Pilot September 2017

W

hen I first
started as a
motoring
journalist
decades ago
there were many sleepless
nights brought on by the
excitement and anticipation
of driving a new high-
performance car. A Ferrari
on Monday meant little
sleep Sunday night. Today
there is still a buzz, but not
the debilitating sense of
excitement−not least
because these days there is
rarely the thrill of the
unknown, except for ultra
high performance hybrid
cars which offer a different
sort of performance at a
different level. But last
night, so Mrs Goodwin
reported this morning,
there was a lot of wriggling
and movement. Perhaps in
my subconscious I was
trying to get into a G-suit.
I grew up knowing all about the Folland
Gnat, as it entered service only three years
before I did. It was of course the Red
Arrows’ mount before the Hawk entered
service in 1979. For a budding RAF pilot in
the ’60s and ’70s it would have been your
port of call after the Jet Provost and before
the Lightning, Phantom or other front-line
fast jets. I have never flown in anything
like this aeroplane and my only first-hand
experience of jet propulsion in such a
direct sense was when I drove the Vampire
jet car in which Richard Hammond made
his first and most famous attempt on his
own life. The acceleration was vivid and
I’m expecting similar from the power to
weight ratio of the 4,520 lb thrust Rolls-
Royce Orpheus turbojet and the 9,520 lb
MTOW (max takeoff weight) Gnat.
It’s very tight in the back of the Gnat−
almost claustrophobic. The whole aircraft is
tiny, with a wingspan that at 24ft is a foot
narrower than my RV-7’s. It feels tight and I

can see why my pilot Edwin Brenninkmeyer,

who is 6ft 5in, is restricted to the front

cockpit. He has given me a very thorough

briefing about the procedure for ejecting from

the Gnat that included the advice to keep

elbows in on the way out. (I learn afterwards

that Brenninkmeyer was measured up before

joining the team and underwent a ‘seat-pull’,

being hoisted from the aircraft, complete with

seat and equipment, effectively replicating the

full ejection path from the cockpit to ensure

safe ejection.)

More important instructions: I must not

touch anything in the cockpit except the

joystick and throttle because it is extremely

easy to disable some of the front cockpit’s

controls, which would mean that

Brenninkmeyer might end up in the

horrendous situation in which he’d have to

sit there helpless while Goodwin did the

landing. In this instance I feel he would be

well advised to eject!

Motoring journalist, RV builder and pilot Colin Goodwin

relishes the chance to fly the Folland Gnat, former

RAF trainer and first Red Arrows’ mount

By Colin Goodwin

Like a Red Arrow

Colin Goodwin | Gnat pilot

http://www.pilotweb.aero Pilot September 2017 | 25

Pilot and trustee Edwin Brenninkmeyer has to squeeze

his 6ft 5in frame into the Gnat

Most rear cockpit instuments are familiar,

except the Mach meter. Colin was instructed

only to touch throttle and stick!