wing was folded. For additional safety, various measures to reduce potential accident-related damage were incorporated into the design, such as the strengthened crash-resistant structure around the cockpit, and the three rubber crash skids on the underside of the fuselage to minimise damage from a wheels-up landing. The wings of the Balliol feature two-spar construction within an uninterrupted rigid torsion box. Most of the wing's structure comprised pressed light alloys, while an auxiliary spar was used to support the trailing edge skinning and flaps and the forward section accommodated the steel box wells for the retractable main undercarriage. The outer wings were fitted with simple dive brakes, along with conventional inner and outer split flaps that ran as far as the ailerons. While the starboard wing featured a single G45 cine-camera, the port wing featured a single .303 Browning machine gun. The wings were designed to be manually foldable, needing only two bolts to be removed, without affected the control runs. Production Balliols were powered by a single Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which was fitted to the front of the aircraft. The engine compartment featured distinctly different construction from the rest of the aircraft, being composed of light alloys supported by steel tubing; the engine itself was mounted on three struts attached to the firewall between the compartment and the cockpit. The jet pipe was angled downwards, running beneath the cockpit to an exhaust on the lower starboard side of the fuselage, somewhat counteracting the torque generated by the aircraft's three-bladed propeller as well as contributing roughly 20 percent of the aircraft's total static thrust. Access to the engine compartment was provided via numerous detachable hatches on the sides and lower portions. Operational history During 1950, several pre-production Balliols were delivered to the RAF's Central Flying School for evaluation purposes. However, due to the change in air training policy, the Balliol was only ever delivered to a single Flying Training School, No. 7 at RAF Cottesmore, where the type promptly replaced their Harvards. Numerous examples were also operated at the RAF College, Cranwell, until it was replaced there by the de Havilland Vampire T.Mk 11 in 1956. The Balliol also saw limited squadron service from 1953 with No. 288 Squadron, based at RAF Middle Wallop. Operations with the type continued until the squadron was disbanded in September 1957. The Sea Balliol served with 781 squadron at Lee-on-Solent and 1843 Squadron RNVR at