Gate guardian
F-104 at the Georgia Air National 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A gate guardian or gate guard is a withdrawn piece of equipment, often an aircraft, armoured vehicle, artillery piece, or locomotive, mounted on a plinth and used as a static display near to and forming a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 a site, especially a military base.[1][2] Commonly, gate guardians outside airbases are decommissioned examples of aircraft that were once based there, or still are.[citation needed]
Examples[]
 | This article may contain indiscriminate, excessive, or irrelevant examples. (March 2021) |
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2021) |
Examples of gate guardians include the following:
Australia[]
In Australia, gate guards are also often found outside Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) clubs.
Colombia[]
- Mounted atop the entrance gate to Pablo Escobar's ranch, Hacienda Nápoles in Puerto Triunfo, Antioquia (320 km (200 mi) NW of Bogotá and 180 km (111 miles) east of Medellín), is a replica of the Piper airplane (tail number HK-617-P) that flew the drug lord's first shipment of cocaine to the United States.[3]
Finland[]
- A MiG-21 formerly of the Finnish Air Force is on display at the entrance of Kuopio Airport.
Saudi Arabia[]
- Lockheed L-1011 TriStar which operated under Saudia in the 1970's is placed on a tarmac next to the gate at Royal Saudi Air Force Museum in Riyadh.
South Africa[]
- Atlas Impala at Air Force Base Ysterplaat.
- Twin Eland Mk7 Armoured Cars at the SANDF Legal Satellite Office, Air Force Base Swartkop.
- Rooikat and M3 Stuart at 1 Special Service Battalion, Tempe Base.
- Eland Mk7 at School of Armour, Tempe Base.
Switzerland[]
United Kingdom[]
- 25 Pounder howitzers at 48 Regiment Royal Artillery, Thorney Island and two on loan from the Honourable Artillery Company outside Admiralty House (the official residence of the Commander Joint Forces Command) at Northwood Headquarters.
- Avro Shackleton at RAF St Mawgan.
- BAC Jet Provost at RAF Linton-on-Ouse.
- Bristol Bloodhound surface-to-air guided missile at Hudson House Territorial Army Centre, Catford (Home of 221 (EOD) (V) Field Squadron, 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers).
- C-47 Dakota at Headquarters 16 Air Assault Brigade, Merville Barracks.
- De Havilland Comet at RAF Lyneham.
- FV434 Combat Recovery and Repair Vehicle and Gazelle Helicopter at Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College.
- Gloster Javelin at Staverton Airport and XA634 RAF Leeming (purchased by Gloucestershire Jet Age Museum in January 2015.[4]).
- Handley Page Victor K.2 XH673 at RAF Marham.
- Hawker Hunter at RAF Halton and WV396 at RAF Valley.[5]
- Hawker Siddeley Harrier at RAF Stafford and RAF Wittering (visible from the northbound A1).
- 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 during the Battle of Britain in September 1940.
- McDonnell Douglas Phantom at RAF Boulmer.
- Panavia Tornado at Leuchars Station
- BAE Nimrod at RAF Kinloss.
- SEPECAT Jaguar from the former RAF Coltishall, now named "Spirit of Coltishall" and displayed at Norfolk County Council.
- SEPECAT Jaguar at RAF Cosford – installed in May 2017, but is outside the station headquarters, so not visible from the main gate.[6]
- Spitfire (replica) at Edinburgh Airport.[7]
- Spitfire (replica) at RAF Benson.
- Spitfire and Hurricane (replicas) at RAF Uxbridge.
- Spitfire and Hurricane at RAF Biggin Hill.[8]
- Panavia Tornado at RAF Marham.
- Panavia Tornado F3 at RAF Leeming (replaced Gloster Javelin in 2015).[9]
- A 40% scale replica of Concorde had been located at the main road entrance to Heathrow Airport until March 2007, when it was moved to Brooklands Museum, Surrey. At Heathrow Airport, that Concorde model has been replaced by a model of an Airbus A380 in Emirates livery.[10] In September 2012, the Concorde was finally installed at the main entrance to the whole Brooklands site.[11]
- Chinook helicopter RAF Odiham
- BAe Hawk T1A, XX247, at RAF Woodvale[12][13]
United States[]
- Bell UH-1H Iroquois s/n 70-16218 at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.[14]
- Boeing B-47E Stratojet s/n 53-4213 at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas.[15]
- Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker s/n 55-3118 at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas. #1 KC-135 – City of Renton.[15]
- Convair F-102A Delta Dagger s/n 56-1264 at Bradley Air National Guard Base in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.[16]
- Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II s/n 79-0103 at Bradley Air National Guard Base in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.[16]
- Lockheed A-12 s/n 60-6931 at George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia.[17]
- Lockheed F-104C Starfighter s/n 56-0919 at Georgia Air National Guard in Brunswick, Georgia.[18]
- Lockheed F-104N Starfighter registration N811NA at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona.[19]
- McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II BuNo 162969 at MCAS Cherry Point in Havelock, North Carolina.[20]
- North American F-100D Super Sabre s/n 55-3805 at Bradley Air National Guard Base in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.[16]
- F-15A Eagle tailflash (RG) resides facing State Route 247 in front of the Museum of Aviation and serving the Russell Parkway gate in Warner Robins, Georgia, placed during 2019.[21]
Images[]
RAF Bristol Bloodhound missile outside the RAF Museum in London
MiG-17 at Kubinka Air Base, Russia
Kingston Airport (Canadian Air Force)
1 Tank Regiment (Royal Armoured Corps)
Fort Knox (US Army)
Tempe Base (South African Army)
F-105 Thunderchief at Arnold Gate, Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C.
A Phantom aircraft as the gate guardian at the entrance to the air terminal at Mount Pleasant Complex in the Falkland Islands. This was removed c. 2011
See also[]
References[]
- ^ "A-6 Intruder (A-6E) Gate Guardian". Wikimapia.
- ^ "A-7 Corsair II (A-7) Gate Guardian USN NAS Atlanta". Wikimapia. Atlanta, Georgia. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
- ^ Arbuckle, Alex Q. (August 29, 1989). "Hacienda Nápoles: What do you buy the drug lord who has everything? A zoo".
- ^ "BBC News – Gloucestershire Jet Age Museum buys Gloster Javelin". BBC Online. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
- ^ Gate Guardian, RAF Valley, accessed 2009-11-10
- ^ Marshall, Chris, ed. (Autumn 2017). "Cosford's Gate Guardian". Cosford Grapevine. Rushden: Forces publishing: 25. OCLC 751026701.
- ^ "Edinburgh Airport Spitfire saved by devoted pilot". JPIMedia. Edinburgh Evening News. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ^ "Fundraising drive begins to replace rotting gate guardians". Newsshopper. RAF Biggin Hill, UK. September 12, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
- ^ "Iconic Tornado returns to guard the gates of Leeming". www.raf.mod.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ "HEATHROW MODEL MOVE". CONCORDE SST. 2007.
- ^ "Concorde moved from Heathrow Airport to Brooklands Museum". Brooklands Museum. September 2012.
- ^ "Out of Service British Military Aircraft". Demobbed. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
- ^ Regan, Pat (28 November 2017). "RAF Woodvale's new Gate Guardian – UPDATED". On The Spot (OTS) News Southport. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
- ^ "Bradley – IAP, Connecticut". US Demobbed. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "McConnell AFB, Kansas". US Demobbed. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "Bradley – ANG, Connecticut". US Demobbed. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ "Langley CIA, Virginia". US Demobbed. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ "Brunswick – Glynco Jetport, Georgia". US Demobbed. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ "Prescott, Arizona". US Demobbed. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ "Hawker Siddeley-McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II, s/n 162969 USN, c/n 512096". Aerial Visuals. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ "F-15A becomes signature aircraft at Museum of Aviation". Robins Air Force Base. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
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