They Built It Ugly on Purpose, And It Saved Lives

The Fairey Gannet is a carrier-borne aircraft that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed for the Royal Navy, being the first fixed-wing aircraft to combine both the search and strike portions of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations to be operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA).

The Gannet was originally developed to meet a Second World War era requirement for a dual-role ASW and strike aircraft to equip the FAA. It was a mid-wing monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage and a crew of three, with a double turboprop engine driving two counter-rotating propellers. On 19 September 1949, the prototype Gannet performed its maiden flight. Four years later, it was brought into regular service with the FAA. The service would use the type from the majority of its aircraft carriers throughout the Cold War. Various export customers were also secured for the Gannet, including the Royal Australian Navy, the German Navy, and the Indonesian Navy, most of these operating the aircraft exclusively from land bases.

According to aviation historian H. A. Taylor, the origins of what would become the Gannet can be traced back to 1935, when the Fairey Aviation Company started development of the unsuccessful Fairey Prince that used an unusual twin-engine arrangement. Formal design work on the Gannet commenced in response to the issuing of requirement GR.17/45 in 1945, under which the Admiralty sought a new twin-seat aircraft capable of performing both anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and strike missions. Two rival aircraft manufacturers, Fairey and Blackburn Aircraft, opted to produce responses. Fairey's submission was known as the Type Q or Fairey 17, while Blackburn's was the Blackburn B-54 / B-88.

For 18 months, Fairey investigated the use of a single Rolls-Royce Tweed turboprop engine to power their proposed aircraft; however, this option was discontinued to concentrate on other efforts. Instead, Fairey approached the engine manufacturer Armstrong Siddeley to develop a new engine based on the existing Armstrong Siddeley Mamba turboprop: the Double Mamba (also known as the "Twin Mamba"). This engine basically comprised a pair of Mamba engines that were mounted side-by-side and shared a common gearbox. The proposal was enthusiastically accepted and formal design work on the engine started in December 1945.

The acceptance of this proposal enabled Fairey to develop a rather atypical propulsion arrangement for their proposed aircraft, which was normally only possible for a single-engined aircraft. Via the use of a pair of coaxial contra-rotating propellers fitted on the nose of the aircraft, various advantages were presented over conventional twin-engine counterparts; one engine could be shut down and its propellers feathered without producing asymmetry and therefore control difficulties. Shutting down one of the two engines in flight would reduce fuel consumption and extend the aircraft's range.

On 12 August 1946, Fairey was awarded an initial contract to produce two prototypes; Blackburn also received a competing contract to build its own prototypes. One reason for the ordering of multiple prototypes was so that alternative engines, such as the Napier Nomad, could be test flown, although some of these alternatives would never actually be fitted. Another reason was the relatively radical engine arrangement and the high proportion of original design features incorporated into the aircraft.

Deliveries of the Gannet AS.1 formally commenced in April 1954. On 17 January 1955, the 826 NAS became the Royal Navy's first operational Gannet squadron, which promptly embarked on the modernised aircraft carrier HMS Eagle. During its initial at-sea deployment in the Mediterranean, no serious issues were encountered with the Gannet aside from the standard teething issues. Later that same year, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) stood up their first two Gannet squadrons.

During January 1959, Indonesia ordered 18 Gannet AS.4s and T.5s. They received 17 AS.4s (converted from AS.1s) and 2 trainers (also upgraded) for the Indonesian Navy. These were purchased from Fairey via the Ministry of Supply and were re-modelled from existing Gannet AS.1s and T.2s prior to delivery. Several were used as ground-based trainers only. Additional Gannets were later acquired by other countries.

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