Absolute gold. We always hear about the fantastic Phantoms and Buccs but not the workaday Gannet. Fascinating.

In 1970 I was a 16 year old Junior at fire station RNAS Yeovilton . A Gannet crashed on approach at night . I was part of the fire crew and and retrieved the body’s of the two crew the following day as the fire during the night was too fierce to even approach the wreck. Yes my CPO thought it would be good experience for me to carry out that awful task. Only last year 2022 I discovered through the internet the names and ages of the two Sub /Lt’s who crewed the aircraft , may they rest in peace .

I think perhaps it is the most British looking thing, that I’ve ever seen.

Customer here tells me his brother was radar tech. He saw Gannet takeoff and wing folded. Crew saved. Few weeks later same again, crew lost.

I can't believe that's a real airplane. It looks like a Dr. Seuss cartoon.

In 1962 to 1963 my father did an exchange tour with the Royal Navy out of RNAS Caldrose flying the Gannet. He also flew off Ark Royal. One of the Gannets he flew is now at RAF Duxford. He confirmed this against his flight logs. The stories from his time there were great! Thanks for the video.

I had the pleasure of exploring the Gannet on the Ark Royal in 1965 on an open day in Singapore! My Father was in the RAF Transport Command at the time. For an eight year old it was an amazing experience! Love this channel, keep up the good work.

I was born and brought up in Elgin, where the roar of warming up jets in the still morning air could be heard from RNAS Lossiemouth a mere 5 miles distant and was a frequent alarm call. The highlight of the year was always the annual Air Day when it was possible for the public to get up close to those noisy birds that gave us a very unusual dawn chorus. Of all the fantatic displays, which included so many iconic aircraft including the Spitfire, Lightning and Vulcan, the most memorable for me was undoubtedly the ugly, slow Fairey Gannet, and for a very good reason. We had been treated to several exciting fly pasts from some very exotic beasts with their glowing afterburners, then along came the ugly Gannet, skimming the deck with one engine shut down, it dropped altitude and in a fraction of a second it's bulbous radome made contact with the grass and disintegrated in an enormous flurry of debris not 50 yards in front of us. The plane continued flying and landed safely, with no injury to the crowd save being given a taste of fear and adrenaline! This unscripted display was followed by a clear up of debris and confiscation of cameras!

Very much enjoy this video, since the Gannet always had a special place in my heart. Though no doubt ungainly, it was an engineering marvel. And Trevor is a splendid narrator.

Trevor reminds me of the pilots i met during my RAF service from the last of the Shack & lightning jockeys to the old V bomber boys, quietly confident , but braced with steel , a great interview 👍

Finally a pilot that can admit his aircraft is not a looker haha

I remember seeing Gannets at RNAS Brawdy in the late 1960's. I personally loved it.

I was on the Ark Royal from 1975 - 1977 of all the aircraft on there I thought the Gannet was the most graceful, I loved watching them take off and land, I was a stoker and took every opportunity to watch them flying.

I was brought up in Prestwick with the RN HMS Gannet helicopter base with a Gannet as gate guard.

Today we will be interviewing a Gannet pilot ....... WHAT !!! Had to look it up to make sure .... yep that's that thing that flies I remember seeing a pic of . Less airplane more thing that produces flight . Haha Great one , I never thought I'd see a pilot interview on that aircraft . That generation of pilot's sure have interesting stories . Playing loose rules during the Cold War .

Excellent! Thank you both. Rich.

I remember these planes at RN Brawdy in the ‘60s. I was only a kid but still remember the noise they made.

Sounds like Trevor's bunk was set up to practice to climbing into his Gannet 🙂

Thanks for adding map of lossie mouth. More mapping if it's an easy add. That said I mostly listen and don't traditionally watch. So it's not a strong preference. Thanks as always Mike 😊

I was on HMS Ark Royal at the same during the filming of the 'sailor' documentary. [I was in the Royal Marines Band on board] always loved being up on the goofing deck watching the flying, but it seemed that after watching the Phantoms and Buccaneer jets landing, the Gannet almost looked very sedate on its approach and trying to catch the ship!

Very interesting interview, can't have been too many RAF QFI's on the Gannet!!

The Gannet. Queen of The Sky. Looks aren’t everything. If we’d have the Ark with her Bucks, Phantoms and Gannet AEWs in 1982 a lot of sailors would still be alive today. HMG can be VERY stupid at times and then things tend not to end well. Great show and very interesting . As an ex Fleet Air Arm Museum employee I find all this fascinating . I always felt the AEW Gannet was an ugly duckling but a brilliant aircraft. Well done 👍👍

Brilliant, and an aircraft we don’t hear enough about!

When our guest commented on the adaptation of the aircraft from anti sub to air intel, I had to imagine it would have been quite adept and even graceful shooting down flying submarines.😂 Great stories, great service from great fellows.

Fantastic clip ,thanks for sharing I was an Raf engineer in the 80s at Lossiemouth on the Shackleton

The flying porcupine, good choice Sir! - Thank you for your service.

It's a beautiful and unique aircraft! Thank you Trevor.

Good story Trevor, I enjoyed listening to it

Great video. Kermit Weeks has a Sunderland in the USA and, l think it may be airworthy. Trevor might speak to him.

Excellent! Such a wide variety of acct this gentleman flew. Would enjoy hearing more from him.

Badly missed during the Falklands War in it's AEW role. If these had been flying a CAP the UK's losses would have dropped to near zero!

Great video.

Saw one at Oshkosh a few years ago. Beautiful aircraft!

What a great interview again !

Great interview thanks.

OMG Bill Covington in that banned phot ...ex CO 801 Captain OSPREY and Rear Admiral....what a gent cheers Trevor 😊

I got the feeling he expected more reaction to his tale of the Russian trawler!

The Fairey Gannet was sure a powerful aircraft built to do a particular job. I'm sure it is efficient, but I wouldn't give any points in the looks department. If the P-51D and Spitfires were Ferraris, then the Gannet is like a lorry.

Wasn't the Gannet the last propeller driven RN carrier aircraft? Regardless of how the propellers were driven. The gas turbines mostly gave shaft power to the propellers, not jet power out the exhaust.

Nice .. resembles the French Alize

No offence but it sounds like listening to a train spotter Fabulous. Love the Gannet.

G'day, Great stuff...! One point of contention though, the comment regarding, "Climbing up to, and entering the Cockpit of this Aeroplane is very difficult...; and in the writer's opinion - it should perhaps be made impossible..." is generally attributed, by all other sources previously personally encountered, not to Peter Twiss referring to the Gannet (unless he was at the time knowingly quoting...?) ; but rather to the sainted Eric, of the "Winkle" Brown variety, opining upon the Fairey Baracuda - which was in comparison with the later Gannet, a Truly VILE Hairygoplane...., in which to attempt to ascend into the Heavens, therewithin to pursue and chastise the Designated Enemies (Any Me's ?)...., of His Britannic Majesty, The King of England, his Heirs & Successors, and duly appointed Minions...(!). In point of fact..., the Gannet was what Fairey finished up with, after fixing everything which was wrong with the Barracuda, and installing Twin Mambas feeding the two halves of the Contra-Rotating Propeller... Basically, the Barracuda was ugly and slow and fragile and useless, and Brown had very excellent reasons for suggesting it have it's Cockpit spot-welded shut...; but by contrast, Twiss would have had good reasons to pillory the Gannet over it's appearance - but it ONLY Looks Wrong, if it doesn't WORK..., and the Gannet actually did work as designed. So, methinketh that Eric Brown probably said it first, about the Barracuda..., whereas this bloke has somehow got his stories garbled...; I'm pretty sure Brown recounts his quip about the Barracuda in one or more of the many videoed Interviews he made in the decade prior to his death. Just(ifiably ?) sayin', Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !

DDLS ! A bastard at lossie , which had a Gannet as gate guardian.

Thanks for that, can you tell me the years that this covers?

They should really do their research before hand. To not know that the Gannet had a unique turboprop arrangement was not a good look.

Did you ever do airshows on the boat? The royal navy has joined the chat

Flying the Gannet seems similar to flying a bumblebee.

Always seems odd to refer to the Gannet as a twin engined aircradt!

Why the FAA did not exercices with the Aeronavale often ?

0:52

Trevor was an RAF pilot. The Fleet Air Arm had been drastically reduced and naval pilots were no longer being recruited. The run down of the once great FAA. Very sad, in fact tragic. The RAF set out to shut down the FAA to keep themselves going. It probably cost the lives of all those lost in the Falklands. The RAF pilots were completely unsuited to life on a carrier, same as being repeated today with the QE class. You don't join the RAF to be a sailor. With no disrespect to him, Trevor's comments say it all. He would have been an excellent Shackleton pilot (twice the crew, same radar) and land based. The RAF stopped him going to the E2 to stop it being chosen above the AEW Nimrod. The RN had no training school because the RAF shut it down. It was part of the inspiration for TopGun. Trevor is sadly consciously or otherwise trying to re write history.

👍🏻…looks like a pregnant guppy

Gannets? Well, I don't like them...they wet their nests.

On the Ark we had RN & RAF aircrew ... I never ever saw any US or Aussie aircrew at all on the Ark in my 6/7 years on the flight deck ... the only time we has any US aircrew was during cross opps & they brought thier own aircraft with them & @15:10 He Is Talking Complete and UTTER RUBBISH ... the Ship steaming out of wind for the Gannet ... Total TOSH !!!

You may have good videos but will not sit through ads and begging for money before I see what video is about goodbye

I very much appreciate the content of the videos, but the musical intro is atrocious.

Excellent interview, very interesting. The Gannet was one of my first plastic models in the 60s. It was also first introduced the year I was born.