FOLLAND GNAT

Title: Folland Gnat Nos 1 and 2

The Gnat was designed to be small and economical, yet capable of high performance. The prototype first flew in 1955, when it demonstrated performance impressive enough to warrant the manufacture of six test aircraft for the Ministry of Supply. However, the British government subsequently lost interest in the Gnat as a possible fighter, deciding instead to employ it as an advanced two-place trainer. For that role, Folland installed a second seat, a larger engine, a different wing and tail, and revised control-surface installation. The plane entered production as the Gnat T.Mk1 but not until Folland was taken over by Hawker Siddeley at the insistence of the British government.

In the meantime, however, Folland sold 13 Gnats to the Finnish Air Force, which kept them in service until 1974. Two Gnats were also sold to Yugoslavia, but the bulk of sales went to India, which purchased 40 airframes in various stages of completion and built another 175 under license.

We offer two titles for the Gnat which includes flight manuals (titled Pilot’s Notes) for both single and two-seat versions of the Gnat plus two manufacturer’s brochures. The flight manuals have been scanned from the original manuals and retain any colour pages.