| abstract | - In the late 1950s, the Royal Navy operated the piston-engined Douglas Skyraider AEW aircraft off its aircraft carriers. However, the Skyraider was designed during the Second World War. It entered service with the RN in 1951 and was considered obsolete by the late 50s. As a consequence, the RN looked to its then standard anti-submarine aircraft, the Fairey Gannet, as a replacement. The intention was to use the Gannet as a stop-gap measure prior to the acquisition of a new, purpose built system intended to be used on the planned new generation of aircraft carriers. As a consequence, it was intended to undertake as little in the way of modification as possible - the AN/APS-20 radar from the Skyraider would be mounted in a radome under the fuselage of an ordinary Gannet AS.1, with the associated electronics and space for two operators inside. However, the size of the radome meant that the existing airframe was too close to the ground to accommodate the radar, and so a significant modification to the fuselage was required. This involved removing the observer's cockpits and creating a new cabin within the fuselage; this was accessed via a pair of hatches next to the trailing edge of the wing, which also meant that the exhausts had to be moved from this position to the leading edge; increasing the total area of the vertical stabiliser to compensate for the instability caused by the radome; and extending the length of the undercarriage to increase the clearance for the radome, which consequently increased the aircraft's overall height by , and gave the aircraft a more level stance than the anti-submarine version. The prototype Gannet AEW.3 first flew in August 1958, with carrier trials taking place using HMS Centaur in November, and the first production aircraft delivered in December. By August 1959, 700G Naval Air Squadron was formed as the Trials Unit for the new Gannet. This unit put the aircraft through an intensive test programme to make it ready for operation service, a process that lasted until January 1960, at which point the unit was renamed as 'A' Flight of 849 Naval Air Squadron. 849A Flight was then declared operational and was embarked for the first time in HMS Ark Royal. A total of 44 Gannets were ordered for the Royal Navy to replace the Skyraider. The Gannet AEW.3 was operated throughout its service by 849 NAS, which formed a total of four operational flights (A-D), each containing four AEW aircraft with a Gannet COD.4 for ship to shore communications. These flights were regularly deployed from the large aircraft carriers then in service with the Royal Navy. Additionally, it was intended that the Gannet would initially be deployed from the planned CVA-01 aircraft carrier, until the entry into service of a purpose built AEW aircraft. However, in the mid 1960s the British government brought in a series of defence cuts that led to the new carriers and their AEW aircraft being cancelled, and the phased withdrawal of fixed wing aviation in the Royal Navy. 849C Flight was disbanded in 1966 following the reduction of the carrier fleet to four ships (Ark Royal, Eagle, Hermes and Victorious). Subsequent carrier withdrawals led to the disbanding of 'A' Flight in 1970 and 'D' Flight in 1972. The final operational Gannets were operated by 'B' Flight aboard Ark Royal following that ship's major refit and recommissioning in 1970. The Gannet continued in service until the final decommissioning of Ark Royal in 1978 - a Gannet of 849B Flight was the last aircraft to be recovered by the ship on Saturday 18 November 1978. The withdrawal of Ark Royal meant that there was no longer a platform available in the Royal Navy to operate the Gannet, and hence 849 Naval Air Squadron was disbanded in December 1978, leaving the Royal Navy without embedded airborne early warning.
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