Folland Gnat
Links, References & Credits
Links
- Air Vectors - Gnat is one of Greg Goebels' articles on different aircraft with brief history and a few pictures and drawings.
- This site on the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war including the The Air War, with plenty of mention of the Gnat/Ajeet force. Despite the Indian origin of these pages they seem quite impartial and open about such touchy subjects as numbers of losses.
- The excellent Indian Air Force site includes two rather nice Gnat and Ajeet galleries.
- A thread on Gnat roll rate and that fuse from PPRuNE.
References - Books
Folland Gnat - Sabre Slayer & Red Arrow by Victor Bingham
ISBN 1 900511 78 9
Published by J&KH Publishing, 2000
One of the few books dedicated to the type, but this one would be worth buying anyway with a in-depth history and service record backed up by a good selection of photos. Rather hard to find these days it seems.
Spirit of Hamble - Folland Aircraft by Derek N. James
ISBN 0 7524 2102 6
Published by Tempus Publishing, 2000
Buy from Amazon UK
Not about the Gnat in particular though there is some good coverage in this bargain-priced softback book, this is the story of Hamble airfield and Folland from humble beginnings to the current day. Includes some fascinating drawings of Gnat variants that never got built.
Warpaint 67: Folland/Hawker Siddeley Gnat - including HAL Ajeet by Alan W. Hall
ISBN
Published by Warpaint Books Ltd., 2000
Not one of the stronger Warpaints, this one. The usual standard of development and service history plus a good selection of photos (particularly of Indian examples), colour profiles and scale plans. However, there are a number of photos of utterly atrocious quality that have no place ending up in print, the 'in detail' selection is miserly even for a Warpaint, and there are quite a few errors on the scale plans. Still, there's comprehensive coverage of the colour variations of the Red Arrows over their Gnat years along with many of the other RAF schemes plus a small selection of Finnish and Indian schemes.
Aviation News Mini Monograph: Hawker Siddeley Gnat F.1 and T.1 by Paul A. Jackson
Published by Alan W. Hall (Publications) Ltd.
An early fore-runner of the Warpaint series, these monographs tended to be aimed at the 'spotter' fraternity but even so it's worth seeking out - a basic development and service history, mostly covering the T.1 in RAF service, with individual aircraft histories covering the 105 the RAF used, paint scheme profiles and a fair number of photos. Reproduction quality not great it has to be said and all illustrations and photos are in monochrome.
References - Magazines
- Aeroplane Monthly, September 1998: Red Leader Returns & Airshow Shakedown - two articles with Gnat content - one on Ray Hanna's first flight in a Gnat since 1970, and the other an account from Jon Mynard having a spur of the moment flight of a lifetime in 'XR993'. Some gorgeous photography to be seen here.
- Aeroplane Monthly, January 1997: Preservation Profile on 'XR991' (G-MOUR) - great air to air shot from Richard Paver (plus a stunning cover shot from John Dibbs), and an article on the restoration of this particular Gnat.
- Aeroplane Monthly, December 2002: The 40-year Itch - article by Tim Skeet on flying the Gnat with some great air to airs.
Credits
This section would have been greatly the poorer without contributions from the following - so many thanks to (in
alphabetical order):
Alan Allen, Adrian Balch, Allan Barley, Victor Bingham, Howard Curtis, Eric Dewhurst, Marcel de Jong, Garry Lakin, Andy Marden,
Glen Moreman, John Mulvey, Dave Thomas, Mike Tighe, Barry Tippit and everybody who contributed pictures or information
to the survivors section (credited under the pictures).
Thanks also to the following organisations:
Delta Jets, Kemble Air Services, Midland Air Museum, Phoenix Aviation, Warbirds of India.
Visitor Comments
3 people have commented on this page. This is comment section 1 of 1.
Peter Scott from Banbury, Oxfordshire
Posted at 3:15pm on Saturday, July 9th, 2011
With reference to the comment by John Harris above on the subject of the Gnat at RAF Halton, I can confirm that this is the case; the aircraft which was used for fitter training being housed in the apprentices museum on the parade square. I was there only last year for the apprentices association triennial reunion, and saw the aircraft then. Unfortunately, I do not have any details, but I am sure that the Association secretary will put you in contact with the museum curators should you wish to find out mo... read more »read more »
John Porter from bournemouth
Posted at 4:04pm on Monday, June 13th, 2011
just found this site and one or two others. I joined the Red Arrows at Kemble (Little Rissington) January 1968 as ground crew and stayed till June 1972. Four and a half best years of my life. I lived through the fuse 13 and, tail corrosion sagas. Also witnessed the solos colliding at kemble that terrible day when four pilots lost their lives. Anybody out there remember me?
John Harris from London
Posted at 4:49pm on Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
Just a quick note to say that the site is most impressiove.
Are you aware of the Folland Gnat at RAF Halton? I found this account of a visit, with some photos.
I hope this of interest and apologies if you are aware of this airframe.
jch
Webmaster response: Nope, not aware of any Gnat at Halton...?