RAuxAF Folland Gnatt F.1 Now Finished

[Mossie]

Fight to the death!

[NARSES2]

Fight to the death!

Especially after yesterday's result 

[NARSES2]

Not as much progress as I would have liked as I got involved in something else yesterday.

However I have got an overall coat of varnish on her, went with satin, and have written the back story.

[Mossie]

Fight to the death!

Especially after yesterday's result 

And they pretty much slaughtered City!  Not really surprised to see them go down, they would have still needed a miracle if they'd won today.

[NARSES2]

Yup, mind you if Hull had of won or even drawn Palace were in deep-doo-dah 

A lot of happy, smilling faces around here yesterday afternoon 

[nighthunter]

Hey Chris, how much did the kit set you back? I've been looking for a F.1 to make it Rhodesian.

[JayBee]

From Hannants in the U.K. £11.99.
Here's the link


https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SH72137

[nighthunter]

Cool, thanks JayBee!

[KiwiZac]

I've been looking for a F.1 to make it Rhodesian.

This is a plan I like a lot!

Any more updates Chris?

[NARSES2]

From Hannants in the U.K. £11.99.
Here's the link


https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SH72137

Yup and worth every penny  They do a couple of boxings and going by the loads of spares you are left with plan a few more.

[NARSES2]

I've been looking for a F.1 to make it Rhodesian.

This is a plan I like a lot!

Any more updates Chris?

She's finished Zac (as is the Maggie) just need to sort photos out. Probably the weekend as I'm busy over the next couple of days

[NARSES2]

The Historical Background

On the 1st March 1957 the Daily Telegraph's headline read "British Forces To See Further Huge Cuts – Concerns that they will be able to defend The Realm".

Now the Telegraph had already been campaigning about previously announced cuts in the UK's armed forces, including the disbandment of the Royal Auxiliary AF (RAuxAF) due for the 11th March, but this headline took the argument to a whole new level.

The source of this headline was a leaked copy of a White Paper that the Secretary of State for Defence, Duncan Sandys M.P., was due to present to Parliament later that month. The source of the leak ? To this day no one knows for sure, although there has been much gossip, speculation and rumour over the years. It has spawned quite a few books and a couple of films plus in recent years a purported Docu-drama on national t.v.  Subsequently there was a full Government enquiry and a more secretive enquiry conducted by the Security Services. Both of these submitted full and detailed reports, but unfortunately for the historians amongst us both of these reports are embargoed until midnight on 31st December 2050.

It wasn't the source of the leak however which immediately concerned Duncan Sandys but the absolute furore that ensued from it. The following day the rest of the Broadsheets immediately ran with the story, attacking the Government for this "dastardly attack on our brave and loyal armed forces". Indeed even the tabloids picked it up and some suggested that if these plans were carried through in their entirety they could have a serious impact on employment opportunities in some key industries. One tabloid, ever mindful of what its readership was really interested in, even managed to work Diana Dors into the story. How ? Not even the editor was sure about that, but it made good copy and hey, it sold newspapers.

  Three days after the leak Sandys made his first public announcement and said that he would not be commenting on any rumour or gossip (the Diana Dors story again ?) to do with his impending White Paper . He did however, in a sop to the Telegraph, state that any previously announced cuts to the military would be suspended pending publication of the final White Paper.

So on April 2nd 1957 the Right Honourable Duncan Sandys M.P., Secretary of State for Defence stood at the Despatch Box and delivered his White Paper. It had been heavily rewritten since the leak and whilst still containing details of some cuts to the armed forces and a major announcement to do with the restructuring of the U.K.'s Aerospace Industry, these cuts were relatively minor when compared to those that had been "announced" by the Telegraph. He finished his statement by stating that the Telegraph had got hold of a very early draft of one of the options presented to him by his advisors and that it had never been his intention to go that far, although as a responsible Secretary of State he felt compelled to consider all the options no matter how unpalatable they might be. He also announced the Parliamentary enquiry into the leak, The Security Service enquiry was never officially announced nor acknowledged.

So what was in these final proposals ?  The Army would see some cuts to its overall strength, with the loss of some well known units and regiments, although surprisingly the Telegraph editor's old cavalry regiment had been reprieved. These reductions were not as drastic as initially planned however. The Royal Navy likewise would see reductions in both the number of ships and its personnel. It was the R.A.F. however which had been due to suffer most severely from the "draft" paper and whilst it would still see reductions in aircraft, personnel and bases it considered that to a large extent it had been reprieved. The strangest section of the White Paper however was undoubtedly that part which cancelled the impending disbanding of the RAuxAF .  The  RAuxAF  would be maintained, albeit at approximately half its previous active strength and indeed tasked with the air defence of a large part of the United Kingdom. There has been much speculation over the years for this strange reversal of what, too many, seemed a perfectly logical and sensible decision, but no one has been able to come up with a conclusive answer. Indeed one well respected author of a book on British political history of the 1950's/60's even went as far as to mention the Diana Dors link. It has to be said that Harold Macmillian as a newly installed Prime Minister of a Government still reeling from the Suez fiasco and perhaps already aware of the events that would eventually lead to the Profumo affair decided to avoid any possibly avoidable scandals ?  Again, unfortunately these papers are embargoed until 2050.

So were the Daily Telegraph and the rest of the broadsheets placated ? (The tabloids were already more fascinated by the impending F.A. Cup Final between Aston Villa and Man Utd) Somewhat, but by then the headlines were all about the recent North Sea oil strikes and the "Golden Age" that this would bring about. Now although this was in large a measure a pipe dream it did have the more immediate effect of making some of the recent defence spending plans in the White Paper more palatable to H.M. Treasury and indeed would put off the inevitable until the late 1960's when the twin problems of manpower and financed again raised their ugly heads.

The Future for the RAuxAF

So given that the RAuxAF was to be saved, albeit in a slimmed down form, the question arose as to with what was it to be equipped ? It couldn't continue to fly the various marks of worn out D.H. Vampire that it currently flew that was for sure. Indeed the growing obsolescence and cost of their replacement had been a major reason behind the proposal to disband the service.

Fortunately a readymade, cheap, solution was to hand and the fact it was cheap impressed the Treasury. In July 1955  Folland had demonstrated their new lightweight fighter, the Gnat. The RAF had tested the aircraft later that year and whilst rejecting it as a fighter had requested that Folland develop a twin seater for its advanced trainer requirement. Other countries however had found the new fighter ideally suited to their requirements and orders had been placed by both Finland and India, Indeed India was in the process of gaining a manufacturing licence. Of these orders, those for Finland were the most advanced and the RAF Procurement branch with the aid of the Foreign Office simply diverted these aircraft to the RAuxAF.  These were to serve as an interim fighter until such time as the RAF could agree its final requirements with Folland. The Finns were placated with generous compensation and a good deal on the eventually improved RAF version, indeed the aircraft eventually entered service with the Finnish AF in January 1959, only six months latter than the original planned in service date.

These initial aircraft, always regarded as a purely interim measure, entered service with the RAuxAF's 608 North Riding Squadron in the Spring of 1968 and were immediately tasked with the air defence of a large swathe of the North East coast. The Folland, latter Hawker Sidley, Gnat would go on to see service with the  RAuxAF until its eventual replacement by the HS Hawk F.1 in 1974. It would also see exports to numerous overseas Air Forces as well as Finland and India. To a large extent these exports came about on the back of the RAuxAF's use of the aircraft. The mantra of "why should we buy it when you won't" not being heard by the Folland or HS sales executives as they travelled the world.

The marks that saw service were as follows.

Gnat F.1 : The initial type which only saw service with the one squadron, 608, and was the simplified design as intended for the Finnish AF. Indeed it has often been suggested that many of the stencils adorning the aircraft were in Finnish !

Gnat F.2 – This was the design as tweaked to accommodate the RAF's specific requirements. Visible differences were in the position of the pitot tube, a new ejection seat various lumps and bumps to do with communications equipment.

Gnat F.5 – The definitive variant with improved more powerful engine and the ability to carry the Sidewinder short range IR missile amongst the more visible changes.

Note the F.3 was the planned naval version, whilst the F.4 was schemed around a larger, more powerful engine with a different wing. Considered too expensive and dropped in favour of the F.5




Some historical notes

North Sea Oil. The UK Continental Shelf Act received the Royal Assent in May 1964 and the first two wells were sunk latter that same year. Both of these proved dry but in September 1965 the first commercial strike was made in the B.P. West Sole Field so I've only brought this event forward by 7 years or so. I was surprised to discover that the first commercial extraction from the coastline of the North Sea was in 1851 in Scotland and then in 1859 in Germany near Hanover. So bringing it forward a little isn't as far fetched as I initially thought.

The 1957 Defence White Paper was far more complicated than I've portrayed it and I've deliberately ignored the "manned v missile" debate

Diana Dors. For the non British and younger members of our group was a late 1940's/1950's British film starlet/sex bomb depending on your choice of newspaper and often portrayed as Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe.


The Specific Aircraft Modeled.

So here we have a Folland Gnat F.1 of 608 North Riding Squadron Royal Auxiliary AF. It is most easily distinguished from the later F.2 by its long wing mounted pitot probe. The F.2 mounted it under the nose. It also had a non standard RAF ejection seat and more simplified systems. It is seen carrying the standard loadout of two drop tanks and although all four pylons were wet and capable of carrying weapons as well it was seldom seen with anything other than the two tanks. Indeed those fully loaded were almost always seen in the static display area of air shows.

The tiny size of the Gnat gave those in charge of ensuring that the markings it carried complied with official RAF policy a headache. Most of them could be fitted in around certain parts of the airframe but the underwing serials in particular caused problems especially when the RAuxAF got involved. One of the main reasons for the re-introduction of the large underwing serials carried by RAF aircraft post WWII was in order to prevent low flying which had disturbed many a grazing beast, country rambler and courting couple in the past. This had always been seen as almost a breach of their human rights by fighter pilots in particular (even though the phrase would not have been recognised back then) and the small size of the Gnat offered an opportunity.

So this aircraft and those of the rest of the squadron carries some very small underwing serials. The official reason was that the paint shop at Folland's had miss-read the official instructions and applied them in a size that fitted the aircraft without having to remove the pylons in order to repaint them. Unofficially it is reported that a large crate of vintage claret was somehow involved and that the fact that 608's C.O. and a director of Folland's were both members of Oxford's 1938 Boat Race crew is somewhat suspicious.

Anyway as detailed above this was a lovely build and without doubt the best fitting "limited run" kit I've ever built, indeed it's amongst the best fitting kits I've ever built. Paints are my usual mix, mainly Xtracrylic and Humbrol with some Lifecolor in the mix. Transfers are from the kit, those Finnish stencils, the spares box, national markings, and the Revell Vampire Mk 3 for the 608 Squadron bars and badges.

Finished model









Those contentious serials



How small she was. The Gnat posed with my recent MB5

[Gondor]

That's very nice 

Gondor

[rickshaw]

Very nice, Chris.  Diana Dors, hey? 

[TheChronicOne]

Nice work!! That looks awesome... I like the detail in the cockpit.