Originally Posted by
SimonCraig1
good guess again but not correct here's another clue.
I'm looking for an Airplane:
1. Twin engine.
2. Two distinct variants were built and other variants were modifications to the original airframe after it was retired from it's primary role.
3. It used turbo-props for thrust.
4. The standard version had a crew of three.
5. It served with four nations including the nation of origin.
6. Changing the design from the prototype to include the third crew member resulted in a disturbed air flow over the horizontal stabilizer which was counteracted by fitting small 'finlets' on either side of the vertical stabilizer.
"Finlets"? That sounds like the Fairey Gannet. Thanks; Ernie P.
The Fairey Gannet was a Britishcarrier-borne aircraftof the post-SecondWorld War era developed for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) bythe FaireyAviation Company. It was a mid-wing monoplane with a tricycle undercarriageand a crew of three, and a double turboprop enginedriving two contra-rotatingpropellers.
The Gannet was originallydeveloped to meet the FAA's dual-role anti-submarinewarfare and strike requirement. Itwas later adapted for operations as an electroniccountermeasures and carrieronboard delivery aircraft. The GannetAEW was a variant of the aircraft developed as acarrier-based airborneearly warning platform.
The Gannet was built in responseto the 1945 Admiralty requirementGR.17/45, for which prototypes byFairey (Type Q or Fairey 17, after the requirement) and BlackburnAircraft (the Blackburn B-54 / B-88)were built.
After considering and discountingthe Rolls-Royce Tweed[SUP]
[3][/SUP]
turboprop, Fairey selected an enginebased on the ArmstrongSiddeley Mamba: the DoubleMamba (or "Twin Mamba"), basically two Mambasmounted side-by-side and coupled through a common gearboxto coaxial contra-rotating propellers. Power was transmitted from each engineby a torsion shaft which was engaged through a series of sun, planet, epicyclicand spur gears to give a suitable reduction ratio and correct propeller-shaftrotation.
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Ernie/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg[/IMG]
Newly assembledGannet AS.4 at ManchesterAirport, June 1956
The ASMD.1 engine(2,950 hp/2,200 kW) was used in the Gannet AS.1; ASMD.3(3,145 hp/2,345 kW) in the AS.4; and ASMD.4(3,875 hp/2,889 kW) in the AEW.3 variant. The Double Mamba enginecould be run with one Mamba stopped to conserve fuel and extend endurance forcruise flight. The contra-rotating propellers meant that when only half of theDouble Mamba was running there were no thrust asymmetry problems.[SUP]
[6][/SUP]
The Mamba exhausts were situated on eachside of the fuselage, at the rootof the wing trailingedge. The gas-turbine engine could run on kerosene,"wide-cut" turbine fuel or diesel fuel, allowingthe Admiralty to eliminate the dangerous high-octane petroleum spirit required to operatepiston-engined aircraft from carriers.[SUP]
[6][/SUP]
In 1958 the Gannet was selectedto replace the DouglasSkyraider in the AEWrole. In order to accommodate the systems required, the Gannet underwent asignificant redesign that saw a new version of the DoubleMamba installed, new radome mounted under the aircraft, the tailfin increasedin area, the undercarriage lengthened and the weapons bay removed. A total of44 aircraft (plus a single prototype) of the AEW.3 version were produced.