Gate guardian

For a person who guards a gate, see Security guard.

A gate guardian or gate guard is a withdrawn piece of equipment, often an aircraft, armoured vehicle, artillery piece or locomotive, mounted on a plinth and used as a static display near to and forming a symbolic display of "guarding" the main entrance to somewhere, especially a military base.^[1] Commonly, gate guardians outside airbases are decommissioned examples of aircraft that were once based there, or still are. In Australia, gate guards are also often found outside Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) clubs.

1 Aircraft examples
2 Images
3 See also
4 References

Aircraft examples

Examples of aircraft gate guardians in the United Kingdom include the following:

De Havilland Comet at RAF Lyneham.
Hawker Siddeley Harrier at RAF Wittering (visible from the northbound A1).
Hawker Hunter at RAF Halton.
Spitfire and Hurricane at RAF Biggin Hill^[2]
McDonnell Douglas Phantom at RAF Boulmer.
Spitfire (replica) at RAF Benson.
BAC Jet Provost at RAF Linton-on-Ouse.
Spitfire (replica) at RAF Uxbridge.
Hawker Hunter WV396 at RAF Valley.^[3]
Hawker Siddeley Harrier at RAF Stafford.
SEPECAT Jaguar from the former RAF Coltishall, now named "Spirit of Coltishall" and displayed at Norfolk County Council.
25 Pounder howitzers at 48 Regiment Royal Artillery, Thorney Island.
Avro Shackleton at RAF St Mawgan.
FV434 Combat Recovery and Repair Vehicle at Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College.
McDonnel Douglas Phantom and Panavia Tornado at RAF Leuchars.
Hawker Hurricane (replica) at the former RAF North Weald, with the markings of the No. 56 Squadron RAF, as flown by No. 249 Squadron RAF pilot Thomas 'Ginger' Neil during the Battle of Britain in September 1940.
Gloster Javelin at Staverton Airport.
Tornado F3 at RAF Marham.
Handley Page Victor K.2 XH673 at RAF Marham.
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott.

Until March 2007, a 40% scale replica of Concorde had been located at the main road entrance to Heathrow Airport, when it was moved to Brooklands Museum, Surrey.^[4]^[5]

Images

References

^ A-6E Gate Guardian, A-7 Gate Guardian, USN NAS Atlanta, in wikimapia, accessed 2009-11-10
^ RAF Biggin Hill - Fundraising drive begins to replace rotting gate guardians, newsshopper.co.uk, 2009-09-12, accessed 2009-11-10
^ Gate Guardian, RAF Valley, accessed 2009-11-10
^ CONCORDE SST : HEATHROW MODEL MOVE 2007
^ Concorde At Brooklands Museum : Project News

Gate guardian

Contents

Aircraft examples

Images

See also

References