In June 1958 Yugoslavia purchased two examples of the private-venture Gnat for evaluation, both being delivered by rail. They were flown by the flight test centre but one was written off in a belly landing after a hydraulics failure in October 1958. Although at one stage there was interest in licence production of up to 700 single and two-seater Gnats, no further aircraft were ordered and second-hand F-86 Sabres were acquired instead

The surviving fuselage of RAF Gnat F.1 XK741 has been restored as 'GN-101' of the Finnish AF. The original GN-101 was c/n FL.8 and is preserved in Finland.

Folland-built Gnat F1 single-seat fighter on display at the 1957 Farnborough airshow before delivery to Finland.

The Gnat was an attempt to reverse the trend towards ever more compex fighters. Two were delivered to Yugoslavia for evaluation.