Folland Midge
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| Midge | |
|---|---|
| Type | Fighter |
| Manufacturer | Folland Aircraft |
| Designed by | W.E.W. Petter |
| Maiden flight | 11 August 1954 |
| Variants | Folland Gnat |
The Folland Midge was a small, swept-wing British subsonic light fighter aircraft originally developed as a concept demonstrator for the successful Folland Gnat.
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[edit] Design and development
The Midge and Gnat were the creation of W.E.W. "Teddy" Petter, a British aircraft designer who had gained wide recognition for his design of the English Electric Canberra bomber and Lightning supersonic interceptor. Petter had grown suspicious of the trend towards bigger and more expensive combat aircraft, and he felt that a small, simple fighter would offer the advantages of low purchase and operational costs. New lightweight turbojet engines were being developed that would be able to power such small fighters..[1]
Petter was unable to pursue this vision at English Electric, so he left to become managing director of Folland Aircraft. In 1951, using company funds, he began work on his lightweight fighter concept, which was designated the "Fo-141 Gnat". The Gnat was to be powered by a Bristol BE-22 Saturn turbojet with 16.9 kN (1,724 kgp / 3,800 lbf) thrust. However, the Saturn was cancelled, and so Petter's unarmed proof-of-concept demonstrator for the Gnat was powered by the less powerful Armstrong Siddeley Viper 101 with 7.3 kN (744 kgp / 1,640 lbf) thrust. The demonstrator was designated the "Fo-139 Midge". The Midge first flew on 11 August 1954 with Teddy Tennant at the controls, and proved to be an excellent aircraft.[1]
The Midge had a number of advanced features, such as hydraulically powered "flaperons", main gear that could be used as airbrakes, and a one-piece canopy that hinged over an inner armored windscreen. Despite the low powered engine, the little jet could break Mach 1 in a dive and was very agile.[1]
The Midge was evaluated by pilots from Canada, India, Jordan, New Zealand, and the US Air Force, and was almost universally praised. The Midge had performed a total of 220 flights when it was destroyed in a fatal crash on 26 September 1955, with a Swiss pilot at the controls. However, the Midge had demonstrated that Petter's lightweight fighter concept had much going for it. Folland went on to develop a full-scale Gnat prototype, also using company funds.[1]
[edit] Specifications (Gnat F.1 - for comparison)
Data from The Great Book of Fighters[2]
General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 28 ft 8 in (8.74 m)
- Wingspan: 22 ft 1 in (6.73 m)
- Height: 8 ft 1 in (2.46 m)
- Wing area: 136.6 ft² (12.69 m²)
- Empty weight: 4,800 lb (2,175 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 9,040 lb (4,100 kg)
- Powerplant: 1× Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus 701-01 turbojet, 4,705 lbf (20.9 kN)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 695 mph at 20,000 ft (1,120 km/h at 6,100 m)
- Range: 500 mi (805 km)
- Service ceiling 48,000 ft (14,630 m)
- Rate of climb: 20,000 ft/min (101.6 m/s)
Armament
- 2x 30mm ADEN cannons
- 2x 500 lb (227 kg) bombs or 18x 3 in (76 mm) rockets
[edit] See also
Related development
Comparable aircraft
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d The Folland Gnat / HAL Ajeet, Greg Goebel's Vectorsite.
- ^ Green, William and Swanborough, Gordon. The Great Book of Fighters. St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing, 2001. ISBN 0-7603-1194-3.
The initial version of this article was based on a public domain article from Greg Goebel's Vectorsite.
[edit] External links
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