SH72370 1/72 Ajeet Mk I Indian Light Fighter
In 1950, WE Petter, who was famous for designs such as the Lysander, Whirlwind and Canberra, joined the Folland company. By this time modern jet aircraft were becoming bigger, more complex and more expensive as their performance increased, and as a result the development and operating costs were rising too. Petter decided to pursue a different approach to the modern jet fighter philosophy by designing a lightweight fighter aircraft, which was to have been powered by a pair of low thrust turbojet engines, although this was later changed to a single power unit as the power output of jet engines increased. Choosing to build this new jet aircraft to the smallest overall dimensions possible and with only the very basic equipment required for the job kept the price down to only a third of that of a standard jet fighter bomber of the day yet it would offer similar performance to these much bigger and more expensive jets. The initial design incorporated a pilot lying in a prone position in the nose of the aircraft and a twin engined configuration that was used in the Fo.139 Midge test aircraft, which had been designed and built to assess the aerodynamic features of the future Gnat.