Gannet and Wessex

Hi all,

Was over at the North East Aircraft Museum last Friday and they have hinted that they are getting a Gannet and Wessex !

Coincidence ! Hmmm

Can anyone verify this ?

I didn’t say it.. I wasn’t even here. confirmed via BAPC, awaiting confirmation via the two parties…… Thats all I’m going to say.

News just in

I Know a secret… na nah:p

All I’m going to say is, providing the transport costs can be met, BOTH airframes are secure! And will be displayed INSIDE and restored!

Maybe they read my posts on here….. I didn’t speak to them about it! Honest!

Its good that the aircraft will be saved. Maybe its time to dust off my tool box and get over to NEAM… (Its only 300 yards….)

Gannet & Wessex

Hi all,

Was over at the North East Aircraft Museum last Friday and they have hinted that they are getting a Gannet and Wessex !

Coincidence ! Hmmm

Can anyone verify this ?

I spoke to them last week, the Wessex has gone to another museum, they didn’t state their name, but they have had a helicopter from them in the past. We made a request for the Gannet and have gone on a list of intrested parties, the MD will soon make a decission based on the merits of each request.

They can only be moved in November when the season finishes.

Thanks for the update. Any news on their future?

Was at Flambards this w/e, so here’s my thoughts of the two remaining whole airframes that are present:

Gannet – now I’m no airframe expert but the Gannet is looking particularly poor. One can no longer walk under it which is probably just as well as the u/c legs look in very poor condition – heavily corroded, flaking and looking on the point of collapse. Under the wings also looked in poor condition but I couldn’t be sure if it was just the paint that was flaking… All canopies are opaque and the aircraft is generally looking quite sorry for itself.

I’m a big Gannet fan and would love to see this aircraft survival as a whole but realistically I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it in the future as a nose section only. Sadly the a/c has been exposed to the Cornish air for far too long – probably inexcess of 30 years now. My cousin who is much older than me once flew in this a/c when he served on 831sqn many moons ago!

Wessex – cosmetically this a/c is looking a little bit shabby and could benefit from a repaint, but on the whole is fairing reasonably well. Would be nice to see it back in dayglo and dark sea grey again…

Finally, the a/c which survives best is the Shack nose (WG511) which of course is under cover. When I was a kid I flew many a ‘mission’ in that a/c and history is now repeating itself as my two boys (the oldest not quite 1 yr old) did exactly the same on Saturday! Long live the ‘Shack’!

As someone else mentioned in this thread, the Shack at Flambards never seems to loose the lovely smell that it has inside – sweat, Avgas and gently cooked electrics!

Bit of a long shot I know, but I have never found a pic of WG511 when she was operational – can anyone oblige?

Cheers

Nick

Buccaneer XN967, Sea Vixen XN647, Canberra WK122, Sea Prince WF122 Sea Hawk XE368, Whirlwind XP350 processed by Pheonix Aviation many to Cockpit sections

All these still survive:

Buccaneer XN967 – City of Norwich Museum (Cockpit)
Sea Vixen XN647 – Privately owned (Cockpit)
Canberra WK122 – Last reported with Hawker Hunter Aviation – Scampton (Cockpit)
Sea Prince WF122 – Aeroventure Doncaster (Complete)
Sea Hawk XE368 – Privately owned, Barrow in Furness (Complete)
Whirlwind XP350 – Paintball park Bassetts Pole (Complete)

damn

Lindy – A low loader for the Gannet would work out at something like £500 a day plus vat. Then there is crane hire at each end at £250 minimum. Add to that a wide load escort which I guess could be £200 a day and then equate how far away Helston is ! Think three days to get down – load and back if your far up north. I cannot think of many companies that would do this work at a nominal sum when diesel is £.90 a litre and most low loaders will work out at 8 miles and below to the gallon.

anyone know of any transport comanies who would be prepared to move them north for a nominal sum?…

Are the aircraft still there? Do we have a timeframe for their removal?

Whats the Shack mk1 nose like these days?

The Shack still smells just like the interior of an aircraft should.:D
My little girls loved sitting in the pilot seat, the only thing ruining the experiance, well for me anyway, was the loud soundtrack being played of a dogfight in the background!:confused:
She still looks OK, apart from being in need of a very good clean to rid her of dust, and maybe a touch up here and there with some black paint on the flight controls.
Despite that and having god knows how many kids ( and adults) trying to ‘fly’ her like a fighter, shes holding up well.

And I dropped hints all day long to my missus about the Gannet and Wessex needing new homes, but she was having non of it.:mad:
Then to top that she deleted the photos I took of them to make way for a couple of snaps of the kids eating ice creams!
Some serious re-training is in order for her!

Several of the former Cornwal Aeropark exhibits survive

Whirlwind 9 XN258 and Widgeon G-APTW at NEAM Sunderland

Sycamore XJ917 Bristol Aero Collection, Kemble

Sea Venom XG691 Malta Aviation Museum

Sea Hawk WF299 Graham Revill, Birlingham, Worcestershire

Skyraider WV106, Wasp XT427 Fleet Air Arm Store

Whirlwind XA870 to HPG Doncaster

Scimitar XD332 Solent Sky

Dragonfly WG754 to Australian Naval Museum

Buccaneer XN967, Sea Vixen XN647, Canberra WK122, Sea Prince WF122 Sea Hawk XE368, Whirlwind XP350 processed by Pheonix Aviation many to Cockpit sections

Whats the Shack mk1 nose like these days?

As for the sea hawk and vixen from memory the hawk lives on somewhere as a complete airframe and the vixen was reduced to a nose section – though could be wrong 🙂

I was at Flambards this week. Both aircraft looked to be in a good all round condition, no visable signs of corrosion ( that I could spot ) however the paint on the underside of the Gannet was peeling quite heavily, and all her tyres where flat, and looked like they had been for a far amount of time.
Its a shame that they want to dispose of these aircraft, as I can remember visiting Flambards when it was ‘ Flambards Aeropark’, and yes that was several years ago now.
When I visited the park a couple of years back and they still had a buccaneer and a sea hawk ( ?) on display outside, where these scrapped or donated to good causes?

Im not a fan of helicopters but Ive always been rather taken by the Wessex. Ugly but comes with bucket loads of character.

What condition are the two airframes really in as its hard to tell from the photos on the link Ben kindly added.

Im also guessing the Wessex would be the easier of the pair to move especially if the main rotors can still be folded back?

I hate posts like this one.

I love both aircraft, have plenty of space to keep them – but we’ve not got the means to go and get them.

I really shouldn’t read threads like this one !!

Hope they are saved.

Not least of all because that Gannet was probably the first cockpit i ever looked in – least that i remember. Family holiday and Dad held me up to look!

Also how many ECM6 Variants are left? Is the Gannet in Errol an ECM6?

Any news on the Gannet ????????? As could be interested in it if it has’nt already gone

Hmmmm I know,blooming tempting but on the basis we are pretty much as far away from the sea as you could get they ain’t terribly relevant are they….notwithstanding the distance, moving them arrrrggggggghhhhh!!!!!

TT