Officers!
 

Slouching, hands in pockets, wearing hats out there on the apron, what an example to the troops!:(

Yes, because they were embryonic fighter pilots, the cream of British youth, who had worked hard enough at school to be photographed in casual pose in front of a Gnat!

I don't think that the anal hats ban came in until several years later?

Although the picture does have a bit of a 'boy band' look to it.....:\

4 FTS colour schemes
 

Most of them looked like this:
File:Folland Gnat T1 XR 977 46.4 FTS Valley 03.09.67 edited-3.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
IIRC fleet no 48 was one of the first red/white painted Gnats, but I am losing my memory fast.

MR ----

Quite correct, as ever, in your research. As for the memory, join the club!

mike rondot, thanks for that photo! I flew my first Gnat solo in XR977 some 8 years after that photo was taken; of course by then it was in 'raspberry ripple' colours.

Great times!

Gnat Thigh Length
 

Does anyone know what they thigh length measurement was and how it should be measured? I'm looking at buying a Gnat but don't want to lose my legs!

16 ship Photos.
 

Wander00,
No luck with the photos yet. I was in the back seat of yellow1.
On the Sunday of the actual flypast we went U/S on trying to start up. A frenzied sprint for the reserve, which was at the far end of the flightline, was followed by start up and taxi as considerable speed and then playing catch-up over Menai Straights .
We caught yellow section over that long lake south of Snowdon and finally got "in" as the formation was turning in for the flypast.
On returning to Valley we were the first section to break from zeroish feet. What a way to spend a Sunday. The ensuing party was a fitting end to a wonderful day.

Per Ardua Ad Louhgebar.,
D

After viewing some of the superb Gnat images on this thread, I realised this wing would be much better on the new Cessna Scorpion! :ok:

Went to the RAFA Sud Ouest Christmas lunch near Cognac last week, and met a former Valley QFI and early Reds team member, T.. N..... Also, a day later suddenly unearthed my Red Arrows 25th Anniversary "silver" mini salver.


ISTR the Gnats were red and white in first half of 66 when I was a stude - but then I am not sure what I had for breakfast. Hmm, "breakfast", what is that..........?

Thigh length for Gnat
 

@nigeleyre

I was trained on the Meteor because my thigh length was too great for the Vampire T11.

I flew the Gnat front and back at Little Rissington without the subject being brought up.

I hate it when some skinny bugger has been flying before me and you have to let the belt wayyyy out to get it on. At least in the 28 you can move the seat back and forwards with the lap strap done up. How many times have you climbed into a Cessna with the seat full back, done the straps up and then tried to move forward? Then undo them all and start again...

I remember the Gnats at Cosford when I was there as an instructor. We used to taxi them around so that the studes could get some marshalling practise in. Not the biggest of cockpits as I remember and it had that 'door bell' chime warning sound which always sounded very dainty to me. Should have been a great klaxon sound blaring away. The anoraks kicked up a fuss when we painted out the names of the pilots on the side and put the instructors' names up for a lark...:)

Iah yes, bats in hand, Instructors/wannabee pilots following your EVERY instruction, up to the point where it was dangerous to continue, which usually meant a few "father like" words from the Instructor stood beside you! Also sitting in the back of the Gnat doing engine runs, whilst your oppo was "controlling" it from outside...happy days!

Dave,

Been there, done that! However, I've always felt more comfortable with the idea of the lap straps being attached to the floor in a Cessna rather than attached to the seat in a Piper.

Bah humbug. You bring this thread up again and there it is, dust in the air again...................

A couple more recent pictures of the North Weald Gnats

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...pse27a6894.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ps85558b1b.jpg

RD :ok:

Pure magic. Many thanks

Out of curiosity, were the tanks on the Gnat fixed "slipper" tanks or true "drop" tanks?

They don't have any fins at the back end to prevent tumbling which I associate with proper drop tanks. I do know :ok: that when the Hawk entered service the legs it had compared to the Gnat was huge, such that the Hawk didn't give the studes a true awareness of fuel burn, even at low level, and so never needed drop tanks unless on a long ferry flight.

MB

The Gnat external tanks were simple slipper tanks and could not be jettisoned in flight. Each tank only held about 525 lb of fuel though!

The real one looks just a bit bigger than the one I had... but only a bit.
http://www.oldmodelkits.com/jpegs/Ai...t%20Bagged.JPG

Thought one of the shots at the start of this thread looked familiar -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7357115...57621593778810http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...Graphic1-1.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7357115...57621593778810

"Twitchy" Ganat
 

The reason the Red's Gnats weren't twitchy was because they had the Mark 4 Hobson unit with reduced sensitivity unlike the valley Gnats which had the Mark 5.

Explains my crap formation flying then!

Helppp! Orpheus engine airframe set up
 

Hi all,

Long shot!

We're currently trying to help a gentleman set up an Orpheus Engine and he seems to have got himself in a bit of a pickle to say the least!
We've been helping part time from a manufacturers in kind point of view however what it really needs is an entrepreneur who owns say a Gnat and has the engine/airframe set up manuals and would be king enough to scan in a page or a so!

It’s for a worthy project – Project Blue bird!

Regards
Spannerless:ok:

whatsinaname at hotmail co uk

Maybe worth a look.

Download Aircraft Engines Manuals - Bristol / Bristol Siddeley Aero-Engines - Aircraft Reports - Aircraft Helicopter Engines Propellers Manuals Blueprints Publications