Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Photos of warbirds, classic jets and museum visits
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planenuts
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Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by planenuts »

Hi chaps,

One of my favourite types is the classic Hawker Hunter, and having seen more than a few over the years, with lots of different locations and colour schemes, I thought I'd share these with you. Some have moved, some have not, some have gone completely. But there are some historic aircraft, when you know it just looks right......you can't get enough of them. This theory will now be tested, with 101 (no, not Dalmations).....Hunter pics.

They are in absolutely NO order at all. Pick your favourite scheme.......

First off, a little selection of operational ones, when the RAF/RN still had some knocking about.

XL602 at Yeovilton 1993. This is the only flying shot I have of a Hunter operating with a British Armed Force
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XL564 at Boscombe Down 1990, crashed at BD during 1998
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XF310 at Boscombe Down 1990, on loan from RN to MoD at the time. Now privately owned in Australia
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XE601 at Boscombe Down 1990, in her original colours. Now privately flies out of Istres, France
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XL563, XE601 and XL564 (I think) together at Boscombe Down 1992.....how many times do you see that ?
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J-4029 Swiss AF at Boscombe Down 1992, with the old Army Lynx team, name anyone ?
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XF967 at Finningley 1992, now privately owned in South Africa.
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XL563 at Finningley 1992, now at FAST museum, Farnborough.....I know, more Raspberry Ripple.....(mmm, ice cream) :icecream:
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XL586 at Biggin Hill 1989, now at Wickford
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XL614 at wet Mildenhall 1988, crashed in USA 2003
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WV318 at Biggin Hill 1988, still flying privately out of Cranfield (I think)
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WV363, at Yeovilton 1988, crashed Hebridies 15/02/1992
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A good way to end this section......5 x RN Hunters at Yeovilton their home in 1993
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Now, the rest are a right old mixture of statics and flyers over the last 25 years.......enjoy.

E-421 at Brooklands 1991, when it was still in a spurious RAF scheme
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The first one......WB188 (original) at Cosford 1989, now on loan at Tangmere
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Q-10 ex-Qatari AF at Elvington 1992, now painted in Dutch AF as N-268
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WT651 at Newark Museum 1992
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ET-272 (sort-of) composite at Biggin Hill 1989, now in similar pose at Bournemouth-Hurn
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XG254 at Weybourne 1991, now at Flixton Museum
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G-BOOM (ET-274) at Yeovilton 1993, now in Jordan with Historic Flight as 800
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WT612 at Newton 1999
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XF509 at Marfleet 1999, now at Fort Paull
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XL621 at Brooklands Museum 1999, now at Dunsfold......I know, more RR :icecream:
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E-421 again, at Brooklands Museum 1999, now in more authentic Danish colours
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XF527 at Halton
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721 (J-4025) at RIAT 1999, now in Jordan with Historic Flight
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J-4103 at El Toro show USA 1996, no idea where it's based
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XF314 (E-412) at Tangmere Museum 1999, now at Brooklands Museum (I think)
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3 x twin-sticks at Biggin Hill 1999......not sure about the serials, XL573 / XL602 perhaps ?
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XF995 at Kemble 2001, still flying based at Scampton
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XL612 at Kemble 2001, now at Swansea Airport. This was the last public appearance by MoD Hunter, flying straight back to BD into retirement
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WV318 again, at Kemble 2001, (still) still flying out of Cranfield
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XJ615 (XF375) at Kemble 2001, now based at Leeuwarden, Netherlands at N-321
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WB188 (imposter) at Kemble 2001.....hands-up, actually don't know the real identity of this one.........HELP !! :dunno:
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J-2001 (??) at Kemble 2001......was based in Switzerland, now in USA as N325AX
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E-402 at Bournemouth-Hurn 2001, now at Paintballing Centre, Ashbourne, Ireland (as yer do....)
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J-4201 at RIAT 2001, based at Sion, Switzerland
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J-4015 at RIAT 2001, based at St. Stephen, Switzerland
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XF516 at Kemble 2001, crashed off coast of Wales 1/6/2003
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WT723 at RIAT 2001, based at St. Athan
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XF515 at RIAT 2001, based at Leeuwarden, Netherlands as N-294
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RIAT 2001, 5 x flying Hunters in sunshine......nothing more to add
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WT569 at Kenfig Hill, Wales 2001......please, paint it
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....like that. XG164 at Wellington 2002, now at Davidstow Museum
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XF321 dismantled at Exeter Airport 2002 (yep, RR :icecream: ), before it got even smaller. Nose at Welshpool
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XJ639 / WT699 at Exeter Airport 2002, both now at Womerley Diving Centre......one went in (XJ), one stayed out (WT)
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XL568 at Cosford 2002, now inside, suspended, and repainted in silver
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N-138 preserved at Leeuwarden, Netherlands 1994
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(most of) ID-26 at Koksijde, Belgium 1994, now at Beauvechain (still dismantled)
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ID-123 preserved at Koksijde, Belgium......in better health
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ID-44 at Savigny-Les-Beaune Museum, France 1994
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XE601 again, at Yeovilton 1994
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XL591 at Gatwick Museum 2006
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XL623 at Woking 2004......only interesting thing there
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WV383 at FAST Museum Farnborough 2004.......trivia quiz question : please name the colour scheme :biggrin:
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WT680 at Fleet Hargate 2004
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XE683 (E-409) at Norwich Museum 2004
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N-315 at Long Marston 1997, now at Netherley, Scotland
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WT804 grazing at Moreton-In-Marsh 1997, having a cow identity crisis
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WV276 at Duxford 1997, now at museum in Germany in a much less interesting scheme.....shame
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XL587 at Duxford 1997, now at Scampton
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XE668 at Predannack 1999, now in even less pieces at paintball park Marksbury
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XE689 and friend at North Weald 2000, now at Kemble
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XF526 at Birlingham 2000......beautiful location. The farmer/owner chatted to us in his tractor while we took piccies.....surreal
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XG210 at Beck Row 2000......no point mentioning the colours
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(E-424) at Doncaster Museum 2003
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XF324 at Bruntingthorpe 2003, now privately owned.......somewhere else (don't know)
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E-423 at Lasham 2000.....completely no idea where this one is now, hopefully not scrapped
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J-4022 and friend at RIAT 1994 from photobus, last Swiss appearance.......one of my favourite moments, there was a BEAR sat right behind
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J-4022/5/30 Pat Suisse at RIAT 1994.......nuff said
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XE677 at Biggin Hill 1994, crashed near Dunsfold 5/6/1988
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WT720 (E-408) at Sealand 1998, now in same pose at North Scarle
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XK149 at Bruntingthorpe 1998, reduced to nose privately owned Calhoun, Georgia USA
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XL603 at Bruntingthorpe 1998, now at Richmond, Wisconsin USA
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J-4072 at Speyer Museum, Germany 1997
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XF418 at Hermeskeil Museum, Germany 1997
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XG225 at Cosford base 2002, now in museum
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WN904 at Waterbeach, now at Sywell Museum
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XX467 at Kemble 2002, now at Bruntingthorpe
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WV396 at Valley 2004
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XL618 at Caernarfon Museum 2004 (nice backdrop), now at Gutersloh, Germany
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XG254 again, at Flixton Museum 2004
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FR.10 composite (too long to explain) at Long Marston 2004, now at East Midlands Aeropark
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XL578 (back end of XG290) at Kemble 2006, current location : dunno
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XL586 again, at Kemble 2006, now at Wickford
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XL592 and shy friend, at Kemble 2006, now privately owned Maidenhead
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WT806 at Shoreham College 2008, now at Bruntingthorpe
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XE624 at Metheringham 2008, now at Wickenby
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XL577 at RIAT 2008, now in Jordan
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WV318 again again, at RIAT 2009, yep based at Cranfield
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G-PSST (XF947) + gatecrashing Spitfire at Biggin Hill 2010 the last big show there, based at St. Athan
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WV372 at RIAT 2011, crashed Shoreham 22/8/15.........RIP the 11
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J-4206 at RIAT 2011, based in Switzerland.........enter the tiger
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Hunters x 5 at RIAT 2011.........yum
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ZZ190/1 (J-4066/58) at RIAT 2011, operated for the MoD, based at Scampton
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XE665 at Goodwood 2014, now at Kemble
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XF375 at Old Sarum Museum 2014.......perfick
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WB188 (XF300...imposter no.2) at Melksham 2015
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Finally, to finish, my 2 favourites.........

WT660 at 'Cullen' Scotland 1998....really it was 5 miles away on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Took 3 hours to find it. Worth it.
I found a grumpy little man banging away on a Merlin engine in a shed, and I knew I'd found the right place. Now at Inverness Museum
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XE601 and XL612 (?) arriving at RIAT, don't know which year, don't care........nice Raspberry Ripple x 2 :wink:
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PHEW !! How's the numb bum feeling ? C + C welcome as always.

Happy snapping chaps,

Rupe
Name someone who loves you enough to die for you. I can only think of 1.......there is only 1

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Daz
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by Daz »

Mmmmm Hunter's :drool: Now that has made my evening :)
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AndyXH558
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by AndyXH558 »

I love a bit of hunter porn. Just a note the Qatari hunter at Elvington is in Qatari af colours once again. However she's having a bit of tlc to those colours at the moment due to a bad job being done
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capercaillie
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by capercaillie »

Just to disappoint you, the first pic of XL602, was serving with British Aerospace at the time and not with 899sqn like the other two T8Ms. Then again you have XL612 and XE601 arriving at Fairford in I would guess 1994, when XE601 flew in the display and XL612 was the spare, while they were at Boscombe Down with ETPS and A&AEE. :smile:
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Russ
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by Russ »

Epic collection. Thanks for taking the time to share them. :clap: :cool:

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boff180
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by boff180 »

Great set.

RE: Koksijde...

The gate guard on the plinth was not there last week, just the plinth. We couldn't locate it on a perimeter drive around.

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ipso
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by ipso »

Kemble 2001 imposter was WV256. Now at Coventry?

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Wyvernfan
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by Wyvernfan »

Yes many thanks for taking the time to post them!


Rob

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planenuts
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by planenuts »

Thanks for the feedback, chaps. It took a long time, but very satisfying all the same.
Ref. XL602, oh well, life's too short to dwell on disappointments.....just seeing flying Hunters is enough for me to get happy !

Can't believe no-one noticed I actually only posted 100 pictures, not 101 (really slack, that.... :grin: ). Here's the missing one......

WW654 at Ford in 2000, at what was the entrance to former FAA station HMS Peregrine. The sort of W&R fodder I'll go miles to find
Image

Rupe
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Blackdog
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by Blackdog »

A great read! Thanks for putting this together.
If you like helicopters then have a look at my Flickr here; www.flickr.com/photos/111508006@N07/

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planenuts
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by planenuts »

Hi chaps, was looking through list of extant Hunters on Demobbed, and in particular the more elusive ones. Wondered if anybody knows the exact location of and/or got a photo of either of these at their current locations. I've got the urge to go and do some Wrecks and Relics hunting, and these are on my list......

WP185 F.5. in Great Dunmow area, Essex
XG274 F.6 in Newmarket area, Suffolk

Thanx in advance, chaps.

Rupe
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N48284
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by N48284 »

Great set, The 4 Lynx in the shot at Boscombe Down were the Silver Eagles, 1992 was their 25th year so they ditched the Gazelles and had all Lynx instead.

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Ian G
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by Ian G »

Well that's a nice 20 minutes of work I haven't done! :grin:

Loved looking at these images, I am sure I've said before and I profusely apologise but I never realised how beautiful Hunters are until just a few years ago. . . . right, back to work!
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jag636
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Re: Hunters.....Lots Of.......Get Comfy

Post by jag636 »

Great post and loads of pictures but XX467 is now at newark on our flight line next to lightning T5 and Jaguar T2 along with NF14 meteor its grand sight all those trainers together great :clap:
Member of Newark air museum and trustee/acquisitions officer just trying to save what we all love and thats history

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