TheFolland Midge was a small,swept-wingBritishsubsonic lightfighter aircraft prototype originally developed as a concept demonstrator for the successfulFolland Gnat.

The Midge and Gnat were the creation ofW.E.W. "Teddy" Petter, a British aircraft designer who had gained wide recognition for his design of theEnglish Electric Canberra bomber andLightning 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.^[1]

Petter was unable to pursue this vision atEnglish Electric, so he left to become managing director and chief designer ofFolland 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 aBristol BE.22 Saturn turbojet with 3,800 lbf (17 kN) thrust. However, the Saturn was cancelled, and so Petter's unarmed proof-of-concept demonstrator for the Gnat was powered by the less powerfulArmstrong Siddeley Viper 101 with 1,640 lbf (7.3 kN) thrust. The demonstrator was designated Fo-139 "Midge". The Midge,serial numberG-39-1, first flew on 11 August 1954 fromBoscombe Down, Wiltshire, withTeddy Tennant at the controls, and proved to be an excellent aircraft.^[1]

The Midge had a number of advanced features, such as hydraulically powered "flaperons", main landing gear that could be used as airbrakes, and a one-piece canopy that hinged over an inner armoured windscreen. Despite the low-powered engine, the little jet could break Mach 1 in a dive and was very agile.^[1]

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.^[2] 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.^[1]

Original film footage of the Midge can be seen in the 1956 British science fiction filmSatellite in the Sky. The Midge portrays a fictional jet fighter used to test an experimental rocket fuel.

Data from The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft^[3]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 28 ft 9 in (8.76 m)
• Wingspan: 20 ft 8 in (6.30 m)
• Height: 9 ft 3 in (2.82 m)
• Wing area: 125 sq ft (11.6 m²)
• Airfoil: RAE 102^[4]
• Gross weight: 4,500 lb (2,041 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 ×Armstrong Siddeley Viper 101turbojet engine, 1,640 lbf (7.3 kN) thrust

Performance

• Maximum speed: 600 mph (970 km/h, 520 kn)
• Service ceiling: 40,000 ft (12,000 m)

Related development

• Folland Gnat
• HAL Ajeet

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Lockheed T-33
• Northrop F-5
• Northrop T-38 Talon

• Folland Midge
• Gnat Mk 1
• Folland Midge and Gnat

The initial version of this article was based on apublic domain article fromGreg Goebel's Vectorsite.

• Flightglobal 1954 (pdf) Image of Folland Midge,Flight magazine, 1954

• 1950s British experimental aircraft
• Folland aircraft
• Single-engined jet aircraft
• Aircraft first flown in 1954
• Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear
• Shoulder-wing aircraft

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• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from July 2017
• Use British English from July 2017
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