(Image: Allen Watkin; Folland Gnat T1 XR954 pictured at Bournemouth in 2007)
In a grassy enclosure on the south side of Dorset’s Bournemouth Airport, on England’s south coast, is a small aviation museum that echoes the site’s original wartime role as RAF Hurn. Among a range of exhibits, which include a Sepecat Jaguar, Hawker Hunter and the cockpit of an Avro Vulcan B2, was the empty shell of a Folland Gnat, a former fast jet trainer which entered RAF service in 1959.
A grand total of 449 Gnats were built during the production run, which included aircraft exported to Finland and another variant – the HAL Ajeet – manufactured for the Indian Air Force. The Folland Gnat pictured above, serial number XR954, is a T1 trainer which entered RAF service in 1962. After many years of dedicated service helping to train the next generation of fast jet pilots, the airframe was withdrawn from flying duties and given the maintenance serial 8670M. Relegated to ground instructional duties for the remainder of its military career, the jet trainer was eventually struck off charge and put up for disposal.
Thankfully the decommissioned Gnat XR954 escaped scrapping and its forlorn hulk eventually arrived at the Bournemouth Aviation Museum on the old World War Two airfield near Hurn. But according to the Demobbed website, the dismantled jet moved on in 2008 and its whereabouts are currently unknown. Wearing the code number ’30’ on its nose, we’re hoping that XR954 one day reemerges in one piece.
(Image: Alan Wilson; the Gnat display team pictured at RAF Waddington in 2014)
Several former RAF Gnats, meanwhile, remain in flying condition and are always a welcome addition on the airshow circuit. Their small size and relative simplicity have not only ensured that a good number of their ranks survive today, but can also be flown in civilian hands. Though the engineless shell of Gnat XR954 may never fly again, a cosmetic restoration would make it a welcome addition to the surviving fleet, wherever it may be.
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