The Folland Gnat; Sabre Slayer 

Former RAF pilot here - I did my advanced training on the Gnat T1 at RAF Valley in 1974 and flew 70 hours in them. One didn't so much get into a Gnat as put it on. They were terrific fun.

As an Indian, I have a lot to thank the midge Gnats for and obviously a lot of emotion riding with it. I daresay the gnats, though not intimidating in appearance like todays machines, epitomized the best of pure childlike adventure and the quintessential pilot's dream, at the same time sounding the death knell for adversaries of the time. BTW, it is the only fighter to have featured in a tiny Indian postage stamp that did tremendous rounds during my chidhood years and I used to peer closely to make out its details. Today, thanks to you Ed, I came to know so much more. I love this bird.

The Gnat had a roll rate limiter. The Red Arrows founds out that if the fuse carrier for the limiter was removed, they could get an even faster roll rate for displays. On this becoming known by someone in admin, they received a stern notice from the Air Ministry that the fuses were to be replaced; they did so, but put blown fuses in the fuse carriers.

We were equipped with Gnats and we turned paxtani sabres into pile of nuts and bolts with this jet.

In 1955 I worked as a lathe operator, my first job on leaving school. I turned Steel pins for the ejector seat on the Gnat. I was 15 at the time.( hope they were alright. )

I recently purchased a Gnat, XR9897, ex Red Arrows and YellowJacks jet and imported it to New Zealand. The reassembly starts mid August, covid bubbles permitting and the plan is to display at airshows here and to do adventure flights. I have some photos if anyone is interested. Great video too, really enjoyed it👍

The Folland Gnat DID serve as a Carrier based Fighter, at least in the Historical Documentary "Hot Shots"

I used to know a man who flew these in the RAF, and he said "you don't climb into a Gnat, you just strap it on", my father was an ATC cadet at RAF Hullavington in the 1970's on Annual Camp and the Red Arrows, then based at RAF Kemble, gave a demonstration display of their program (using it as a training exercise), he said it was the finest display he ever saw them do, and he saw many later on. He said that compared to the other RAF aircraft of the time when you stood alongside the aircraft it was the only one he could look directly into with out climbing up, and he was actually taller than the cockpit, he was 6ft 4 inches tall. He loved the Hawker Hunter, and the Black Arrows display team, of Hunters, but always had a smile when he mentioned that lovely little bird the Gnat. It was one of the few to have Anhedral wings in that they went down at a steeper angle than most and it made the aircraft have a much better rate of roll. There were other display teams that flew the Gnat before the Red Arrows, my father mentioned the Yellowjacks or similar.

The Red Arrows with the Gnat were absolutely breathtaking.

Folland Gnat, the little fighter that could! I remember being wowed by the Red Arrows in their Gnats back in 1974. Ray Hanna (ex Red One) said that even for an average sized pilot, it was a tight squeeze in the cockpit, and anyone over 6ft tall couldn't fit in at all.

Definitely one of the "if it looks right, it is right" aircraft.

Gnat is the 2nd most known fighter jet of Indian air force ( 1st mig21s). But the jets are most legendry one.....it can be seen in every indian air force station, one is 200meters from my house ............

Gnat is the spirit animal of Indian ADA and HAL.. They used a lot of Gnat's design philosophy in their 4/4+ lca tejas.. Even today the Indian aeronautical scientists talk about gnat endearingly..

gnat is one of the best looking jets ever

Imagine ur chillin in a Sabre in the late 70s, waiting to get ur hands on the new F-100, and all of a sudden, an 8 meter long fighter with an afterburner travelling mach 1.5 nails your engine with a Red Top missile. Would have been a bloody incredible craft more than capable of dunking on any other light fighter designs had the F.2 and the twin engine variants come through.

Ah, the Hot Shots jet. I remember being very surprised to find out they were an actual aircraft that saw service, I'd always thought they were props for the film, at least in part because of how small they were.

I can remember seeing the Red Arrows in their Gnats flying their demos over a small Belgium airfield (think it was Brasschaat) that hosted an always impressive anual airshow, and boy did they fly low with those Gnats! And at that time, it wasn't a problem to fly over the public and so they did; and so low that all light weigh stuff would be blown away by their 'wake'; very impressive!! Aah, those were the airshow days! :-)

When I worked at Lufthansa in London in 1969 an Anglo Indian lady in the public relations dept. told me her brother in the Indian Air Force shot down a Pakistani Sabre in the 1965 war. He flew a Folland Gnat. After landing he drove over to see his downed jet and was horrified to see the dead pilot in the cockpit. He resigned his commission and emigrated to Australia.

Finally, a good video about Gnat in RU-vid. Bless you, Ed

One of my favourite aircraft......a flying Lotus.

Fun fact:the only IAF pilot ever to recieve highest gallantry award was flying a GNAT to defend the Srinagar airbase. Flying officer Sekhon went against 6 F-86 Sabres and shot down 2.

A very good friend of mine , we worked together also . Was so taken with this aircraft , a model of one was placed on his grave . He was a good bloke and what he didn't know about aircraft was not worth knowing , I miss him .

I had the dubious honour of grabbing a back seat flight in one of these at Cranwell in 1971 / 72. I always worked on the principle if you don’t ask you don’t get, so tongue in cheek I asked a Red Arrows flight instructor if I could get a flight. To my amazement he said yes . 2 hours later I was putting on my Folland gnat - as stated elsewhere you didn’t get in these things you wore them like a very tight jacket. A quick sortie over Lincolnshire and several ‘ many rolls and loops later it was thankfully over. Hard to imagine in thousands of miles of clear blue sky getting claustrophobic.

I grew up with the Gnat. I was born in the mid sixties so when it came to my first Airfix kit it had to be this aircraft. The kit lived up to it's big brother's party trick. That is "Small, light & easy to build". I remember trying, and failing, to keep the polystyrene cement off of that nose light. But then, the colour scheme was easy! Humbrol Signal Red No.174 😃

If you ever get the chance to see one of these display, just do it... honestly, you won't be disappointed. They really are possibly the angriest and most dramatic little things and so endearing somehow. When you hear those old RAF boys talking about "beating up an airfield", referring to flying low and fast in an aggressive manner, this was the aircraft that phrase should've been coined for. When they come in to display, their entrance isn't all graceful like a Hunter or Canberra, oh not at all! These things come streaking in with a crescendo of noise, all chaos and marginally controlled violence and just rip across the display line before carving their way through a turn. A beautiful bit of engineering and as someone else said, the Lotus of the skies. I wish it had been taken those extra steps forward, but like many other British engineering successes, it will forever be a "could've been" and we love it

As a young kid of 9 years old, I remember seeing a 'dog fight' in the outskirts of New Delhi in 1965. I was going to add a comment about the Pakistani suspension of reality, but then saw that someone had already taken care of this uniquely Pakistani trait!

I fondly recall seeing the Gnat at air shows in the Red Arrow livery as a boy. They always were the highlight of the BBC Farnborough Airshows coverage.

Saw one in the Indian Air Force museum in New Delhi in the 70s. Was amazed at how tiny it was. A 'petite' little airplane.

I remember, long time ago, (I was visiting Palam Air Force base with my Dad), where a Gnat was displayed. For some reason, this had to be moved to different coordinates, and I saw two airmen just push it out to the desired location! It felt as it they were pushing a car out of a parking lot. It must have been fun to fly this "motorcycle of war planes"! And ofcourse, for all us Indians, it will always be remembered along with Flt. Lt. Sekhon.

The most gorgeous little fighter. I have flown more hours in these than any other jet aircraft.

i love this jet. ive been waiting 7 years for it to come to warthunder

I grew up around Foland's factory in Hamble. The Red Arrows did an amazing display over the factory and my school in the late seventies to commerate The Gnat.

All Indians have fond memories of the gnat.. spectacular plane and great video.

Some years ago here in Finland, there was a former FAF Gnat in private ownership, waiting for a full restoration. I am not aware of that project's present status but, it would be so cool to see it airborne once again.

In one of the last air displays at Cranfield University before (despite being the UK's Aeronautical University) flogging off a large tract of its runways the was a Gnat. The pilot (I think a private owner) was very enthused to demo the Gnat's STOL ability and lifted the nose really early.......... Blowing a surprisingly long trench out of the surface of the runway. It was wonderful to behold.

One gnat is kept in the garden near my house in Chembur Mumbai India . Acharya garden Chembur. As I child I loved visiting the garden and see the fighter aircraft.

As a kid, I always heard great stories about fighter GNAT from my father who was from the army. And on display of this retired jets, I always admired how good it looked. Im sure it's the smallest jets I have seen so far and definitely must have been very agile, sabre Slayer.

When I was 12 years old and a keen aircraft spotter I remember looking up into a clear blue sky one hot Summers evening and seeing this small, gleaming black swept wing aircraft flying overhead. I did not recognise it and it was dwarfed by two observation planes close by (one I think, was a Vickers Viking) I lived near Langley airfield and was quite used to seeing Hawker Tempests and Sea Furys doing pre delivery circuits as they were manufactured there. The national press the next day stated that it was the Folland Midge. I cant remember what I did yesterday but I do remember that.

I was aware of the Gnat but not it's development history. Fascinating video. Very entertaining and informative. Thanks!!!!

My father was at boscome down with a squadron in 1954, he saw the first folland midge fly and the EE p1.

When they say the Gnats were Sabre killers, they are not joking.

Beautiful aircraft, thank you for the presentation.

Love the video. Just the right length and amount of detail!

Spent 1965 at Valley working on the Gnat remember taking up the floor in the rear cockpit good job I was young and flexible could change nose wheel by just turning it away from you. They lost 3 aircraft in that year!

I am happy that after years of scouring youtube for plane, ships and tank documentaries there are still things that can surprise me. Good job on a fighter i never new existed :)).

Did undercarriage functional's on a Gnat as part of my trade training at RAF Halton, they have a quirky air-brake system, basically the main undercarriage extends/drops half way out...saw the Red Arrows when they used them, beautiful little aircraft.

Nice to know more about the Folland Gnat.

Martin Baker had to make special ejector seats for the Gnat as the cockpit was so narrow. The Red Arrows found you could roll the Gnat in under 0.25 of a second.

The first and only time I saw the Folland Gnat was at Dulles International Airport at the "Transpo" (short for Transportation Exposition) in 1970. The RAF Red Arrow flight demonstration team flew an absolutely beautiful program that day. I still have a framed 8 X 10 inch photo of the team that I took that day hanging in my recreation room. I've seen quite a few demonstration teams since - the US Navy Blue Angels, the USAF Thunderbirds, and the RCAF Snowbirds - and the Red Arrows with their Gnats performance that day was right up there with the best of them! The Gnat was definitely a great plane, one which should have had a great export market for developing nations. That said, India did a great job making the Gnat - and their later HAL models made in India - a front line fighter that could hang with just about anything in the sky!

That shoot-down footage of the F-86s seems to show a couple of 30mm Aden impacts. BOOM BOOM and done. The Aden was no joke. Starts at about 7:10

There is a Folland Gnat on display in a park in Mumbai.I was astonished at the size, it about the size of a medium sized bus.

This is freaking brilliant and I've never heard of this aircraft. Thank you for this video!

First jet i saw as a child, there are 2 in my home town one in the park and one in the museum. We also had a chapter on its exploits in 1971 in our schooling days in middle school

I always loved the look of the Hunter and Swift, i never knew the Gnat existed until now but darn is it cute

Phew ok well Folland gnat is seriously great part of our aviation history so thumbs up for this video

3:08 now I understand why the Gnat was small in comparison to the F-86 Sabre and the CL-13 Sabre

Cool little jet, very nimble flyer.

Topper Harley's ship...legendary machine, legendary man!

Always wanted a good video on Gnat. Thank you.

Fun fact: Petter was one of a group of staff very popular with the ladies of the typing pool at Follands. Along with Petter there was Dave Cuddle, Irishman Con Lingus, Phil Fingerer and Peter Phister.

It had its own make ejector seat as has been mentioned, but the cockpit was so small only people below a certain height, or with short legs were allowed to fly it. I got this from a 6ft2in airframe fitter who worked on them at RAF Valley in the 70's. He was pissed off as he was unable to have a trip in one unlike some of his shorter mates.

Those Red Arrows low passes made my heart shrink. Ballsy.

Great video about a superb (and beautiful) classic. Thanks.

What a neat little plane. Even if it wasn't a massive success, it's great to see unorthodox ideas given a chance to prove their worth. Thanks for sharing.

I remember them well, I used to go to lots of airshows back then and the Gnats always put on the best performances, the Red Arrows were much better in the gnat than the Hawks. Petter was a real genius and if I was rich I would have a Gnat a Whirlwing and a Canberra in my hanger.

As a child in the 1960's I remember seeing one inside of a Liverpool department store 'Lewis Bros'

The Folland name lives on in the Folland Sports FC Football team who play in the Wessex League. Nickname ‘The Planemakers’. Might be imagining this but thought they once had the Gnat as a shirt badge. Certainly isn’t the case anymore.

Used to love it during my time at RAF Akrotiri when the Reds came across for winter training. I even got to sit in one on one occasion & was given a guided tour of the cockpit by one of the pilots. A truly great aircraft

I had the Airfix kit in the late sixties; it looked the biz.

I only knew of the Gnat, as being a trainer and as the plane that was the red arrows planes, so this video with the extra information, has made my day better, and it’s not just the ten minutes of the video...... Because I am going to be doing some digging into the gnat and a couple of other planes that I like, to see what I can find, and I am also going to be getting the name of the designer, to look into his career if I can, too............

An RAF vet once joked with me that the fun to be had getting into the cockpit was the origin of the phrase "Tighter than a Gnat's chuff." RIP 'Bristol' Bob.

YOU sir, GET IT ! The whole John Boyd and fighter mafia message. Thank you for this.

It's Not About Aircrafts Technology It's About Pilot Skills. 🙏🏼😎

India's LCA is a very small aircraft. The design requirements stipulated that it should be light because of India's excellent experience with the Gnat.

As flown by Red-Arrows. I remember them flying over our farm on their way to RNAS Culdrose. They were amazing!

I grew up near RAF Valley where Gnats and Hunters were used for fast jet training. Always been a fan and this video was wonderful!

Many hours in those gorgeous little jets. Part of the advanced course at Valley had three ship exercises. Instructor in one: students in the other two. The Instructor would 'stand off, and observe. The instructors could take a passenger ..... me :).... for a jolly while the students did their exercise. As a Cpl RWC, I was well known and trusted. I learned aerobatics !!

My uncle worked at Folland's, wonderful little plane.

Great aircraft, saw them in Red Arrows guise, superb

finally the sabre killers. .nice jet .proof that size doesnt always matter

Excellent tribute. I’m old enough to have seen the Gnat being thrown about the sky by the Red Arrows a few times, and to have made a few of the Airfix kits. Didn’t know it’s history though, especially as a combat fighter, so this video is a very welcome addition to the canon ... 30mm Aden version, of course! Your comments about the designer were also intriguing - I wonder if you have time to do a full biographical episode on him. And then a series on similar characters perhaps. No rush ...

Nice film and really interesting. A wonderful little aircraft and I have hugely fond memories of watching the Red Arrows perform at airshows in my early childhood. I have also chatted with one of team members from those days who confirmed the story about pilots pulling a circuit breaker to massively increase the already fast roll rate! It was strictly forbidden and the engineers always knew when they had done it....didn't stop them doing it though! BTW...'Folland'...rhymes with Holland....just saying. Thanks for great little documentary on this excellent little jet.

Great video Ed !

Awesome work Sir thank you

Excellent videos, Ed!

A small mistake in the video was "The sabre killer" title that the gnats earned in 1965 indo pak war...This title was not given to Gnats by the Indians but by Pakistan airforce after they lost 3 F 86 Sabres on the same day loosing 3 ace pilots ...!! Rest all info was nice... 👍

As a young boy I saw the Red Arrows display in Gnats a couple of times. I have an old picture I took of half a dozen Gnats in yellow livery lined up too from around the same time. I thought it was a super little jet, but my 1st love, and still is was the Lightning which I also display with a sonic bang in a climb.

Forever immortalized in that most excellent of air combat films, 'Hot Shots!'

I always thought this was such a cool little plane ever since I discovered its existence.

A Folland Gnat crashed right in front of me as a small boy back in the sixties, a very sad day. This was at RAF Sealand . The pilot had a reported an engine fire, very common on this aircraft apparently and could not make a landing at Hawarden. I’m not sure if the pilot survived as it hit a grassed over camouflaged fuel dump or water tank, can’t be sure. This childhood memory still hurts, I still hope to this day that the pilot survived. A large proportion of Gnats produced were lost to accidents .

A very interesting video. Have a good one Mr.Nash.

When the Red Arrows flew a display over water they could get very low. Once in a display over Fowey harbour I was in a dinghy when they did the head on pass (don't see them do that any more?) Right over us and we were covered in the Gnat's paraffin exhaust , unforgettable!

I saw Gnats being assembled at the Hamble, Hampshire factory in the early 1960's. Our tour party was on the mezzanine floor, and looking down we saw that the final stages of assembly consisted of mating the nose section (cockpit area) to the main wing and engine section, and finally the tail. This last seemed to be connected to the centre section by 3 large metal pins. Two of them lined up perfectly, but the third would not quite meet up with its socket. The foreman walked to the side and returned with a fine adjustment tool - a large rubber-headed sledge hammer. One well-practised blow to the tail section solved that problem!

Beautiful aircraft designed by the unsung hero of the British aircraft industry

The March Air Force Base Museum has, or had, one of these. It was amazing to see how small it really is. That said... Small but DEADLY.

Worked on the Gnat T1 as an engineer at RAF Kemble, on 4 Sqn and Red Arrows. It helped to have arms with half a dozen joints and tiny but strong hands.

An aircraft that is mostly known by sight as the plane of Topper in Hotshots is actually quite a capable airplane.

This was a nimble fighter that blunted american f86 sabre

Beautiful. The first red arrow model I made as a boy 😃 I loved it. I saw them flying. Pocket rocket ❤️

Loving this. Cracking video.