At about 3pm on Saturday afternoon, two new residents arrived at North Weald – Folland Gnats XR993 and XS111. They had flown in from Cranfield.
Both are finished in all over red schemes, they looked great taxying in together after landing and parked up outside the hangar, steaming gently in the cold afternoon air, with that unmistakable ‘jet’ smell! They may be joined at a later stage by a Hunter.
The pilots were ferried over to Cranfield in a Westland Wasp around lunchtime, just before Rob Davies departed back to Woodchurch in his P51 ‘Big Beautiful Doll’, which had been at NW for all of last week.
I managed to take some pics. It is certainly a strange sensation to look down into the cockpit from ground level.
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By: YakRider - 11th November 2002 at 09:25
RE: RE Kennet’s New Base ?
Stringbag
Sorry, I didn’t manage to get any of the Wasps. One was parked out on the apron when I arrived and I was planning to takes some shots on my way back, but it didn’t work out. I’ll try this coming weekend if the hangar is open.
Thanks for your kind comments guys, it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time for once! The P51 departed just before we went flying and the Gnats arrived just after we got back.
YR
By: Ant.H - 11th November 2002 at 00:03
RE: Gnat gear as air brakes
Hi Glen,I’d be very interested to see those Air-Air Gnat pics,thanks for the offer.My E-Mail addy is:
Mr_Chutney@yahoo.com
Thanks again. 🙂
By: Glen - 10th November 2002 at 20:54
Gnat gear as air brakes
Ant,
Just to confirm that all 3 undercarriage are used as airbrakes. There is a lever in the cockpit that allows the gear to be set at the mid point as well as fully down. I have a couple of A-A pics detailing this if you wish me to send them to you?
By: stringbag - 10th November 2002 at 19:13
RE: RE Kennet’s New Base ?
Yakrider
Do you have any photos of the Wasps that arrived on Thursday with the Gnats?
Very nice pix 🙂
M
By: Ant.H - 10th November 2002 at 15:44
RE: RE Kennet’s New Base ?
Thanks for those Yakrider,some very nice shots mate 🙂 This month’s Aeroplane Monthly has an excellent feature on flying the Gnat with some beautiful air to air shots of G-RORI in her new 1970’s training colours (as opposed to the black/red flames pattern she wore until recently-ergh!!)One thing in this article I am dubious about is that it states that the undercart double as the airbrakes,whereas I always believed it was just the mainwheel doors.Does anyone know which is true?
By: Glen - 10th November 2002 at 11:28
RE: RE Kennet’s New Base ?
Yes, Kennet are re-locating to North Weald from Cranfield for the same reason that the PFA rally is moving to Kemble. There is some major development work about to start at Cranfield and this involves the area where Kennets hangar is.
By: David Burke - 10th November 2002 at 11:08
RE Kennet’s New Base ?
I believe that Kennet are departing Cranfield before the end of the year posibly – I wonder if this movement has anything to do with it?
By: A330Crazy - 10th November 2002 at 10:36
RE: Another classic pair at North Weald
Some absoulutely excellent shots there! 🙂
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November 10, 2002 at 9:09 am