed turboprop, Fairey selected an engine
based on the Armstrong Siddeley
Mamba turboprop: the Double Mamba (or "Twin
Mamba"), two Mambas mounted side-by-side and
coupled through a common gearbox to coaxial
contra-rotating propellers. Power was
transmitted from each engine by a torsion
shaft which was engaged through a series of
sun, planet, epicyclic and spur gears to
give a suitable reduction ratio and correct
propeller-shaft rotation.
The ASMD.1 engine
(2,950 hp/2,200 kW) was used in the Gannet
AS.1; ASMD.3 (3,145 hp/2,345 kW) in the AS.4;
and ASMD.4 (3,875 hp/2,889 kW) in the AEW.3
variant. The Double Mamba engine could be
run with one Mamba stopped to conserve fuel
and extend endurance for cruise flight. The
contra-rotating propellers meant that when
only half of the Double Mamba was running
there were no thrust asymmetry problems. The
Mamba exhausts were situated on each side of
the fuselage, at the root of the
wing trailing edge. The gas-turbine engine
could run on kerosene, "wide-cut" turbine
fuel or diesel fuel, allowing the Admiralty
to eliminate the dangerous high-octane
petroleum spirit required to operate piston-engined
aircraft from carriers. In 1958 the Gannet
was selected to replace the Douglas
Skyraider in the AEW role. In order to
accommodate the systems required, the Gannet
underwent a significant redesign that saw a
new version of the Double Mamba installed,
new radome mounted under the aircraft, the
tailfin increased in area, the undercarriage
lengthened and the weapons bay removed. A
total of 44 aircraft (plus a single
prototype) of the AEW.3 version were
produced.
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