Aaarrgghh Hunter
My first flight in a Hunter was some years after the two gents above, it was also the cause of the biggest B****ing of my flying career to date. I was briefed in the right hand seat of Hunter T7 XL612 out of Boscombe. The brief was as a radar target in a 4-ship dissimilar types formation - the others being the Comet, a Tornado and a miscellaneous Harrier (my logbook didn't note the registrations). We were there to be radar targets against a new air defence radar fitted into a SHAR.
Not having flown in a Hunter before, I'd spent the evening before reading the (very brief by modern standards) pilots notes, and also been down to the seat bay to get re-current on the MBS Mk.4 (an awful device of torture that I can't honestly say I ever made friends with - but I was raised on the Mk.8 and Mk.10, so arguably spoiled).
Anyhow, I'd done that, we'd briefed up at some ungodly hour of the morning so that we could get airborne just after metbrief, and then we walked around 0830. In the time honoured practice before sitting into the right hand seat, I gave the harness a good yank to make sure the clips were in - but failed to notice that the buckle was tucked around the emergency oxygen bottle.
Hissssss...., followed by my sprinting for the line shed in search of an armourer to shut it off - in full view of the crew of the other four aircraft.
We got airborne only slightly late at 0940, and were airborne for a very uneventful hour of flying up and down whilst the SHAR illuminated us with various Radar control modes.
My subsequent bollocking, in the crewroom, in front of most of FWTS was never officially recorded - for which I am eternally thankful. But it was not one of the highpoints of my aviation career so far.
My subsequent relationship with the Hunter was a little better - but like JF I can't honestly say I ever really rated it for anything other than the pure pleasure of being airborne in something with light handling and lots of thrust.
G
With the tolerance of the house, I may come back with a few Farnborough recollections a little later.