From the book “Swift Justice” by Nigel Walpole.
XF114 went first to Boscombe Down in March 1957 where it is reputed to have been used for fast jet familiarisation, general handling and lead in training for Royal Navy pilots destined for the Supermarine Scimitar squadrons. From 1958 to 1962, it came under contract to the Ministry of Aviation for wet runway braking trials at airfields which included Pershore, Coltishall, West Raynham, Upper Heyford, Wisley, Filton, London Heathrow, Bedford and Cranfield. Test pilots Les Colquhoun, David Morgan, Pee Wee Judge, Jasper Jarvis and Dizzy Addicott were all involved in gathering information on aircraft braking characteristics, investigating whether runway surfaces should be of concrete or asphalt, smooth or grooved, and what effects different tyres could have. The Swift, with its robust airframe and rugged undercarriage, served this purpose well. Brian Holdaway remembers helping to fit the necessary instrumentation at Wisley, that the undercarriage fairings were removed (at least for the latter sorties) and that the pilot was given the means to isolate the anti skid system. Les Colquhoun, who had carried out the initial flight tests on XF114 and flew the aircraft again in the aquaplaning trials, claimed that where runway arrester barriers were available they were never used. That is not to say the trials went off without incident; the movement log of XF114 shows that on 15 April 1959 it burst both tyres (a not infrequent occurrence given the nature of the trials) and David Morgan barely avoided a confrontation with the Americans on the runway at Upper Heyford – the event coincided with a Strategic Air Command alert and the Swift could have been bulldozed off the runway without a by your leave, and this nearly happened. Flight International dated 31 May 1962 reported that Dizzy Addicott carried out landing trials in XF114 on London Airport’s 9300 feet No. 1 runway, typically landing at 200 knots just before a 3000 feet strip flooded with 6000 gallons of water, with ‘little apparent loss of speed’ until reaching the dry area. This would come as no surprise to Swift pilots but the tests confirmed, among other findings, that the lower the tyre pressure the greater the braking effect, the lighter the aircraft the greater the chance of hydroplaning, and the higher the landing speed the lower the coefficient of friction. These trials finished at Cranfield where XF114 was struck off charge in April 1967 and moved into storage at Aston Downs. It was sold to the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education at Connah’s Quay, Clwyd.
The book contains a photograph of the aircraft in the exact same location as in tribo’s !!!!!!!!!!!!!! link photo, but prior to the painting in the red and white finish.