Far Sight for the Fleet

摘要

The Royal Navy (RN) realised its Douglas Skyraider AEW.1s, which had only entered service in 1951, would be obsolete by the end of the decade given the type's 1940s vintage. In response, Fairey took its already successful Gannet and completely redesigned the fuselage, in a bid to replace the obsolescent piston-engined 'raider in the airborne early warning (AEW) role, incorporating the latter's bulbous AN/APS-20F radar. This Gannet conversion was initially planned as a stopgap until a new purpose-built system arrived, but it went on to serve for almost two decades - and rapidly became one of the most widely utilised types in the RN's inventory.