Indian Air Force Folland Gnat (Sabre Slayers)

The Folland Gnat is a British compact swept-wing subsonic fighter aircraft that was designed by W.E.W. Petter and subsequently developed and produced by Folland Aircraft Ltd. The Gnat had its maiden flight on 18 Jul 1955. Although never used as a fighter by the Royal Air Force, the Gnat became well known due to its prominent use as the display aircraft of the RAF's Red Arrows aerobatic team. The Gnat F.1 was exported to Finland, Yugoslavia, and India, with the Indian Air Force becoming its largest operator. The first flight of Gnat (IE-1059) took place in India in early 1958. The first Gnat assembled by HAL flew in Bangalore in November 1959 and the first completely HAL-built Gnat flew in May 1962. The Gnat had a high ‘thrust to weight’ ratio, giving it quick acceleration and good turning performance. The first solo flight on the Gnat was always an exhilarating experience, with the pilot being surprised by the tremendous acceleration during take-off and the high rate of climb. Night flying on Gnat was very limited because of poor cockpit lighting. Also, the cockpit heating for high altitude flying was poor, which called for the pilots to wear several pairs of woolen socks under their boots when going for a high altitude sortie. The Gnat was the backbone of the Indian Air Defence both during the 1965 and 1971 wars. During the two wars, Indian pilots flying the Gnat shot down 11 Sabres and one Cessna and hitting close to a dozen more PAF aircraft including Mirage-III and F-104 Starfighter.