(Image: Gav Troon; abandoned Fairey Gannet XG882 at the former RAF Errol)
They say that cats have nine lives, but there’s no mention of the number afforded to gannets. However, Fairey Gannet T.5 XG882 has surely used up most of hers by now. Forlorn and neglected, the abandoned Royal Navy aircraft was used for fire training duties after being retired from service in 1976. She was saved six years later, but today stands all but derelict.
(Image: Gav Troon)
XG882 was built in 1956 and served with the Fleet Air Arm at RNAS Culdrose from 1959, before passing to No. 849 Naval Air Squadron. Though 882 was a trainer, equipped with three cockpits, her new unit specialised in airborne early warning, operating a fleet of propeller-driven Fairey Gannet AEW.3 aircraft from the now-scrapped Royal Navy aircraft carriers HMS Eagle, Ark Royal, Centaur, Hermes and Victorious.
(Image: Gav Troon)
Several years of service were followed by a major overhaul and a stint at RNAS Lossiemouth, Moray, still on the books of 849. XG882 finally flew her last in 1976. No. 849 Naval Air Squadron was disbanded two years later, though was destined to reform again and today operates a number of Sea King ASaC.7 helicopters in the same early warning role.
(Image: Gav Troon)
For Fairey Gannet XG882, however, the future looked bleak. Many crash rescue training and even battle damage repair (BDR) airframes have been saved over the years. But for those that end up on fire dumps, the chances of survival are small. Surprisingly, though, XG882 did survive, having been rescued from the fire pits and rebuilt with the help of a couple of donor aircraft.
(Image: Gav Troon)
Thunder and Lightnings reports that the Gannet was “brought back from the dead in 1982 by being combined with bits of XA463 and XG889 to produce a complete example.” But the website also writes that: “Sadly the years since have not been kind to her and she now looks to be thoroughly derelict. Missing a prop, the starboard aileron is hanging down, many panels are missing and the cockpits have been smashed and open to the elements for years…”
(Image: Gav Troon)
The corroding hulk of Fairey Gannet XG882 now occupies an overgrown hard standing on the windswept flatland of the former RAF Errol, an abandoned World War Two station in Perth & Kinross. Nearby, the expansive wartime runways lie generally silent, though a small stretch is reportedly used by light aircraft, while the technical site houses local businesses.
(Image: Gav Troon)
Situated on the Firth of Tay between Dundee and Perth, RAF Errol opened in early 1943 as the home of No. 305 Ferry Training Unit, tasked with familiarising Soviet crews with the Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle transport plane. Like many short-lived wartime airfields, Errol closed in 1948. Today, many of its wartime buildings – including the control tower – are derelict shells.
(Image: Gav Troon)
Haunting the west side of the abandoned airfield, the rotting Gannet is immediately at one with its surroundings. Both decaying monument to the UK’s many historic airfields and forgotten symbol of the British Royal Navy’s (temporarily) withdrawn fixed-wing aircraft fleet, the empty hulk, its canopies smashed and propeller lying alongside, cuts a sorry form on the landscape.
(Image: Gav Troon)
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