Hunter people!

[Tim McLelland]

Okay, okay, I'm on the scrounge again!

Any former Hunter pilots or groundcrew out there? Or anyone able to point me to some?

I want to get some nice personal accounts in my Hunter book, rather than subject readers to another retread of just the Hunter's development and service history!

Any help greatly appreciated!

[email protected]

[orgASMic]

Have you tried Delta Jets at Kemble? They still operate a couple of Hunters. They are at www.deltajets.com (http://www.deltajets.com)

[Widger]

FRA at Bournemouth have got one as well!

[Tim McLelland]

I did try Delta but they don't seem interested. I'm chasing the Bournemouth (Scampton) Hunters though:)

[hunty]

It might be worth trying Hunter Flying, who are based at Exeter. I know there are a few pilots there who might be able to help you.

Hunty

[ZH875]

You cannot fit an oversized bag, containing the pilots clothes for a week away, in the nosewheel bay of a T7, without a good kicking which broke his bottle of aftershave. :\

Still the pilot insisted the bag was to go in. :p


There was a T bird at Lossie which took off, and when he landed, the pilot complained that the aircraft flew strange, and there was also a fuel problem.

He looked at the aircraft and was amazed to see that he only had one underwing tank. The other underwing tank fell off just short of Duffus Castle.

The aircraft had just had a mod to the weapon system, (to disable something) which resulted in a 'sneak circuit' feed to the jettison circuit on one side, thus when undercarriage came up, tank 'fell off'.

[fantom]

You can, however, fit fifty crayfish tails in the sabrinas and a few Kg of very dodgy indian fireworks into the bay of a Mk 9 and take it the length of the Gulf @ about M0.9.

The crayfish tails get mashed by the airflow and the fireworks get overheated.

I know this to be true.

[Wholigan]

So you do - fantom - so you do!!!!

[Old Ned]

Spent a 2-year tour (736 days actually) on 8 Sqn 1964-66. Anyone other pruners out there then? Old hands may have a few good yarns. Stn Cdr was the then Gp Capt Michael Beetham. Know him now as president of 50/61 Sqns Assn. Said he remembered me (thank you, sir, you certainly tore a strip or 2 off me). Graham Williams (ret 2*) and Kip Kemble (ret 3*) both on sqn then.

ON

[jindabyne]

So, Old Ned - be you one of this motly lot? Many yarns indeed - including having the pleasure of being reprimanded by the good Gp Capt for inadvertently loosing off a 3" RP across Khormaksar's runway whilst parked on the pan - almost collecting a DH on an unsuspecting Shack about to lift off. Many, many more - for instance there was this 208 4-ship en route to Masirah from Sharjah at low level, with Wholi-mate floating along behind when ----- but that's another story!
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c192/jindabyne/001.jpg

Back row, L to R:

Chris Hulse, Mike Flynn, Dick Wharmby, Mike(?)Garrity, Pete Sturt, Alan Dix, Kip Kemball, Andy Bell, Mal Grosse, Dai Rastall

Front row:

Graeme Williams, Tam Syme, Kiwi Hounsell

[Warmtoast]

Just thought I'd add a rather evocative photo from my collection of one of the Hunters of the aerobatic team that performed at Abingdon familes day in summer of 1959.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/HunteratAbingdonFamiliesDay1959.jpg

[Dick Whittingham]

Does anyone recall the Bruggen wing flypast in '56/'57 that ended in disarray?

Wooly Bear Gasson and I were not of the chosen few that day, and were playing tennis when the wing returned. The cloudbase was so low we had to serve underarm and we listened awe-sruck to the noise of all those bleed valves opening and closing as the wing passed overhead. Later, at Wahn, the controler was commended for the speed at which he could reload and fire green verys as the wing came in from all directions and slid to a stop.

Was anyone airborne on that trip?

Dick

[Gainesy]

The cloudbase was so low we had to serve underarm :)

Linebook!!:ok:

[ATR42300]

Old Ned

I have sent you a PM.

[mystic_meg]

be you one of this motly lot?

Is the guy 3rd from left, back row related to the guy on the right in the front row, or are they just extras from "Day of the Jackal?" :ok:

[Tim McLelland]

thawes, that Hunter shot is great - what a nostalgia rush. If only modern air shows were that much fun!

[Tim McLelland]

Thanks for the feedback so far - much appreciated.

Anyone out there who flew/worked on Hunters with 4FTS at Valley or 1TWU at Brawdy? Or even more obscure, 2TWU at Lossie or 45/58 Sqns at Wittering? Doesn't seem to be much information floating around about these units and their activities (apart from very general stuff).

I'd also love to find a former Black Arrows or Blue Diamonds pilot to get some info on their activities... any pointers??

Cheers!

[Roland Pulfrew]

Jindabyne

Slightly off topic (sorry Tim) but what a great photo. Just goes to show that you couldn't get a bunch of aircrew to wear the same uniform back then either. :ok: I count at least 4 different versions there......

Plus ça change...

[jindabyne]

JP
My fading recollection was that your dress of the day resuted from budget/tailor/batman/laundry/starch merchant. Footwear was either polished black/desert boots/flying boots/batman. IIRC the only attire that was sort-of-standard was mess kit - but that could vary from cheap white denim to sharkskin. Nobody gave a monkeys! I once recall returning to Aden after a spot of leave with my new, expensive Hush-Puppies ( to be worn with cavalry twills of course), only to find that batman (Ghaleb) had given them a decent coat of brown polish the morning after. Happy days.
TM - PM me with your more specifics: I have many recollections - and lots from Aden/Bahrain/Chivenor/Valley - and a few from WR.

[brickhistory]

"Hawker Hunter: Biography of a Thoroughbred" by Francis Mason is another excellent Hunter book.

[BEagle]

Well, I flew the wonderful Hunter at Valley (Hunter refresher when jindabyne was a QFI!), TWU at Brawdy on 234 (another superb outfit), then went to Wittering to join 58 Sqn as the last $hag JP posted to a Hunter squadron.....

....was the idea. Unfortunately 'they' wanted to pinch half of the 45/58 fleet to bail out the engineers at Brawdy. Our gleaming F(GA)Mk9s were all in excellent fettle, compared to the scruffy things at Brawdy. The Boss was told of the idea, and said "If you're going to pinch half my jets, there's not much point in the squadrons carrying on for another 6 months. "Funny you should say that", 'they' said - and brought the axe forward 6 months. So back I went to Brawdy to await another posting - but at least got to fly the well kept Wittering jets after the guys flew them over to Pembrokeshire International!

[charliegolf]

Any truth in the story that the cold war Germany Hunter jocks had to practise flying with an eye patch in case of flash-blindness; and that they practised landing on taxyways in case of runway damage?

CG

[ATR42300]

Hi all

Please accept apologies for a slight divergence of the thread but would like to make contact with anyone who flew XJ646 in Aden in 1966-8 it isshortly to go to the Malta Air Museum and they wish to contact ex crews etc

[NutherA2]

[Any truth in the story that the cold war Germany Hunter jocks had to practise flying with an eye patch in case of flash-blindness; and that they practised landing on taxyways in case of runway damage?
QUOTE][/QUOTE]

Not in my time (Jever 1956/57)

[SNator]

I was the pilot of that T bird. We, the CIRE and me, took off and as you said the tank fell off as the wheels went up. Being a QFI, I kept the ball in the middle and trimmed it all out. The Hunter like most old a/c would fly quite happily in odd configurations. After the climbing turns(an IRT remember) we levelled at F200 for steep turns and the fuel check revealed one white dolls eye (no fuel,or no tank!!). While we thought about this, ATC came up and mentioned that something might have fallen off!! A look out of the window revealed the missing tank, my side, so we did a quick LSHC and landed.

[ZH875]

SNator,

At least I had some of the details correct, but I definitely remember the tank had fallen off.

IIRC it was a TACAN fuse that had been repositioned which allowed power to the jettison line on that side of the aircraft, several other aircraft were affected, but had not flown at that point.

[nipva]

Have sent you an email

[harrier]

To Tim McLelland,
I spent a large part of my service as an aircraft fitter on or around Hunters in the 60's. Two and a half years on 20 Squqdron in Singapore and three years at Halton as a technical instructor. Can I be of assistance?

[Tim McLelland]

Certainly - all contributions gratefully received as they say. Although I obviously have to run the usual story of the Hunter's development etc., I want to try and include as many personal accounts as possible, so that the book is a decent read, rather than just being a re-tread of the same story!

Thanks for all the feedback so far guys - much appreciated!

[normally right blank]

Any truth in the story that the cold war Germany Hunter jocks had to practise flying with an eye patch in case of flash-blindness; and that they practised landing on taxyways in case of runway damage?
The eye patch was indeed in fashion in the 60'ties. 730 Sqn RDAF, F-100's, flew with them. (What if there were 2 unplanned flashes?:ooh:)
They also flew excercises in Army "battle dress" instead of flying suits, and according to a nice cartoon looked like a bunch of "Castro's"!
A few Hunters landed themselves after the pilot left them. One Danish Hunter ended up intact on the runway, gear up, at Skrydstrup. At one point the rogue Hunter pointed at the Tower and caused a hasty exit by all.
P.S. Normal to mark out strips of usable runway/taxiway. Easier if you had a Harrier!:ok:

[cliver029]

Any truth in the story that during the Indonesian confrontation an Indo Mig 17 tangled with a 20 Sqdn Hunter resulting in said Mig badly damaging the ground.

[NutherA2]

"Any truth in the story that during the Indonesian confrontation an Indo Mig 17 tangled with a 20 Sqdn Hunter resulting in said Mig badly damaging the ground."I was on 60 Sqn at the time and I don't think there can be any truth in the story. If there had been any conflict with Indonesian Migs I'm pretty sure 20 would have mentioned it; our occasional contact with Indonesian Badgers was always well publicised.

[Wingswinger]

Hello Tim,
I flew Hunter F6/6A/FGA9/T7s at a TI/QWI at TWU RAF Brawdy 1979-82. What sort of book are you writing and what sort of stories are you looking for?
WS

Ps I've got one or two photos as well.

[Green Flash]

I knew a guy who worked on one of the quads at Cowden many moons ago. He told me of a Hunter doing shallow (practise) dive bombing on the land targets, hitting the wrong button, blowing the tanks off and spectacularly sending quite a few yards of cliff into Bridlington bay!

[blaireau]

Jindabyne. Can you publish the names of the guys in your phot? Could be of great interest to many of us.

Tim Mac. I flew 6,7,9,10,11 and 12 models over a number of years.

[jindabyne]

Done - see my Post No 10

[bug71]

I went through advanced flying training at 4FTS in the 70's at Fairford then Valley.........may be able to dig something out of my logbooks, but can't say it would be fascinating stuff'

[AR1]

http://www.tintagelweb.co.uk/Tintagel%20Plane%20Crash.htm
Thats a good Hunter story - at least no one was hurt. Though I probably took a few weeks off my life with the session in the country club at the end of the first days guard!

[XV277]

IIRC there was gun camera evidence of hits on Yemen Mig 15/17s during the Oman adventures in the 60s, but no known (confirmed?) shoot-downs.

[Knucklehead]

About 10 years ago John Clementson wrote a complete history of SOAF/RAFO culled mainly from Squadron diaries and scrapbooks called 'The Eagles Book'. Although both PDRY and SOAF entered each others airspace in '75 and later in the last skirmish of '87 there was no air combat. I was out in Oman for some time and spoke to most of the pilots involved. They confirmed it.

[UpShutter]

I want to get some nice personal accounts in my Hunter book
Will these contributions be credited in the same way as in your recent Vulcan book?