Gate guardian
A gate guardian or gate guard is a withdrawn piece of equipment, often an aircraft, armoured vehicle, artillery piece or locomotive, mounted on a plinth and used as a static display near to and forming a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. The visual effect is very much like a hobbyist's model, particularly when it is an aircraft mounted on a pole to simulate what it looked like in flight. In Australia, gate guards are also often found outside Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) clubs.
Examples
Examples of gate guardians include the following:
- Two 25-pounders on loan from the Honourable Artillery Company outside Admiralty House (the official residence of the Commander Joint Forces Command) at RAF Northwood.
- 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.
- An F-104 Starfighter at the Georgia Air National Guard in Brunswick, Georgia
- Lockheed F-104 Starfighter at Grenchen Airport in Grenchen Switzerland
- C-47 Dakota at Merville Barracks, Colchester, UK - Headquarters 16 Air Assault Brigade
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] It has been replaced by a model of an Airbus A380 in Emirates livery.
Images
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RAF Bristol Bloodhound missile outside the RAF Museum in London
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Hawker Siddeley Harrier plinthed as a gate guardian at RAF Stafford
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Fort Knox (US Army)
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Fort Irwin (US Army)
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Morshead Home - War Veterans retirement home named after Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead, Australian Army, featuring an anchor from HMAS Barcoo (K375), Ordnance QF 25 pounder field gun, and a propeller from a DC-3.
See also
- Door god
- Imperial guardian lion
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
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