Sea Gnat

[JayBee]

Folland Sea Gnat

In the 1950's, prompted by interest from the Indian Navy, Folland investigated the idea of navalising the Gnat fighter.
They were looking at lots of ways to try and sell the Gnat world wide, the naval version, the Mk5 twin engine supersonic version, and the variable geometry version.
While in the real world all of this this came to nothing, one bit of design work did bear fruit.
The Sea Gnat was to have larger flying surfaces (wings, tailplanes, fin). This design work did not go to waste as it was incorporated into the two seat trainer that was to train a generation of R.A.F. fast jet pilots, and thrill crowds in the hands of the Red Arrows.

That was the real world, but this is WHIF WORLD.
So, what if the Sea Gnat did go into production, and who would have operated it?


This model is based on my fetid imagination, and information provided by our very own TSRJoe.

The starting point is two kits, the Special Hobby F1 and the new Airfix trainer.

In this shot you can see the difference in the size of the flying surfaces.





That's all for the moment folks.

[The Rat]

So, what if the Sea Gnat did go into production, and who would have operated it?

Simple: The Navy!

[JayBee]

No, No, No, that will not work, as that is a T2.

[Captain Canada]

Interesting. Looking forward to seeing how this one comes out.

[kitnut617]

So, what if the Sea Gnat did go into production, and who would have operated it?

Royal Marines  -----   

[Thorvic]

Folland Sea Gnat F1

So, what if the Sea Gnat did go into production, and who would have operated it?

Well you could have the RNVR or a FAA training squadron (700 series) carrying on utilising the Light Fleet Carriers (Ocean, Glory) as Training carriers in the same ilk that France used Arromanche (ex Colossus) or the USN did with Lexington.

The Indian Navy is of course an obvious one although trickier as India worked with both sides in the Cold War, but you could have the Argentine and Brazilian Navies as they both had light Fleets, the Dutch might have replaced their Sea Hawks/Banshees as might Canada instead of going to ASW only in the 60's.

Another option could be Spain (Although supplied indirectly like the Matadors) as they could have got an Independence class light carrier and gone with a minimal angled flight deck to operate in CATOBAR format rather than VTOL. You cold go with West Germany getting a light fleet Carrier, it was proposed after all and could have a mix of Sea Gnat and Wessex helicopters

These are doable as the markings can be sourced as they used a Naval Air Arm, hope they give you some ideas, and most can tie back into Cold War

[JayBee]

Thorvic old chap, please stop reading my mind!
I am planning RNVR.

Sigh, the expectation has now been destroyed. 

Jim

[JayBee]

So, what if the Sea Gnat did go into production, and who would have operated it?

Simple: The Navy!

OK Rattie,

I have been having a bit of a think about that, and the answer is definitely "not a cat's hope in He11".

Reasons :

The photo shows a T2.
The other version of the Special Hobby kit gives markings for one of the aircraft in the film, see here:





That was an Ajeet by the way not a real Gnat.

Both the T2 and the Ajeet that appeared in the film are therefore REAL WORLD, and are therefore not eligible here.

I am planning a true Sea Gnat.  

I have said in my reply to Thorvic/Geoff that I plan to it in RNVR markings, so if anyone out there knows of any RNVR squadrons that had "interesting" markings I would love to hear from you.

Jim

[TallEng]

Try Modeldecal sheet MD056 https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MD056
It's got a 1831 RNVR  Sqn Attacker with a Greyhound as Sqn badge (one version of which
Wears a bone dome) which has an interesting story behind it.
Regards
Keith

[nighthunter]

Or, better yet, make it an Irish Naval Defense Forces Sea Gnat!

[MiB]

I create the livery for FS2004/FSX model   

[nighthunter]

Darth Panda did an excellent rendition of the Gnat F-1 and T-1:

[JayBee]

I have spent several days trying to decide just how to separate the trainer wings for attachment to the fighter fuselage. The easy way would be a simple butt joint, however the way the fighter's fuselage is designed (and I am talking about the model ) does not give much area for such a method of joining to work successfully.
So I decided to cut the wing away following the shape of the fighter's kit wings. This is not so bad as in many ways it is following panel lines, it is just a bit fiddly to do.

In the photo I have already cut the starboard wing away so you can see the shape of the cutting, and I have placed the fighter starboard wing against the fuselage centre section to give an idea of the difference in the wing sizes.

[loupgarou]

Neat job!
It's not easy to go straight, AND with thight corners.Did you use a fretsaw?

[NARSES2]

Tis a neat job indeed, well done mate