Live Stream BROADCAST! The FAIREY GANNET, March 23 at 6pm CST / 7pm EST

The Fairey Gannet was a dedicated anti-submarine platform primarily serving the Fleet Air Arm of the British Royal Navy during the Cold War years. She was an aircraft design originating from a 1945 British Admiralty initiative (GR.17/45) requiring an advanced, carrier-based, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platform. Both Fairey Aviation Company and Blackburn Aircraft responded with prototypes "Fairey 17" and "B-54" respectively. Both were of outwardly similar design, sporting conventional monoplane wings, stout reinforced airframes, internal bomb bays and a tricycle undercarriage. The "gannet" name was derived from the species of large seabirds common to the North Atlantic, the southern regions of Africa and the South Pacific (near Australia and New Zealand). Their predatory nature is such that they dive, at speed, upon unsuspecting prey in the water and can continue the chase of said prey while remaining submerged.
General characteristics
Crew: 3
Length: 43 ft 0 in (13.11 m)
Wingspan: 54 ft 4 in (16.56 m)
Height: 13 ft 9 in (4.19 m)
Wing area: 483 sq ft (44.9 m2)
Airfoil: root: NACA 23018; tip: NACA 23010
Empty weight: 15,069 lb (6,835 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 19,600 lb (8,890 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Armstrong Siddeley ASMD.1 Double Mamba coupled turboprop engine, 2,950 shp (2,200 kW) equivalent
Propellers: 8-bladed Rotol contra-rotating propeller
Performance
Maximum speed: 310 mph (500 km/h, 270 kn)
Endurance: 5-6 hours
Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,600 m)
Armament
Up to 2,000 lb of bombs, torpedoes, depth charges and rockets
Avionics
Ekco ASV Mk. 19 radar (ARI 5838)