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A gate guardian or gate guard is a withdrawn piece of equipment, often an aircraft, armoured vehicle, artillery piece, or locomotive, mounted on a plinth and used as a static display near to and forming a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 a site, especially a military base. Commonly, gate guardians outside airbases are decommissioned examples of aircraft that were once based there, or still are.

Examples

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.

Finland

*A MiG-21 formerly of the Finnish Air Force is on display at the entrance of Kuopio Airport.
*Two T-34s at the Armoured Brigade.

Saudi Arabia

*Lockheed L-1011 TriStar which operated under Saudia in the 1970s 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

* Lockheed F-104 Starfighter at Grenchen Airport in Grenchen 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 o
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.).
* Handley Page Victor K.2 ''XH673'' at RAF Marham.
*Hawker Hunter at RAF Halton and ''WV396'' at RAF Valley.
*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 Thomas 'Ginger' Neil 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.
*Spitfire (replica) at Edinburgh Airport.
*Spitfire (replica) at RAF Benson.
*Spitfire and Hurricane (replicas) at RAF Uxbridge.
*Spitfire and Hurricane at RAF Biggin Hill.
* Panavia Tornado at RAF Marham.
* Panavia Tornado F3 at RAF Leeming (replaced Gloster Javelin in 2015).
*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. In September 2012, the Concorde was finally installed at the main entrance to the whole Brooklands site.
*Chinook helicopter RAF Odiham
* BAE Hawk T1A, XX247, at RAF Woodvale
* Avro Vulcan at RAF Waddington

United States

* Bell UH-1H Iroquois s/n 70–16218 at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
*Boeing B-47E Stratojet s/n 53–4213 at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas.
* Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker s/n 55–3118 at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas. #1 KC-135 – City of Renton.
*Convair F-102A Delta Dagger s/n 56–1264 at Bradley Air National Guard Base in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
*Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II s/n 79–0103 at Bradley Air National Guard Base in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
*Lockheed A-12 s/n 60–6931 at George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia.
*Lockheed F-104C Starfighter s/n 56–0919 at Georgia Air National Guard in Brunswick, Georgia.
*Lockheed F-104N Starfighter registration N811NA at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona.
*McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II BuNo 162969 at MCAS Cherry Point in Havelock, North Carolina.
*Three Northrop T-38 Talons painted to resemble aircraft formerly flown by the US Air Force Thunderbirds at Owatonna Degner Regional Airport in Owatonna, Minnesota
*North American F-100D Super Sabre s/n 55–3805 at Bradley Air National Guard Base in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
* 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.
* Bell UH-1H Iroquois at Helena Regional Airport.

Images

Image:Bloodhound SAM2.jpg, RAF Bristol Bloodhound missile outside the RAF Museum in London
Image:237 RED Mikoyan Mig-17 Russian Airforce (7387568310).jpg, MiG-17 at Kubinka Air Base, Russia
File:Noorduyn AT-16 Harvard II, Canada - Air Force AN0931637.jpg, Kingston Airport ( Canadian Air Force)
File:Royal Tank Regiment and Royal Engineers workshops, Sack Hill, Warminster - geograph.org.uk - 962286.jpg, 1 Tank Regiment (Royal Armoured Corps)
Image:Fort_Knox_tank.jpg, Fort Knox (US Army)
File:Gateguardian3.png, Tempe Base (South African Army)
File:F-105 Thunderchief and DIA HQ, Washington DC.jpg, F-105 Thunderchief at Arnold Gate, Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C.
File:Phantom & sign.jpg, 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

See also

* Bradyll (locomotive)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gate Guardian
.