Hunters here and there

[johnwickenden]

and now for something completely different...well, maybe not....but here's some Hunters to feast your peepers on


The Beck Row Hunter, XG210
XG210 by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

Hunter T7 XL621 / G-BNCX at Brooklands way back in 1998
G-BNCX - XL621 by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

another twin stick....XL591 at the Gatwick Aviation Museum
XL591-1 by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

XE627 at Duxford
XE627-Duxford by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

XL592 of the Parkhouse Collection at Booker
XL592=Booker by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

XF300 / G-BZPC masquerading as WB188 outside a car sales in Melksham
G-BZPC-Melksham by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

XF375 at Old Sarum
BDAM-XF375-OldSarum by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

WW654 at the old Ford Aerodrome
WW654-Ford by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

T8 WT799 at the Blue Lagoon Diving Centre, Womersley
WT799-Womersley by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

T7 XL612 when it was at Swansea
XL612-Swansea by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

and here at St Athan in 2017 prior to it's move to France
XL612-StAthan by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

XF418 at Hermeskeil Museum
43-XF418 by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

XX467 at Newark
Newark-XX467-Hunter-010819 by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

F58 J-4085 outside the flying club at Geneva International
J-4085-1 by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

finally T7N outside Alba Power, the Mill of Monquich, Scotland
N-315-Mill of Monquich by Jon Wickenden, on Flickr

[Blue Diamond]

Can't go wrong with a selection of Hunters. I was at Wildenrath back in September 1985 when they rolled out XF418 in its new colour scheme. She's lost her shine since then though.

[Weazel69]

for me personally I have always had a soft spot for the dear old Hunter, whilst being an avid luvva of the F4 - F104 to me the Hunter is one of the best looking A/c
with no stores/tanks aka things under wings. When I started in mid 60's we had West Raynham but obviously travel was different then but at least Coltishall would always have a few at their BoB's.my best times photo wise were at Brawdy 78/79 shows

[The Phantom]

Very nice selection of a beautiful aircraft

[paddyboy]

Hi John

Still one of THE most beautiful aircraft ever designed and built, IMHO

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

[waghorn41]

Lovely set of photos thank you. I worked on Hunters at Wittering 1973-5.

[F3]

Simply one of the best looking aircraft ever designed.

[Nighthawke]

The Hunter was/is certainly a beautiful aircraft and looks good in just about any colour scheme. Good selection of images to brighten up the day a bit.

[Imac]

Nice set from 'memeory lane' John. I seem to have a distant memory of a display team which use to fly Hunters or "was I only dreaming" !!!!!! Nice aircraft, thanks for sharing.

[johnwickenden]

Last display team was either the Patrouille or, if British, The Blue Herons (FRADU) I believe

[eLaReF]

Last display team was either the Patrouille or, if British, The Blue Herons (FRADU) I believe

According to Wiki the Suisse last flew Hunters in 1994
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrouille_Suisse

But I saw these at Duxford April 1998 although it wasn't a show that day
J-4021 Hawker Hunter F.58 c/n 41H-691770 by eLaReF, on Flickr

Hawker Hunter Line-Up by eLaReF, on Flickr

This page suggests 1986, for the Blue Herons, the team having been resurrected for 2 displays only.
http://www.fradu-hunters.co.uk/fraduhnt/hunthrn2.html

This is presumably the Blue Herons at Greenham 1977 but I just have 'FRADU' in the header

FRADU Hunter 4-ship landing by eLaReF, on Flickr

[eLaReF]

Nice set from 'memeory lane' John. I seem to have a distant memory of a display team which use to fly Hunters or "was I only dreaming" !!!!!! Nice aircraft, thanks for sharing.

There was, of course, 111Sq looping 22 Hunters at Farnborough as The Black Arrows & 92 Sq The Blue Diamonds

[Imac]

Thanks John and 'eLaRef' for the confirmation. It was the 'Back Arrows' I was thinking of. I also recall the Suisse operating the type. Nice additional shots.

[MRTT]

Lovely set, one of the most beautiful aircraft ever built, IMO.

For what it's worth, G-BZPC has since departed Melksham, although it's current location is unknown.

[eLaReF]

Flickr has an add-on called Dopiaza which generates albums and keeps them up-to-date as you add photos, depending on the criteria you set.
It may have lost the functionality of updating automatically, recently, but this is my 'Hunters' album it created from all my albums.
Note - Purely for fans of the Hunter!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/elaref/al ... 1137679336