ULSTER AVIATION SOCIETY
Currently under heavy restoration in our second hangar, XA460 has been a long-term project for the UAS volunteers.
The Fairey Gannet was a British carrier-borne, anti-submarine warfare plus airborne early warning aircraft from the post-Second World War era, developed for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was a mid-wing monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage and had a crew of three, and double turboprop engine driving two contra-rotating propellers.
The Fairey Gannet was a British carrier-borne aircraft of the post-Second World War era in the late 1950s / early 1960s, developed for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) by the Fairey Aviation Company.
It was a mid-wing monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage and a crew of three, and a double turboprop engine driving two contra-rotating propellers.
Photo: Adrian Balch
Fairey Gannet ECM.6 / AS.4
— XA460
Earlier photo (as of April 2017) of the Restoration Team who have worked on the Fairey Gannet XA460 include (L~R): Alan Moller, Billy McCall, Anne McIlveen, David Jackson (team leader), Ian Hendry, Ben Gibson, Stephen Hegarty.
It's a major restoration, so several other volunteers have helped out in recent years too who aren’t pictured.
Photo: Stephen Riley
Photo: Adrian Balch
![Fairey Gannet XA460 Restoration Team at the Ulster Aviation Society — [L-R]: Lloyd Pollock, Stephen Hegarty, David Jackson [team lead], Anne McIlveen, Alan Moller, Billy McCall and David Melon.
Many other volunteers who've worked on the project are not pictured.](/communities/2/004/007/043/072//images/4636513546.jpg "Fairey Gannet XA460 Restoration Team at the Ulster Aviation Society — [L-R]: Lloyd Pollock, Stephen Hegarty, David Jackson [team lead], Anne McIlveen, Alan Moller, Billy McCall and David Melon.
Many other volunteers who've worked on the project are not pictured.")
UNDER RESTORATION
Photo: Alan Jarden
Fairey Gannet XA460 Restoration Team (2019) at the Ulster Aviation Society — [L-R]: Lloyd Pollock, Stephen Hegarty, David Jackson [team lead], Anne McIlveen, Alan Moller, Billy McCall and David Mellon.
Many other volunteers who've worked on the project are not pictured.
Fairey Gannet’s journey to restoration in Maze Long Kesh
XA460 was in a poor state when Society volunteers travelled to collect it from Doncaster in late 2011.
Photo: David Jackson
Photo: David Jackson
It was a cold, dark December morning in 2011 when our Gannet, in many pieces, came home
to Maze Long Kesh.
Photo: Stephen Hegarty
XA460’s three separate fuselage sections as they were in late 2016, soon to be reunited.
Photo:
Stephen Riley
(Above):
Stephen Hegarty, Ray Spence, David Jackson and Alan Moller steady the tailplane as it is lifted into place. Alan, with the help of Anne McIlveen, spent many months on its restoration.
Photo: Stephen Riley
(Left): With a heave, the Gannet Restoration team push the aircraft's nose back to meet the centre fuselage.
Photo: Stephen Hegarty
Photo: Stephen Hegarty
The mid wings followed joining of the fuselage sections, and by mid-2018 XA460 was beginning to look like an aeroplane again.
Ben Gibson looks on as the starboard wingtip is hoisted into position.
Photo: Alan Jarden
Snap! The starboard wingtip collapsed as it was being lowered into its deployed position. But before that day was out, the team already had a plan to right the wing.
See the drama of the wing-tip snapping on Video:
Photo: Alan Jarden
Triple cockpits of the Fairey Gannet XA460 — currently being restored at the Ulster Aviation Society at Maze Long Kesh, Lisburn
Photo: Mark J. Cairns
Billy McCall (right) enlists the help of Alan Moller and Lloyd Pollock to fit the rudder he spent years painstakingly restoring.
Video of the Fairey Gannet's rudder being re-fitted
Photo: Alan Jarden
Fairey Gannet XA460 Restoration Team at work during mid-January 2020 showing terrific progress from the previous year
Photo: Alan Jarden
These two photographs XA460 are what it will look like after restoration work is completed in the future
