Great news! 5 Feb 2020! The Gannet has a new home!
After many years wherein the initial plan of its owners to turn XA-459 into a gate guardian met ever defeating set back, the aircraft had become ever closer to the point of no return even as scrap. I was looking at it just a few days ago and feeling beyond despondent - for quite some time now, even its spare dual mamba sat bare exposed to the elements in the long grass having lost its place in a hangar, presumably because space is money.
Tonight the Gannet and its spare engine(s?) was aboard a low loader for a UK museum. A place of restoration, a place in the dry, a place where it will be loved, a place where young people will look on it in wonder and have the joy we knew as kids full of the imagery of sleek and swift elegant craft to go - "Bloody hell did that get smacked by the ugly stick or what!?...but that is exactly why we love it!A super capable aircraft of immense character.
After many years wherein the initial plan of its owners to turn XA-459 into a gate guardian met ever defeating set back, the aircraft had become ever closer to the point of no return even as scrap. I was looking at it just a few days ago and feeling beyond despondent - for quite some time now, even its spare dual mamba sat bare exposed to the elements in the long grass having lost its place in a hangar, presumably because space is money.
Tonight the Gannet and its spare engine(s?) was aboard a low loader for a UK museum. A place of restoration, a place in the dry, a place where it will be loved, a place where young people will look on it in wonder and have the joy we knew as kids full of the imagery of sleek and swift elegant craft to go - "Bloody hell did that get smacked by the ugly stick or what!?...but that is exactly why we love it!A super capable aircraft of immense character.