Hunter Landing Light(s)
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Hunter Landing Light(s)
Could one of you trained killers out there who flew the Hunter tell me if the Hunter was equipped with a landing light(s) and, if so, where were they located?
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I think all Hunter pilots were terrified of flying at night - woofters all of them.
I remember seeing one near tears at Leuchars during an exercise when the prospect arose. On the Hunter conversion course at Chivenor the students flew (I think it was) only one solo night trip and on that only the wings tanks were filled 'in case we went too far away'
The a/c was, after all, known as a DFGA - Day Fighter Ground Attack machine.
I remember seeing one near tears at Leuchars during an exercise when the prospect arose. On the Hunter conversion course at Chivenor the students flew (I think it was) only one solo night trip and on that only the wings tanks were filled 'in case we went too far away'The a/c was, after all, known as a DFGA - Day Fighter Ground Attack machine.
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There's always the point that landing lights are useful in daylight to show up one's position if in a busy circuit or in air - air photography formating.
I never really worked with Hunters, though photographed Dunsfolds' last T8M ( Sea Harrier FRS1 kit test-platform ) XL 602, and checked with my father who had to build the things ( Camm designed aircraft to fly, but not to be built or maintained easily ) - dad confirms he doesn't recall landing lights on any mark.
Seems a mistake - even disregarding my earlier suggestions of making oneself more visible, there's always the chance of getting caught out and having to land at dusk / dark, though I suspect all the help it would give then would be a quick glance at what one was about to run into !
I suppose the exception would be the FRADU jobs, which carried a bloody great light in the slightly blunted off nose - more for spotting than landing.
I never really worked with Hunters, though photographed Dunsfolds' last T8M ( Sea Harrier FRS1 kit test-platform ) XL 602, and checked with my father who had to build the things ( Camm designed aircraft to fly, but not to be built or maintained easily ) - dad confirms he doesn't recall landing lights on any mark.
Seems a mistake - even disregarding my earlier suggestions of making oneself more visible, there's always the chance of getting caught out and having to land at dusk / dark, though I suspect all the help it would give then would be a quick glance at what one was about to run into !
I suppose the exception would be the FRADU jobs, which carried a bloody great light in the slightly blunted off nose - more for spotting than landing.
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Shine a light!!
Photos: Hawker Hunter F58 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net
Photos: Hawker Hunter F58 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net
Last edited by mystic_meg; 23rd Oct 2009 at 13:17.
During the period when Buccs were grounded (1980) I seem to remember a T-Bird with a Spotlight/Landing Light mounted in the Nosecone.
Not sure of the colour scheme now but it was possibly an ex-A&AEE or ex-Navy kite (Grey with a Red stripe)
Not sure of the colour scheme now but it was possibly an ex-A&AEE or ex-Navy kite (Grey with a Red stripe)
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"( Camm designed aircraft to fly, but not to be built or maintained easily ) "
That would explain the infamous spike in the u/c bay then and those "delighful" waxed bits of cord that were used via rubber grommets to secure the equally "delighful" bag tanks (and their little rubber buttons!) in order to attach them to the wing surface...
Never saw any with a landing light however.
That would explain the infamous spike in the u/c bay then and those "delighful" waxed bits of cord that were used via rubber grommets to secure the equally "delighful" bag tanks (and their little rubber buttons!) in order to attach them to the wing surface...
Never saw any with a landing light however.
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The obvious place to mount a landing light would be on the nose gear assembly but if you look at the geometry of the Hunter, any such light would be obscured by the gear door mounted in front of the nose oleo.
Funnily enough, when I was first asked this question, I did a bit of Googling and came up with a spectacular video of a Swiss Hunter flying "low level" through the Alps and it ended with some footage of said Swiss Hunter coming in to land.
Not a single light was visible.
Funnily enough, when I was first asked this question, I did a bit of Googling and came up with a spectacular video of a Swiss Hunter flying "low level" through the Alps and it ended with some footage of said Swiss Hunter coming in to land.
Not a single light was visible.
Landing lamps are for girls! We didn't even use them on the Jet Provost or Gnat during training.
The single seat Hunter had on off/bright/dim nav light switch and that was all. Nicknamed the off/dim/very dim switch - if you wanted to flash the nav lights, you did it manually; there wasn't even an anti-coll light, although I think a later mod. introduced one. Taxying around a dimly lit RAF Brawdy at night was challenging, to say the least. And several runways had nothing more than a red T for the approach lighting.
Navaids? Rebecca-Eureka DME only, although some also had a coffee-grinder ADF. Approaches were SRA or GCA if the weather wasn't good enough for radar to visual.
Most difficult part after landing was trying to spot the glim lamps marking the runway exit.
Kids of today.....
The single seat Hunter had on off/bright/dim nav light switch and that was all. Nicknamed the off/dim/very dim switch - if you wanted to flash the nav lights, you did it manually; there wasn't even an anti-coll light, although I think a later mod. introduced one. Taxying around a dimly lit RAF Brawdy at night was challenging, to say the least. And several runways had nothing more than a red T for the approach lighting.
Navaids? Rebecca-Eureka DME only, although some also had a coffee-grinder ADF. Approaches were SRA or GCA if the weather wasn't good enough for radar to visual.
Most difficult part after landing was trying to spot the glim lamps marking the runway exit.
Kids of today.....
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Ahem!! "I say again"
Photos: Hawker Hunter F58 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net
Photos: Hawker Hunter F58 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net
Last edited by mystic_meg; 23rd Oct 2009 at 13:21.