Mr Petter's Baby Jet - The Folland Gnat
Aah, so we did not cross; I was the student on 22 Course with the most hours and who was going to be streamed to the Canberra, so completed the course a a month early, in June 66.
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the stick planted hard in the dashboard
I wound up in a similar situation once, by varying the routine "hydraulic failure" emergency in that I turned the power off after the gear had been lowered in the ILS pattern; the 5º "up" tailplane datum shift had of course been activated by this time.
My student fell completely for my cunning plan and selected wheels up immediately after the go-around. When pushing the stick up against the dashboard didn't stop the aircraft from pitching up quickly even further, his "You have control, Sir" was overstating the case a bit
The nose was a bit high and the speed uncomfortably low to restore normality by lowering the gear again, but rolling to a very large angle of bank meant I could let go of the stick (no hands = load free) so I could put the hydraulic power back on before we ran out of IAS completely. ATC were highly amused by this performance, but fortunately didn't klype to the Thought Police in Standards, who never heard of the incident.
PS I didn't do it again, ever.
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Originally Posted by jamesdevice
any truth in the rumour that there was a suggested swing-wing version? Allegedly drafted by Barnes Wallis? Or is that total rubbish?
The final and most spectacular redesign was a Mach 2 variable geometry ("swing wing") machine, the Folland "Fo.148", that was intended as a trainer, air superiority fighter, or light strike aircraft. The wings were to have full-span leading-edge flaps and slotted trailing edge flaps; there would be a single stores pylon on each side of the fuselage. It was to have been fitted with an afterburning RB.153 engine with a thrust reverser. The Fo.148 was said to have been the last aircraft design to bear a Folland designation before the company was absorbed into the Hawker-Siddeley group. It was an interesting design and it is a bit of shame it never flew.
Yup, I too went to Canberras, but so did hundreds of others. In those days there were Canberra Sqns in UK, Germany, Malta, Near East, Middle East & Far East. I went to just one of the 4 Canberra Sqns at Akrotiri, No 73. I suspect soon that the RAF will have less aeroplanes than Akrotiri had in the 60s. Four strike/attack Sqns, 1 fighter Sqn, 1 helicopter flt and a transport Sqn.
For more 'what ifs' - not just the Gnat, try to get hold of a copy of Project Cancelled by Derek Wood. As a young teenager I borrowed a copy from my local lending lending library in the late '70's. Sad reading.
NutherA2, I wonder whether the STUPRECCC drill was changed after your event? 'T' stood for 'trim to the safe/ideal sector on the FTPI' rather than 'load free' and 'E' included exhausting the tail accumulator 1½-2½ (gear up) or 5½-6½ (gear down) - I think?
My QFI gave me a HYD failure just as we broke into the circuit once from 500ft and 360+ KIAS - the clangers went off just as I pitched into the break. But the STUPRECCC drill worked fine.
I'm sure that QFIs watched student antics very carefully under such circumstances - but you knew you were doing well when your QFI was brave enough to let you fly a night manual roller....at Mona!
However, mistakes were still being made. Stn Cdr 'Tojo' had a HYD fail on take-off just after retracting the landing gear. He then closed the throttle and put the gear down without doing the STUPRECCC drill first. No Datum Shift, so the jet immediately plunged towards Treaddur Bay....with an innocent passenger in the back. Fortunately as it accelerated it had just enough pitch authority to level out and start to climb before he remembered the Stby Trim...
Tojo flew the Hunter by preference thereafter.
Great little jet, STUPRECCC and CUBSTUNT notwithstanding!
My QFI gave me a HYD failure just as we broke into the circuit once from 500ft and 360+ KIAS - the clangers went off just as I pitched into the break. But the STUPRECCC drill worked fine.
I'm sure that QFIs watched student antics very carefully under such circumstances - but you knew you were doing well when your QFI was brave enough to let you fly a night manual roller....at Mona!
However, mistakes were still being made. Stn Cdr 'Tojo' had a HYD fail on take-off just after retracting the landing gear. He then closed the throttle and put the gear down without doing the STUPRECCC drill first. No Datum Shift, so the jet immediately plunged towards Treaddur Bay....with an innocent passenger in the back. Fortunately as it accelerated it had just enough pitch authority to level out and start to climb before he remembered the Stby Trim...
Tojo flew the Hunter by preference thereafter.Great little jet, STUPRECCC and CUBSTUNT notwithstanding!
For more 'what ifs' - not just the Gnat, try to get hold of a copy of Project Cancelled by Derek Wood. As a young teenager I borrowed a copy from my local lending lending library in the late '70's.
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AGnother Gnat Gfactoid
The contributor who said 'you put it on' was exactly right. My guilty 'secret' which of course was the same for almost everyone else was that I would give myself an illicit thrill by pressing the test button (on the right console?) to inflate my turning trousers while taxying out.
Not to say that the Pkt Rkt was unreliable, but on my course of 12 students (86, 1965) we had 12 major incidents. Mine was a full display of warnings while IMC, climbing solo out of low level - made a precautionary forced landing at Church Fenton, bollocked by OC Eng because I "should have known" it was a false alarm caused by an electrical fault. I wished he'd been in the cockpit with me to help me make that call.
Trophy for our course must go to Dave A***e, who suffered fuel pump failure just before low key while doing a practice glide approach. I was sitting at the take-off point so can witness that he disappeared behind the hill on the approach to 14, still in the cockpit (still going through cold relight drill, according to Dave). First thing to reappear was the canopy, followed by Dave, followed by a bouncing Gnat. Happy days!
Not to say that the Pkt Rkt was unreliable, but on my course of 12 students (86, 1965) we had 12 major incidents. Mine was a full display of warnings while IMC, climbing solo out of low level - made a precautionary forced landing at Church Fenton, bollocked by OC Eng because I "should have known" it was a false alarm caused by an electrical fault. I wished he'd been in the cockpit with me to help me make that call.
Trophy for our course must go to Dave A***e, who suffered fuel pump failure just before low key while doing a practice glide approach. I was sitting at the take-off point so can witness that he disappeared behind the hill on the approach to 14, still in the cockpit (still going through cold relight drill, according to Dave). First thing to reappear was the canopy, followed by Dave, followed by a bouncing Gnat. Happy days!
However, mistakes were still being made. Stn Cdr 'Tojo' had a HYD fail on take-off just after retracting the landing gear. He then closed the throttle and put the gear down without doing the STUPRECCC drill first. No Datum Shift, so the jet immediately plunged towards Treaddur Bay....with an innocent passenger in the back. Fortunately as it accelerated it had just enough pitch authority to level out and start to climb before he remembered the Stby Trim... Tojo flew the Hunter by preference thereafter.
'73 to '77 happy days on 4FTS.
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Now that I am old and grey - well, what's left is grey - I wish I had realised when I was 21 what fun I was having in the Gnat.
A lovely aircraft - and I would love to fly one again!!
And, on my course at Valley, some great instructors who helped to make me enjoy the aircraft.
The A-5 pass will be in my dreams......................................
A lovely aircraft - and I would love to fly one again!!
And, on my course at Valley, some great instructors who helped to make me enjoy the aircraft.
The A-5 pass will be in my dreams......................................
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One of the most interesting aircraft I have flown – as a student for 67 hours in 1964.
Didn’t enjoy the unique feeling of rolling down the runway in a strong crosswind feeling that one’s ear was likely to scrape the runway sometime soon but enjoyed the joy of aerobatics in the tiniest jet I ever flew. Enjoyed the ‘first one off the ground’ beat up of the airfield every morning – and the Stn Cdr’s face when he came out the SECO huts after met brief and saw the first one off below the level of the line of fins of the line a few feet in front of him. He grounded the pilot for a week – after landing a private aircraft departed for a visit to the girlfriend that lasted just a week – back on the programme on return!
Was instructed by one Bruce Latton – reckon he learned much about instructing in that period. Fire ext in front cockpit impacted and bent the throttle lever during an excessive G recovery from a spiral dive – preceded by a c**k-up over who had control. On the way back to Valley I thought pulling the hyd cock off whilst I was holding the fire ext in one hand, the stick in the other and trying to work out if I could still move the bent throttle was just one step too far for a student like me.
Remember the unpopular PMC who never worked out why his radio controlled boats kept failing out in the lake outside the OM – he never saw the students with the air rifles leaning out of the windows on the first floor but he spent a lot of time in waders!
My Flight Commander was one Al Poll**k – and he later joined our Hunter course at Chivenor having had to arrange a quick posting out of Training Command to escape the aftermath of his inverted flight at an airshow during a temporary ban on neg G. Punch-ups in the cine’ room after an air-to-air sortie were another story.
Very grateful for the lessons learned from that little aircraft-lessons that surely helped later in Hunters, Lightnings and Phantoms.
Didn’t enjoy the unique feeling of rolling down the runway in a strong crosswind feeling that one’s ear was likely to scrape the runway sometime soon but enjoyed the joy of aerobatics in the tiniest jet I ever flew. Enjoyed the ‘first one off the ground’ beat up of the airfield every morning – and the Stn Cdr’s face when he came out the SECO huts after met brief and saw the first one off below the level of the line of fins of the line a few feet in front of him. He grounded the pilot for a week – after landing a private aircraft departed for a visit to the girlfriend that lasted just a week – back on the programme on return!
Was instructed by one Bruce Latton – reckon he learned much about instructing in that period. Fire ext in front cockpit impacted and bent the throttle lever during an excessive G recovery from a spiral dive – preceded by a c**k-up over who had control. On the way back to Valley I thought pulling the hyd cock off whilst I was holding the fire ext in one hand, the stick in the other and trying to work out if I could still move the bent throttle was just one step too far for a student like me.
Remember the unpopular PMC who never worked out why his radio controlled boats kept failing out in the lake outside the OM – he never saw the students with the air rifles leaning out of the windows on the first floor but he spent a lot of time in waders!
My Flight Commander was one Al Poll**k – and he later joined our Hunter course at Chivenor having had to arrange a quick posting out of Training Command to escape the aftermath of his inverted flight at an airshow during a temporary ban on neg G. Punch-ups in the cine’ room after an air-to-air sortie were another story.
Very grateful for the lessons learned from that little aircraft-lessons that surely helped later in Hunters, Lightnings and Phantoms.
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Gnat spotted in Clyde Valley
Bizarrely, there is a (rather untidy) Gnat sitting next to some greenhouses at Reynard's Nursery, just west of Carluke, Lanarkshire. They also have a Convair 440 that they are turning into a hotel.
Yup, I remember Bruce Latton, made me do steep turns at 50 ft over the sea, ON INSTRUMENTS!. Sure sharpened up my IF. Sadly Bruce died a year or so ago.
I never had any technical difficulties with the Gnat, but do remember one solo Hi Lo Hi to Scotland. I elected to continue over the Irish Sea, IMC at 250 ft hoping to break cloud. Must have screwed up my DR drift calculations as I broke cloud just abeam Blackpool Tower, only 20 miles off track. Would have been famous if I had hit it!
I never had any technical difficulties with the Gnat, but do remember one solo Hi Lo Hi to Scotland. I elected to continue over the Irish Sea, IMC at 250 ft hoping to break cloud. Must have screwed up my DR drift calculations as I broke cloud just abeam Blackpool Tower, only 20 miles off track. Would have been famous if I had hit it!