Wanted-Information About Electrconics Suite Aboard Shackleton AEW.2&Gannet AEW.3

W-E-L-L D-O-N-E!!!! 😀 I will wait for more replies, but since now your valuable help is logged!

The Gannet AEW.3 radars were new AN APS20 (F ?) and didn’t use radar sets removed from Douglas Skyraider AEW.1s (Another British service type you may wish to look at) or Avengers.
I believe most modules were the same as used in the Shackleton, I used to have manuals covering the Gannet and the AN APS20, but sadly not any more.
I will dig out any more info I have.

One thing I have never got to the bottom of, it is usualy stated that the Shackleton AEW.2s actually used ex Gannet radar sets. Does anyone here know if that is exactly true?
The reason I ask the question is that it would have required the withdrawing of 12 prescious Gannets from the RN in the late ’60s, they were much needed at the time, especially due to the previous and projected loss rate of the type in service.

Hello ZUYEV.

Avionics is a cover-all heading that includes communication, navigation and mission systems. Please exclude what is not relevant to your needs. It has been a few years, and therefore this list is probably not accurate due to the passage of time. Others here will be able to assist, but here goes:

Avro Shackleton AEWII
Air Radio:
Qty 2 HF (can’t remember model number) Very usefull for listening to the BBC World Service when not talking to Architect.
Qty 2 V/UHF (Initially both PTR175, laterly Qty 1 PTR 175, Qty 1 PTR 1751)
Qty 2 UHF (PTR 175??)
Someone will put me right on this.

Station Boxes fitted at all crew stations. The available selections varied depending on the particular crew station

Navigation:
ADF (Automatic Direction Finding) I can’t remember model number. Very useful for listening to Radio 1 until 1900Z, and Radio Luxemberg after 1900Z. Receiving stations for the Captain and Navigator only with the controller above the Captains position.
LORAN (Long Range Navigation)
TACAN (Tactical Navigation?? a military version of VOR/DME)
GPI 4 C (Ground Position Indicator) An early version of moving map, with the aircraft symbol moving over the pinned down chart.
Remote Compass Indicators (Navigators being the master, with repeaters for the Captain and Co-Pilot)
RadAlt (Radio Altimeter)
ILS (Instrument Landing System)
RT Homers (Radio Transmission Homers, able to accurately locate Emergency Homing beacons)
Sextant Carried in the rear of the aircraft and used through the astrodome above the Navigators seat for star plotting.
Drift Indicator A visual look-down device mounted on the starboard side of the aircraft behind the Navigators seat.

Mission Systems:
AN/APS 20 Airborne Radar of 1940’s vintage, with scanner mounted below radar tray in the front ten-foot bomb bay area, feeding to three monitors in mid-fuselage area. The radome housing the scanner was the most visually obvious aspect of the mission equipment. The waveguide connecting the scanner to the tray had a conductive gasket fitted at the connection point, and was allegedly priced at over £600 in the early 1980’s. The tray incorporated the equipment for the running and powering of the radar system. Fitted to the tray was the largest magnatron I have ever seen, and was not good for watches or heart pacemakers. Magnatron? Remember, the AN/APS 20 was a MICROWAVE radar. Cooling of the tray systems included engine glycol (AL 3) and PCB’s (polychlorinated bi-phenols). The electrical power supply for the radar system was primarily from two engine-mounted alternators (No1 and No2 engines) with an invertor (No 9) as a backup in the event of an alternator failure.
AMTI (reduced surface clutter)
APX7 (IFF identifier). In latter years, this pair of boxes were removed from the tray and two pairs were mounted in the nose of the aircraft allowing the ‘Scopies’ to change boxes in mid-mission.
ESM (told you the direction ‘opposing’ signals were coming from) The second most visual aspect of the mission equipment fitted, mounted on the fuselage roof and resembled a huge spark plug.

The displayed imagery on the seven inch monitors was raw radar. No computer enhancement whatsoever. It is very easy to understand why the ‘Scopies’ would appear completely drained, physically and emotionally, following a fourteen to eighteen hour sortie wrapped up in their ‘tents’, as their curtained off stations were known.

Unfortunately, I can’t remember what other mission equipment was installed. Sorry.

The Gannet AEW3 utilised the AN/APS 20 radar previously installed on the Grumman Avenger AEW. The Gannet had two radar stations mounted in the rear fuselage facing forward. When this system was retrofitted to the Shackleton MRII’s to form the Shackleton AEWII, a third radar station was added, all three facing sideways to port, two of the stations forward of the rear spar and one aft.

Hope this is of some help.

camlobe