The Bung.

[dmussen]

A silly question. We always used to cx. 'bung in' pre-flight in the Gnat.
Has anyone ever had to pull the bung out and was this classic piece of British kit effective? I have pondered upon this question for many years and would love to hear what happens when one takes such action in the event of decompression.
I should have thought rolling and pulling through with the doors out and 6G would be a better solution to such a problem.
Your thoughts folks????

Davey.

[Courtney Mil]

What's the bung, dmussen?:confused:

[minigundiplomat]

Disregard - Thought this thread was about AW101 sales to India.......

[BEagle]

The Gnat had a very simple, reliable pressurisation and cabin conditioning system. To enable it, you simply aligned 2 small levers on the front right hand side of the cockpit to pressurise, then moved them fore-and-aft together as required for the desired cockpit temperature. Very simple and easy - and much better than the Hunter or Hawk systems!

However, if for some reason the system failed to depressurise, there was a need to be able vent the cabin to atmosphere. This was done by the simple expedient of yanking out a black and yellow striped rubber bung on the left hand side - immediate and effective. But I never heard of anyone needing to use it. There was a red 'CPR' caption on the CWS panel, but I cannot recall whether it operated in the event of over-pressurisation.

You checked that the bung was 'IN' prior to flight as otherwise the cabin obviously wouldn't pressurise.

[Courtney Mil]

Brill. Thanks, BEags.

[dmussen]

Thanks BEagle,
I got it ar#e about face. Must be my red medication.

Then there was the ground crew's solution for a wet start.
Two chaps knees bend under the nose and then stand up.
Simple.

[Pontius]

Very simple and easy - and much better than the Hunter or Hawk systems!

How can it be 'better' than the Hawk system, where you didn't have to muck around with levers and bungs but simply shut the canopy? I'll admit that fumbling by one's left thigh for the 'bar' of pressurisation switches in the Hunter was not the most ideal thing to be doing immediately after take-off but, in my opinion, the Hawk's system sounds far better i.e. you didn't have to do anything and it worked perfectly.

[dmussen]

The Gnat was a thing of beauty and a joy for ever as opposed to the
hunchbacked fat-ar#ed Hawk. I am a tad one eyed on this one.
D.

[FATTER GATOR]

And once you had finished flying for the day, you could just pop your Gnat back in the toy box until tomorrow.

Great aeroplane. Are there any still flying in the UK?

[CoffmanStarter]

FG ... They sure do :ok:

Civilian Gnat Display Team (http://www.gnatdisplayteam.com/About-us.html)

Best ...

Coff.

[Pontius]

The Gnat was a thing of beauty

A thing of beauty? You'll be telling me you're a Dockers supporter next :yuk:

[Kluseau]

"The only civilian supersonic jet aerobatic display team."

Was/is the Gnat really supersonic? Or does that rely on pedalling hard down a steep hill?

[Wingswinger]

In a dive. Just like the Hunter....and the Harrier.

[dmussen]

Let me see if I can get this one rightish.
Full power at 40K plus.
Half roll and let the nose drop gently.
Whilst the pilot's notes refer to a shallow dive seeing the Irish Sea at 30-40 degrees nose down was,indeed most exciting.
Me-Mach 1.12. She went through smoothly but the recovery was a bit "wobbly".
Close throttle slowly and put out the doors.
Everything in the middle and apply a wee bit of G.
One then had to show patience whilst the little girl pitched quite markedly like the proverbial nodding donkey. Two goes and then back for tea and tiffs before we ran out of motion lotion.
Got awfully close to Dublin once and wouldn't that have been fun. Dropping a boom on the paddies would have been most gratifying.
Davey.

[P6 Driver]

In a dive. Just like the Hunter....and the Harrier.


And at least one Victor!

[dmussen]

P6,
I did experience Mach 0.92 in a B1a in the hands of a student captain on 232. Our instructor chuckled and asked if we could see the pods on the wings. Of course we couldn't see a thing given one's field of view from the black hole at the front end. It was slippery up stairs but a shocker at low speed/low level.
D.

[dmussen]

Pontius,
I support Australia and Ireland playing union. Ireland,of course, takes preference when the two meet. Otherwise any team that can give England a good hiding gets my support. As for the Dockers I am not impressed by blokes getting about wearing their sister's shorts and after 30 years I still don't get the rules.
D.

[BEagle]

Yes, climb to FL400 with Western Radar. Then with full power, roll inverted to 30º below the horizon, roll erect and allow the attitude to increase to 40º nose down. Watch the IMN, once supersonic (no drama and only a hint of transonic jump*) check pitch behaviour, then roll left through 300º to recover from a 60º steep turn to the right....

Except for one chap on our course who got a bit disorientated and pulled through to level flight part-way round the roll, recovering very low and going like the clappers well over the Pilots Notes limit. Fortunately without damage.

It was a pretty uneventful affair, all in all. But getting the Hunter GT6 supersonic was a bit more interesting - I felt like I was standing on the rudder pedals and it wasn't anything like as effortless as it was in the Gnat.

As for 'booming the Paddies', I went up on a partial air test with Puddy Catt one day in a T7 which had been snagged for an aileron restriction. After levelling off, he checked the low speed behaviour at a very low speed, the poor old jet was buffeting and shaking, but Puddy was happy. Then he looked around and muttered "There's the bugger!" before setting up a supersonic dive over the Fishguard to Rosslare ferry...:ok:

Does anyone know how Puddy is these days? Last I heard he was still his typical self enjoying life in contented retirement.



*I did actually see transonic jump once - in a Phantom whilst chasing a Jaguar formation...at about 250 ft over Jockistan. Sorry, ospreys....:\

Oh - and M0.9rather-a-lot in a Vulcan, nearly booming Bawtry in the process after I thought I knew a better way of descending from FL450 than advertised...:eek: