Gannet on floats?

Pondskater should have added that he is a Shorts expert.:)

Well that’s very kind but I prefer enthusiast;) I’m OK when it comes to what Short Brothers were doing in the 1930s & 40s but Shorts in the 1980s is an area I have to go and look up. My current project involves meeting some former workers at Rochester but there are others here who know more about the Belfast operation.
And I love the internet too 😀

IIRC, that was Hamilton Standard – in the US.

Ken

Actually, Hamilton Standard did it first with the AEW3 now at Pima XL482 and then Dowty realised that they might be on to something and that they had better catch up so to speak and put XL500 back into the air, remember it flying at Culdrose and in formation with a Sea King AEW2 several times, XL500 now of course being restored to airworthy status by Kennet Aviation.

And I can find nothing about Shorts doing anything either.
Hopefully this story will sink faster than the fictional aircraft.:)

But, but, but it is on the internet in serious writing mode!:D 😀 😀
Pondskater should have added that he is a Shorts expert.:)

A little digging has produced the expected shaggy dog. For instance, Jane’s entry for Flight Refueling records their work in adding refueling gear to Nimrods, Hercules and Vulcans and also to Tristars (with Marshalls at Cambridge) but no mention at all of modifying a Gannet. And I can find nothing about Shorts doing anything either.
Hopefully this story will sink faster than the fictional aircraft.:)

“Close, but no cigar” for me then…

I stand (or sit) corrected

Paul F

Paul F

P.S. (Remembers after posting..)Dowty Rotol resurrected a Gannet for contra-prop noise trials at some stage after they had been retired didn’t they, and I have magazine photos somewhere showing it airborne with a very long test probe mounted on the leading edge of one wingtip – to which microphones were fixed during the trials. Has someone seen the same pics and misinterpreted the forward pointing microphone boom as a long AAR probe perhaps:rolleyes: ?

IIRC, that was Hamilton Standard – in the US.

Ken

Presumably this thread will be resssurected in 2032 when the Falklands Documents are all de-classified under the offical secrets “50 Years” rule?

Still think it’s a case of a “thin” thread of truth (i.e. the consideration of possible re-activation of moth-balled airframes in order to plug a capability gap in times of conflict) being over fed on Bonios and thus becoming a very large, very shaggy, dog….

If a float-equipped Gannet did set off for the Falklands with an ex-Retirement crew, and was equipped for AAR, from which type of tanker did it take on fuel en route? And, why hasn’t news of the escapade ever leaked out in any of the offical and unaofficial accounts of the conflict. Surely someone would have let it slip by now, either out of a “You wouldn’t beleive it but…” or out of a “How’s this for a bit of good old British ingenuity then…” spirit.

Sorry to burst the bubble guys, but it’s strictly a flight of (float-borne:p ) fancy I believe.

But I’m happy to be proven wrong……wake me up (or dig me up:eek: ) in 2032 and let me know,

Paul F

P.S. (Remembers after posting..)Dowty Rotol resurrected a Gannet for contra-prop noise trials at some stage after they had been retired didn’t they, and I have magazine photos somewhere showing it airborne with a very long test probe mounted on the leading edge of one wingtip – to which microphones were fixed during the trials. Has someone seen the same pics and misinterpreted the forward pointing microphone boom as a long AAR probe perhaps:rolleyes: ?

At the risk of going off-topic slightly, I’m sure I read somewhere that at one stage early in the project Fairey’s seriously considered a more conventional twin engined layout for the Gannet, ie one on each wing. Anyone know about this or have any illustrations?

The story is an utter and total fabrication. No doubt the author met Douglas Bader in a hotel in 1944 too.

In another twist to this story, How true is this little story about WN411?

http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/gannet/survivorspics3.html

The story is an utter and total fabrication. No doubt the author met Douglas Bader in a hotel in 1944 too.

The Stork Hotel does not allow guests to bring any type of pet – which includes gannets.

This policy resulted from an unfortunate incident involving an overfed gannet perched on a chandelier in the lobby and one of our guests in 1942 – a Wing Commander D. Bader.

The incident resulted in the hotel management being forced to compensate the guest for dry cleaner’s expences for his uniform.

Story strictly embargoed until April 1

Wasn’t a Gannet at all. Friend of a friend reckons he saw a float-equipped Vulcan at South Georgia just before it hit an albatross and they had to call the mission off. That’s why the back-up Vulcans had to fly such a long way…;)

William

Try this link and story.
http://www.ipmstoronto.com/articles/aircraft/gannet/Index.htm

At the bottom of the article. If it is correct, then it was Shorts that did the one-off mod, but the A/C didn’t quite get to the Falklands. Must have been quite a sight, if it is real….I don’t trust everything I find on the internet.

Hi Chris, 10 out of 10 for locating the story! Enough ‘facts’ to make it sound plausible but still begs the question, did it happen?

Just exactly where was this Gannet supposed to operate from…

…the South Atlantic…in May! 😮

A lot of Royal Navy warships and auxiliaries were damaged by the heavy seas!

WA$.

Oh no – am I being drawn into an enigma? 😀
I’ll dig about and see what I can find if somebody else can track down the serial No of the Gannet. I’m always willing to be proven wrong (and happy to be proven right!)

Good idea.

I think the logistics of putting floats on a machine that wasn’t designed for them are even beyond the exigencies of the time. Remember that urgent development of AEW for a viable platform (the Sea King being the only possible platform) was one of the top priorities and that wasn’t in service by the end of the conflict. So the idea of sticking a set of 2nd hand floats on a Gannet and having that working in time to be half way there during the war doesn’t really hold water (bad pun). Though a lot of jobs were done in double quick time, sticking a refuelling hose on a Nimrod is a relatively straight forward job in comparison!

:p ….surely a Gannet would have performed better with webbed feet, rather than with floats?….

Oh no – am I being drawn into an enigma? 😀
I’ll dig about and see what I can find if somebody else can track down the serial No of the Gannet. I’m always willing to be proven wrong (and happy to be proven right!)

Try this link and story.
http://www.ipmstoronto.com/articles/aircraft/gannet/Index.htm

At the bottom of the article. If it is correct, then it was Shorts that did the one-off mod, but the A/C didn’t quite get to the Falklands. Must have been quite a sight, if it is real….I don’t trust everything I find on the internet.

Nice story, but isn’t there a non-sequiteur here? The talk is of the pressing need for AEW cover, yet the object of the floats story is apparently an ECM6….

I think there maybe a germ of fact in this. Wracking what I laughingly call my memory, I think that some retired Gannet AEW3 were considered for emergency reactivation, along with HMS Bulwark which at the time was laid up for disposal (she had only paid off the year before, but had been badly damaged by a fire). However a lack of Gannet spares and the amount of work that would be needed to bring Bulwark back to operational status meant that the idea was quickly dropped.

Let’s call this one the Gannet Enigma….

By Shorts? And where would the RN find a current float pilot? :confused:

My story covers this and they obtained a crew from retired personnel. I suggest Shorts may still have had the expertise to complete this assignment, don’t forget it was a time of ‘war’ and problems needed to be solved a.s.a.p.

Try this link and story.
http://www.ipmstoronto.com/articles/aircraft/gannet/Index.htm

At the bottom of the article. If it is correct, then it was Shorts that did the one-off mod, but the A/C didn’t quite get to the Falklands. Must have been quite a sight, if it is real….I don’t trust everything I find on the internet.

By Shorts? Doesn’t sound right. Without checking, I can’t think of anything they’d built for water since the 50s.
Why get them to put somebody else’s floats on a Gannet? And where would the RN find a current float pilot? :confused:
I can imagine a conversation but not a conversion.