The Ugliest Warplane of All Time that Shocked Everyone
Автокөліктер мен көлік құралдары
🔒Remove your personal information from the web at www.joindeleteme.com/DARKSKIES and use code DARKSKIES for 20% off 🙌 DeleteMe international Plans: international.joindeleteme.com
When a mysterious unidentified contact flying at 3,000 feet appeared off the windswept coast of Cold War Britain, an American fighter pilot on exercise with his Royal Navy counterparts was sent to investigate. As he caught up with the enigmatic aircraft, his controller’s voice came crackling over the radio to ask what he had found. The pilot’s jaw dropped as he surveyed the strange contraption by his side, unsure quite how to answer.
It certainly was an odd spectacle: one engine idly shut off, a jet pipe protruding from the side like an octopus’s funnel, unusual wings, counter-rotating propellers, a dizzying yellow and black spinner, and a colossal mushroom cap of a radome. The man operating this bizarre machine was no less outlandish, an enormous bearded giant in an old-fashioned leather flying helmet, apparently oblivious to his surroundings as he casually read a book without a care in the world.
Barely able to believe his eyes, the American pilot stuttered his response to the controller, the conclusion obvious: he must be flying alongside God himself.
Of course, this peculiar aircraft was not a divine vessel but an oddball British carrier-borne warplane, the Fairey Gannet. A pioneering post-World War 2 experiment to provide the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm with a dedicated anti-submarine aircraft for the first time, its unconventional design would often find it a contender for the ugliest warplane of all time.
---
Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between.
As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible.
All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.
Пікірлер: 324
🔒Remove your personal information from the web at joindeleteme.com/DARKSKIES and use code DARKSKIES for 20% off 🙌 DeleteMe international Plans: international.joindeleteme.com
@billt6116
14 күн бұрын
Transformers... too much stuff to fry.....
@CosRacecar
13 күн бұрын
Comparing the threat of nuclear armageddon to being marketed to seems a bit over the top...
@karlvongazenberg8398
13 күн бұрын
Have you heard about The Late Day Biplane? Let me introduce you to the Church of the Blackburn Blackburn before your follow false ugliness :)
I guess I have a different idea of what's ugly. I seem to love every "ugly" plane.
@christopherosborn7081
14 күн бұрын
I think its pretty cool looking.
@raikitsune
14 күн бұрын
I think ugly isn’t the right word for her same as the buccaneer. Maybe Brutish or harsh would be more suitable.
@zer0bre
14 күн бұрын
Some of us like the more unconventional looking things. I'm the same way regarding cars, trucks, tanks and even my model kits.
@pastorclay82
14 күн бұрын
A-6, S-3, and F-111, my personal favorites.
@richardmabry870
13 күн бұрын
I agree, it’s a gorgeous little bird!
Not ugly for me! The Gannet was one of the most loveably unique, marvellously interesting, and beautiful aeroplanes ever built!
@alisdairmclean8605
11 күн бұрын
Yes, it has a certain style of its own.
@tommypaget2294
8 күн бұрын
It’s a very, very safe and reliable, and practice naval aircraft.
The Fairey Gannet might have been odd- looking but look at all the specifications it had to fulfil from the start, and how well it was modified throughout it's service from 1949 to 1978. By any standards of British make-do and mend, that's impressive. It's got so many complexities, the double Mamba engine, a masterpiece. The double-folding wings, the retractible dustbin radome, I mean, what's not to love? And it flies off a ship too! A proper sea bird. Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum have one. It's a big beast, hope one day they can park it indoors.
@GregoryP-jw8qj
14 күн бұрын
Really? They have their example of this plane sitting out in the elements? Sacrilege!!
@hillarysemails1615
14 күн бұрын
I'm jealous that we don't have some Plywood mockups of it here in USA. I'd love copies in Houston, Chicago and somewhere on the East Coast.
@TheArgieH
10 күн бұрын
@@GregoryP-jw8qjThere's another green one parked outside the Berkshire Museum of Aviation. I think it looks like a T4. The wings are folded. A pragmatic piece of kit, in order for a pilot in the middle cockpit to see Fwd there is a large mirror at 45 degrees above the pilot.
@davecooper3238
9 күн бұрын
Dumfries also have a Double Mamber which is indoors along with other engines.
@budisutanto5987
4 күн бұрын
@@GregoryP-jw8qjYou'd be surprised, it's well made(sea contain salt, rainwater - easy). It's in place of honour, at entrance of airforce base at Surabaya city, Indonesia.
“Give a brit a piece of metal, and he’ll do something silly with it.” Porsche owner before I had him fir breakfast in a a lotus Super 7
@grahambambrook313
12 күн бұрын
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Colin Anthony Bruce Chapman was certainly an innvovative soul!🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’ve got to say that I’m a proud American Patriot. But I sure am glad the British are our friends. Some of their ideas may seem strange, but they sometimes come up with a real winner! God Save the King!
@horusfalcon
13 күн бұрын
Well said. Thanks!
@alanwilson4860
11 күн бұрын
Thank you. Lots of videos make fun of British kit but nobody's laughing when there on the end of it.
@ironsam2381
6 күн бұрын
the strongest alliance on earth forged in the blood of our ancestors
@CraigWelsh-lm3wg
5 күн бұрын
Nice one, mate, well said!
@Istandby666
Күн бұрын
A nothingness can't save anything.
The Gannet may not have had the looks, but it certainly had the moves. It was the British equivalent of the Skyraider.
Ugly? I find it beautiful. It's one of my favourite aircraft.
@Southwest_923WR
14 күн бұрын
I,ve always called it " different" looking, but never ugly. I like its uniqueness!👍🏿
@user-yi6nb9sj9i
14 күн бұрын
I'm inclined to agree with you .
@probableflaws3597
13 күн бұрын
Why is it beautiful exactly? The warthog is one of my favorite planes but I wouldn’t call it “beautiful”
@NikChristo
13 күн бұрын
Actually it is so ugly that one could say it's gorgeous!!!
@robwernet9609
12 күн бұрын
I wpuldnt go so far as to describe the Gannett as beautiful...although beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It's definitely fascinating and cool looking.
FYI: a gannet is a seabird found on the coast of Britain and other places. It is also rather ugly, but it has a spectacular feeding strategy of crash-diving from a great height and plunging into the water to catch fish. Rather like a depth-charge, in fact, which I would guess is why it got its name applied to an anti-submarine aircraft.
@Tinker1950
14 күн бұрын
Most of us are very aware of what a Gannet is.
@geronimo5537
12 күн бұрын
As someone who does not live anywhere near any coasts. This was interesting to read. A fitting name for both birds.
@zh84
12 күн бұрын
@@geronimo5537 Thank you!
@robinac6897
11 күн бұрын
Did you know it has evolved shock absorbers in its head and neck as it can hit the water at up to 60 mph.
@reluctantheist5224
4 күн бұрын
Yes, I think this was for those who didn't.@@Tinker1950
Cheers Dark Skies. The Gannet is just such a brilliant, quirky design. One of my favourite aeroplanes.
I loved the Gannet, I was there as a Corporal in the RAF at Lossiemouth to oversee the final indignity of the last of B Flight 849 Sqdn Royal Navy. The Aircraft were taken over to an empty area of the airfield & cut up & smelted on sight into ingots for transport to the Scrap company. It was heartbreaking.
Never underestimate ugly but effective.
An ingenious aircraft from the glory days of UK aviation.
I have spoken with Argentine pilots who participated in the conflict of '82 and they are grateful that the Royal Navy did not have Phantons or Gannets. I wonder if it would have been a good COIN airplane, in a role similar to the Skyraider (obviously with the respective modifications). Greetings from Argentine Patagonia.
When I was a kid, I assembled a plastic model of this aircraft. I forget the maker, but I see one can buy an Airfix kit for it. I had other models too, like a Handley Page Victor, an Avro Lancaster, Consolidated Catalina, an English Electric Lightning, and a whole lot more !
You fail to mention one of the Gannet’s main attributes. It ran on jet fuel. For safety, the Admiralty wanted to get rid of petrol (gasoline) from all of their carriers. However, like all UK government plans dreamed up by the shiny bottoms and scribblies they forgot on thing. Gannets used Avpin to start. Avpin was a liquid monofuel, ie a liquid explosive. So now armourers were now needed as part of the propulsion maintenance team.
Seams like an aircraft that still should be flying to this date.
It's undeniable the design is a masterstroke of genius!
Definitely an example of “form follows function.”
I worked at HMS Gannet and there was a Gannet aircraft on display at the main gate. I did get the opportunity to sit in it. An ugly duckling it may have been but make no mistake , this was a formidable aircraft, extremely effective in it's purpose. Great video, thanks for showing.
There is one of these down by Minneapolis Minnesota. The lady that owned it bought it and had it shipped ready to fly
I served in the Navy in VP-16, We hosted 4 Gannets in our hanger and when I saw this vid I recalled that time, 45 years back, I am happy to keep the memories, but I do wish there was less physical degradations but this is an unfortunate reality. What they did not say is just how slow it can get to when many AC sent up to take it down will stall out to stay behind.
One man’s ugly, is another man’s beautiful
My dad used to work on these in 60s on HMS Hermes and I had the punishment of polishing one of these at HMS DAEDALUS in the 80s it's a very impressive machine.
"Ugly, yet beautiful" - beautiful multi-functional design and features. Could only be a British quirky design ! Gets a thumbs-up from me ! ;) ;)
Even a cursory look through the history of their aircraft, Fairy certainly seemed to have had their fair share of "out there" designers...
Ah, the whispering ghost of the Mozambique coast. I spannered the AEW3 version on 849D flight based on HMS Eagle. It was an utter pig to maintain but a delight to fly, but it was loved by all who worked on it. Primus Video.
An example of this strange bird was at Airventure Oshkosh a few years ago.
I think the Gannet looked cool. As the fleet air arm lacked a replacement they should have kept it around a bit longer
As you have discovered, you diss the Gannet at your peril!
Loved working on it and flying in it after Main Repair Section, HMAS Albatross, Nowra
@ithinkurf
11 күн бұрын
As a kid I used to go the fleet air arm museum at albatross. The gannet was always my favourite aircraft. I eneded up spending 10yrs working on p3s in the RAAF. ASW aircraft have always been the quiet achievers of Australian Military Aviation.
One of these lovely bits of kit is hanging around a museum in Jakarta.
Gannets have feelings too you know, but foreal these things got a cult following and they are badass
The Gannet is one of my favorite war planes of all time.
Not ugly at all but beautiful. Are you mad.
An unusual type, to be sure. Nicely done. I don't find it ugly. It has that order of beauty of certain weapons systems which cannot be truly appreciated until they are in use.
The British have the weirdest design aesthetic in the world. It's hard to believe the country that produced the gorgeous Spitfire, Mosquito, and Vulcan also produced literally everything else they've ever put in the air.
@robinac6897
11 күн бұрын
Unreadable gibberish.
Being able to shut down one of the engines to increase time over target is incredible.
A British airshow commentator (John Blake, very likely) said that it didn't so much fly as repel the ground!
Surely the Douglas Skyraiders disjointed lines come before this? This isn’t ugly, it’s just functional.
There's one in every air museum here in Britain. 😂
@andrewbaker7854
12 күн бұрын
There's one at Duxford, near Cambridge, UK.
@williamhall667
12 күн бұрын
@@andrewbaker7854 one at Newark as well
One of the coolest airplanes I always wanted to fly.
I first saw one of these a few years ago at the Yorkshire Air Museum. I'd never seen it before and thought "wtf is that ugly thing", until I looked it up. I've absolutely loved it ever since.
I like it . Sad to think of them being scraped .
If it works can you truly call it ugly? The Gannett is one of my favorite cold war British airplane.
The French Navy had a similar looking aircraft Bréguet 1050 Alizé.
Ah fond memories of the might Double Mamba.
Looks like a post WW-II version of the cartoon WW-I planes that were trying to get that pigeon with a messenger bag. LoL
Mom said if you have nothing good to say then you shouldn't say anything at all.
@Tinker1950
14 күн бұрын
Was she au fait with the Fairy Gannet then?
@williamroberts1819
13 күн бұрын
@@Tinker1950 yes
@Tinker1950
13 күн бұрын
@@williamroberts1819 I doubt it.
@williamroberts1819
13 күн бұрын
@@Tinker1950 It was a joke.
@Tinker1950
13 күн бұрын
@@williamroberts1819 I see. Then sack-cloth and ashes shall upon my head.
Slight correction, the main reason they were decommissioned by the UK was due to the UK's CATOBAR carriers being decommissioned or converted to STOVL in order to save money. This meant that by the 1980s there were no carriers left in UK service capable of launching them.
There was one of those as the gate guardian at RAF Lossiemouth when I was stationed there in the late eighties and early nineties.
There is one of these in the Navy Fleet Air Arm Museum in Nowra, NSW, Australia
@owenshebbeare2999
9 күн бұрын
Got one fairly near me at Moorabin.
This isn't even close to the ugliest plane of WW2.
@owenshebbeare2999
9 күн бұрын
Well, the Curtis Seamew took some beating when assessing uglies, and didn't even work well. The Fairey Barracuda was odd looking, but worked, Blackburn designs often looked a bit off, and perforned in a manner that best can be described as inconsistent. French designs were often odd, especially the bombers, reflecting inter-war policy.
Correct me if I am wrong but toured the HMAS Melbourne at 10 years of age were these part of the Naval Air Fleet for Australia. Aussie Jeff Moore
They called, at the time of service, the PBY Catalina (my favorite plane), "The Pig Boat". I'm certain that if you were an aviator floating in the middle of the ocean it became the most beautiful bird you ever saw when it came in to pick you up.
I think the aircraft looks kind of cute ❤❤❤❤
A good few years ago there was a Gannet visible in a house garden on the Cirencester by pass, maybe a secret VTOL version.
I see how the wings are folded and all I can think of is the Bangles Walk Like an Egyptian
The Gannet had one supposedly bad point the rear cockpit was a death trap , for crash landings on Aircraft carriers.
@robinac6897
11 күн бұрын
I'm imagining that's because the fuselage would fold and the occupant would be crushed.
Cross decked with the Ark Royal while on the Indy in 1970-71 saw the Gannet and Spey powered F4s
Sometimes how a plane looks doesn't matter as long as it works.
Almost certainly more reliable than the current F-35.
Ugly? No. It has a definite utilitarian beauty, form following function. Much like the P-47 or the Skyraider it replaced.
Fairey Ganett is a "Poke in the eye "
Hardly an "experiment" - a highly successful warplane with a long operational history, and beautiful in the Bulldog mould, rather than the Afghan hound (if that is not to painful a topic) mode favoured by the US.
You know you’ve got a winner when the only downside to your aircraft is its looks 😬👍
Love the one on display at IWM Duxford. When you get up close, it's one imposing slab of metal.
I like unusual planes. This fits that spot 👍
There used to be a Gannet parked outside the front of our local Technical College in North Wales for years. Impressive looking bit of kit for its age.
I've seen one of these at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, Arizona. I thought it was a pretty odd looking aircraft, but I'm a big fan of functionality, so kudos to the design team.
7:22 I was surprised to hear that the Gannet was the first turboprop powered plane to take of and land from a carrier , because I had always thought the westland wyvern was the first. Apparently they were both undergoing testing at the same time, because the wyvern had its first carrier trials 2 days later on June 21, 1950, also on HMS Illustrious!
Great video! Very interesting bird, for sure! What is the song that starts at 7:42? It could be the same song continuing from before, but I love it.
Thank you that was interesting. Are there any examples in museums?
HMS Gannett land base had one at the front gate in Prestwick Scotland was quite a unique aircraft.
I remember working on one of these and how high up the cockpit was.
Some call it ugly, i call it a beauty! So much innovation.. made for his task, not to win the price of useless but wonderful looking plane😃 Love this wonderful piece of technic
I think both the Gannet and the Shackleton are beautiful planes. If i would have to be up against both planes i would respect them since they due to appearance both tell that they mean serious business.
Cool plane looks like a blast to fly
The cockpit bubble looks like it was taken from the Spitfire, and with the wings folded up, the Fairey Swordfish's biplane silhouette springs into view.
Always liked the Gannet although I've only ever seen them in museums unfortunately.
Legendary test pilot Peter twiss worked on the gannets development
I think it’s not that bad looking. It looks in proportion! There used to be one parked up at the entrance to Deeside college. I was always intrigued whenever I drove past not knowing at the time what it was! Nice to see it flying in this video!
Just imagine how different the Falklands conflict would have been if the RN had a real flattop with F-4s flying BARCAP.....
Beautiful unique plane. Saw one in real in Duxford last year.
My great friend and his mate went down the production line of Gannets at White Waltham one Sunday, Door was open so they ventured in side to ask for permission on there return to exit door was locked,escape was made through a very small toilet window. RIP Stuart
Did it replace the Skyraider because it was better than the Skyraider or because the Skyraider was not available? I suspect the latter but would accept being corrected. I saw a Ganett at Pima in Arizona. Jaw dropping remarkable.
I wouldn't call it ugly, exactly, but it's definitely unique! Love the double fold of the wings.
First, I ever heard about this unique plain. Thanks.
@spitfire1962
13 күн бұрын
He didn’t say it was plain, he said it was ugly🤣
@benjaminrush4443
12 күн бұрын
@@spitfire1962 PLANE !
That "shocked everyone" haha really dark skies... really ;)
Got a paper model of this plane off Pinterest. It is really cool. It can be built with the wings set any way, bent however you like.
There are three Gannets on display in Australia at museums in Melbourne, Nowra and the Sunshine Coast.
To me, the Fairey Gannet is a beautiful plane. I simply - love it....
I’ve seen slides of these sods being launched by steam catapult as my father was a midshipman on Eagle. They used to fly off Gannets, Sea Vixens and Bucs. To me the only plane that looked okay, that looked like it could be catapulted off the small (well relatively compared to the big American carriers) was the Buc. The others just looked insanely inflatable but dad said the Gannets could fly forever with one engine shut down and that the Bucs used to buzz Eagle by flying UNDER her flight deck.
It's absolutely fitting for ASW missions...it literally looks like a flying sub
This is the first time ive ever seen this aircraft and I love it! Almost looks like the front end and fat body of a Corsair. I think it's a great looking aircraft with the cockpit in the back. Too bad they got scrapped. Looks like it would be fun to fly.
I do wish you would just put the makes and models on the aircraft in your titles. You can still give the title a flair like you usually do, but I feel like if you had the make and model in the title it’d help your channel be more discoverable in searches on the topic.
@MajorJakas
13 күн бұрын
I honestly debate whether it's worth personally unsubscribing over. The clickbait-themed titles really peeve me.
I live in Cornwall England RNAS Culdrose actually has one of these outside as a statue , for some reason I love it
Not ugly at all. I watched the last one fly at Airventure a few years ago. An interesting and unique aircraft.
Form follows function, as such Gannet unique looks were driven by a specific mission(s). One thing is sure, if a cat n trap HMS carrier had still been commission in 1982, few, if any, ships would have been lost in the Falklands war to air attack being detected by AEW3 versions. That alone makes that Gannet a stunner of an aircraft.
I don't think the Blackburn Skua ever quite lived up to the accolades given to it by this particular video!!