The Tugan LJW7 Gannet, also known later as the Wackett Gannet after its designer Lawrence Wackett, was a small twin-engined airliner built by Tugan Aircraft in Australia in the 1930s.Watkins 1961, p.600Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering 1988, p.498 It was the first Australian-designed aircraft to enter series production. It was also the first Australian-designed and built aircraft to be taken on strength (put into operational service) by the Royal Australian Air Force. In February 1938 Allan Walters piloted the first overseas flight in an aircraft designed and built in Australia when he flew the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Richard Williams, to Singapore in a Gannet (A 14-3).
Design and development The Gannet was a strut-braced, high-wing monoplane of conventional design, with twin engines mounted in nacelles on the wings. The undercarriage was of fixed, tailwheel configuration with divided main units. The wings were of wooden construction, skinned in plywood, and the fuselage was built from welded steel covered in fabric. The prototype Gannet underwent flight testing in October 1935, and was destroyed in a crash shortly thereafter.Mattingley 2007, p.10 The pilot and passengers perished in the ensuing fire, but despite this, the Gannet entered series production.
The type was operated by Butler Air Transport between Sydney and Broken Hill and at least one flew with Ansett Airways in 1943.Gerhardt 1961. p.678 RAAF Gannets saw service as survey aircraftWilson 2006, 41 between 1935 and 1942 when they were converted into air ambulances for the newly-formed No.2 Air Ambulance Unit."A14 Wackett Gannet" The last RAAF Gannets were scrapped in 1946.
Operators
Ansett Airways Butler Air Transport Royal Australian Air Force Western and Southern Provincial Airlines
Specifications
See also
Notes
References