No manuals - just the result of the excellent levels of instruction we used to have. Plus the drills for hydraulic failure had to be committed so firmly to memory that they became instinctive. Yes - we only had about 200 hrs on the Chipmunk and JP before going on to the Gnat; it used to have quite a high accident rate but by the time I did my course things were much better. Most people had the odd failure (AC/DC, oxygen, feel trim failure in my case) - but nothing really critical. We practised manual reversion constantly (dual!!) and it really did become second nature.