Fairey Gannet AEW.3

The Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm commissioned the Fairey Gannet, a Double Mamba-powered plane with coaxial contra-rotating propellers, as a carrier-launched strike aircraft.  In 1960, the Gannet was fitted with a large ventral radar array and reclassified AEW.3 (Airborne Early Warning, Type 3) to reflect its new AWACS role.  This three-man propeller plane had a flight range of 700 miles, which was sufficient for this period in the Cold War.  The last Fairey Gannet was retired from 849 Squadron in 1977, a few years before the Falklands War with Argentina, and the lack of adequate aerial reconnaissance cost the British in the early days of that war.  This final Gannet is preserved at the Yorkshire Air Museum at the former RAF Elvington Base, and is on display with its wings folded, as it would appear sitting in the hangar of an aircraft carrier such as HMS Illustrious.