Perfectly capable of operating from an 800m runway; I was at Fairoaks when Desmond was demonstrating it to the Aussies. He told me the Tucano couldn't do that, and it only won the RAF competition over the Firecracker because it was re-engined to achieve the requirement for 250kt ias at low level.
Interestingly my aircraft at the time (a Monnet Moni) had the same airbrake configuration as the Firecracker, and Desmond and I were comparing 'notes' on the effects of them eg speed loss, acceleration, pitch change etc. Very nice guy he was.