Folland Midge

infobox Aircraft
name = Midge
type = Fighter
manufacturer = Folland Aircraft


caption =
designer = W.E.W. Petter
first flight = 11 August avyear|1954
introduced =
retired =
status =
primary user =
more users =
produced =
number built = One
unit cost =
developed from =
variants with their own articles = 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.

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.. [http://www.vectorsite.net/avgnat.html The Folland Gnat / HAL Ajeet] , Greg Goebel's Vectorsite.]

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.

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.

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.

pecifications (Gnat F.1 - for comparison)

aircraft specification

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=jet

ref="The Great Book of Fighters" [ Green, William and Swanborough, Gordon. "The Great Book of Fighters". St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing, 2001. ISBN 0-7603-1194-3.]

crew=1
length main=28 ft 8 in
length alt=8.74 m
span main=22 ft 1 in
span alt=6.73 m
height main=8 ft 1 in
height alt=2.46 m
area main=136.6 ft²
area alt=12.69 m²
empty weight main=4,800 lb
empty weight alt=2,175 kg
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
max takeoff weight main=9,040 lb
max takeoff weight alt=4,100 kg

engine (jet)=Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus 701-01
type of jet=turbojet
number of jets=1
thrust main=4,705 lbf
thrust alt=20.9 kN

max speed main=695 mph at 20,000 ft
max speed alt=1,120 km/h at 6,100 m
range main=500 mi
range alt=805 km
ceiling main=48,000 ft
ceiling alt=14,630 m
climb rate main=20,000 ft/min
climb rate alt=101.6 m/s
loading main=
loading alt=
thrust/weight=
avionics=
armament=
*2x 30mm ADEN cannons
*2x 500 lb (227 kg) bombs or 18x 3 in (76 mm) rockets

ee also

aircontent
related=
* Folland Gnat
* HAL Ajeet

similar aircraft=
* Northrop F-5
* T-33 Shooting Star
* T-38 Talon

lists=

see also=

References

External links