Fairey Gannet AEW.3

Sword, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Summary

The Fairey Gannet AEW.3 was a variant of the Fairey Gannet anti-submarine warfare aircraft intended to be used in the airborne early warning (AEW) role on aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy.

It was introduced to service in 1959 to replace the obsolete Douglas Skyraider, and was intended as an interim solution until the planned introduction of a new, purpose built AEW platform for use on the planned CVA-01 aircraft carriers.

Neither the new aircraft carriers nor the new AEW aircraft were proceeded with, and the Gannet AEW.3 remained in service until the last aircraft carrier that could operate it was retired in 1978.

The Fairey Gannet AEW.3

The Royal Navy developed its airborne early warning tactics in the Skyraider, and then evolved them with the increased capabilities of the Gannet, which had observers trained to interpret the information coming in from the onboard radar. They could use it to control the combat air patrol to intercept incoming strike aircraft, or alternatively direct its own aircraft to strike and attack a target.

However, due to the quality of the equipment, the Gannet had limited command and control capability, built as it was around the AN/APS-20 S-Band search radar and AN/APX-7 IFF set, connected to the AN/ART-28 Bellhop datalink. The datalink would transmit the information received through the Gannet's onboard systems to the operations room on the aircraft carrier (or whichever ship was charged with directing the Gannet's operations), which would then act accordingly to any threat presented. However, the Gannet had no onboard computer or processing equipment (unlike the contemporary E-2B Hawkeye), which meant that the observers had to interpret the raw radar signal.

The Gannet had a three-person crew, consisting of the pilot, located in the cockpit at the front of the aircraft, and a pair of observers in the cabin in the fuselage, accessible via a hatch next to the trailing edge of the wing. The aircraft had a typical endurance of 5–6 hours and a maximum altitude of 25,000 ft (7,600 m). The Gannet tended to cruise on just one engine of the Double Mamba powerplant; alternating between the two engines every half an hour.

The sole operational Gannet squadron, 849 NAS had over the course of its time operating the aircraft a total of four operational flights plus the HQ flight. The HQ flight was stationed at three Fleet Air Arm air stations over the period of Gannet operation, while the majority of the operational flights were assigned to more than one aircraft carrier over the course of the Fleet Air Arm's use of the aircraft, with five RN carriers operating Gannet AEW flights

Sword is a limited-run model company from the Czech Republic that mainly focuses on 1/72 scale kits, although their 1/48 scale range is growing.

Their latest new-tool release is a 1/48 scale Fairey Gannet AEW.3.

There have been a number of Fairey Gannet kits in various media over the last three decades or so. Dynavector released a vacform and white metal Gannet AS.1 in the last century, Classic Airframes offered a limited run Gannet AS.1 in 2007 with a re-issue in 2015 and Airfix brought us their superb Gannet AS.1 / AS.4 in 2023.

This, however, is the first time we have seen a Gannet AEW.3 in 1/48 scale.

Sword's 1/48 scale Fairey Gannet AEW.3 comprises 178 parts in grey plastic, six parts in clear, 19 photo-etched parts, canopy and painting masks and decals for two marking options.

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Thumbnail panels:

The parts are moulded onto four grey plastic and one clear plastic sprues with reasonably fine attachment points.

The fuselage is moulded as full length including the nose and tail, split into port and starboard halves. The bulging distinctive radome is also moulded to the fuselage halves.

Locating pins and holes are not included.

Surface textures are a combination of raised and recessed panel lines, ribs and hatches.

Interior detail is quite comprehensive with a 12 parts pilot's cockpit and the mid-fuselage crew cabin made up from a whopping 47 parts.

Structural detail for the cockpit and cabin is moulded onto the inside of the fuselage halves.

Sword supplies a photo-etched fret with three harness straps and a windscreen wiper - nice touch.

The instrument panel is a simple single plastic part with raised bezels and switches. It would have been nice to have an overlay decal with instrument dial detail but you're on your own here.

The contra rotating propeller is split into front and rear sections for the blades and the spinner so they may be posed to taste.

Wings are broken down as full span lower and separate upper halves.

Wheel well ceiling detail is moulded onto the inside of the upper wing halves. Separate parts are supplied for the walls of the wheel wells.

The wings will butt up against a recessed outline on each fuselage side. There are two partly flashed over vertical slots inside this outline. They look like locations for wing spars but they are not referenced in the instructions.

All conrol surfaces are moulded in neutral positions.

There are a few raised ejector pin circles that look will interfere with fit of the tail planes, so you'll need to clean these up prior to assembly.

The clear parts are acceptably thin. The mid-fuselage hatches are moulded as separate clear parts. It looks like you should be able to pose these open to show off some of that nice cabin detail if you wish.

Sword has included a comprensive die-cut self-adhesive masking set that provides painting masks for the canopy and hatches as well as the spinner stripes. These will make a tricky task much more manageable.

Markings are provided for two options.

The decals are printed by Techmod and appear to be well saturated and in good register.

Sword's kits are limited run but the quality of moulding, the level of detail and the finesse of surface textures would challenge some mainstream injection moulding model companies.

Sword's 1/48 scale Gannet AEW.3 is a very nice limited run kit. Take your time with parts cleanup and alignment and you will have an impressive result

Thanks to Classic Airframes and Hannants for the sample

Text and Images Copyright © 2024 by Brett Green
Page Created 11 October, 2024
Last updated 11 October, 2024

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