Vote for the Greatest RAF fighter Jet/ see the new RAF Benevolent Fund microsite
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Beat me to it RJ! (what you doin' on your keyboard at that time?!). I too shall examine your sanity - in December - newt!! And what's so special about going supersonic anyway? (Especially when you ran out of juice in a few seconds).
Small correction Wader2. In Aden, the Hunter was employed in the DFGA role. The DF bit to counter the threat of Nasser's Migs based in the Yemen - I once met one, but it ran off over the border; also the reason for detaching the aircraft to up-country Beihan.
Oh, and all this talk of pilot numbers is simply a case of having a whinge in the face of inevitable defeat ------
the Hunter was also employed in Aden but in the GA role
Oh, and all this talk of pilot numbers is simply a case of having a whinge in the face of inevitable defeat ------
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Aaaaaah but jindabyne the most important letter in DFGA was the D!!!
I felt betrayed when they first started making me fly at night!!!! I joined a D FGA outfit!!
I felt betrayed when they first started making me fly at night!!!! I joined a D FGA outfit!!
Just another erk
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jindabyne, I seem to remember a ground attack, by hunters, on a fort that had held rebels, only to find when the attack started, British ground forces had allready retaken the fort. Not sure if anyone was hurt, memory fails me.
Just another erk
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Wholigan, The Omani Air Force, decided to do some night flying, Hunters that is, I was on late shift, normally we finished early, when all tthe line a/c where put to bed, except on Q then it was at 6PM, anyway I had to checck the nav lights, never normally used. Yes I know but it was more a flying club. anyway a couple of a/c their lights didn't work, all screws rusted in, would have had to drill them out, they decided that would take too long, so the flew with torches strapped behind the Ejection seats.
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SAMUEL...
"Juliet hit a landing light at Embakasi on landing, causing minor damage to the starboard undercarriage leg. Late 1960-ish? I have an excellent model made by my son of that aircraft, which later became part of 208/8 at Khormaksar and, I heard, was still flying in private hands in the UK. Off topic, I know...sorry!
I've never met anyone who disliked the Hunter in any way! The FGA9 in New Zealand is airworthy, but doesn't fly due to costs/lack of sponsorship"
Thanks for the info Samuel...It has created a bit of a mystery for me as I was one of the leaders who flew the Hunter FGA9s out from Stradishall to Nairobi and I have been busy creating Stradishall in FS9 with our Hunters and I've been getting it ready for a simulation of that flight on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June next year 2010...This will be the 50th anniversary of the flight. As I said, my logbook reveals a flight or two in "J" at Stradishall only...The flight out to Nairobi was in three four ship formations and that equals twelve aircraft. My logbook shows many flights based at Nairobi, Aden, Kuwait etc. in each of the twelve aircraft, but there is no "J". If "J" was really there then that would be 13 aircraft on that epic flight out to Kenya from Stradishall?
However, I do remember that on our actual arrival at Embakazi "Oscar" XE647 had a main U/C leg collapse its oleo and it taxied in all lopsided...It remained leaning over like that for many months while we waited for spare parts to arrive from UK. Are you sure that you are not thinking of "Oscar" as we did not seem to have a "Juliette" in Kenya?
On the Lightning versus Hunter issue...I finished my R.A.F. service as a Lightning Simulator Instructor on the Mark 2 LSU at Leconfield but I only flew in the two seater version from Middleton St. George so I don't really qualify as "Flying Both" but I certainly preferred the Hunter and flew many Solo Aerobatic Displays in it and many Formation Aerobatic displays as number 4 in the B.F.A.P. Aeroes Team. I thought the FGA9 was a superb aircraft in all respects and a remarkable transformation from the rather unsatisfactory Hunter F1s that I flew at Pembrey.
BTW I had a look round that FGA9 at Ardmore some years ago and thought it looked in pretty good nick.
"Juliet hit a landing light at Embakasi on landing, causing minor damage to the starboard undercarriage leg. Late 1960-ish? I have an excellent model made by my son of that aircraft, which later became part of 208/8 at Khormaksar and, I heard, was still flying in private hands in the UK. Off topic, I know...sorry!
I've never met anyone who disliked the Hunter in any way! The FGA9 in New Zealand is airworthy, but doesn't fly due to costs/lack of sponsorship"
Thanks for the info Samuel...It has created a bit of a mystery for me as I was one of the leaders who flew the Hunter FGA9s out from Stradishall to Nairobi and I have been busy creating Stradishall in FS9 with our Hunters and I've been getting it ready for a simulation of that flight on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June next year 2010...This will be the 50th anniversary of the flight. As I said, my logbook reveals a flight or two in "J" at Stradishall only...The flight out to Nairobi was in three four ship formations and that equals twelve aircraft. My logbook shows many flights based at Nairobi, Aden, Kuwait etc. in each of the twelve aircraft, but there is no "J". If "J" was really there then that would be 13 aircraft on that epic flight out to Kenya from Stradishall?
However, I do remember that on our actual arrival at Embakazi "Oscar" XE647 had a main U/C leg collapse its oleo and it taxied in all lopsided...It remained leaning over like that for many months while we waited for spare parts to arrive from UK. Are you sure that you are not thinking of "Oscar" as we did not seem to have a "Juliette" in Kenya?
On the Lightning versus Hunter issue...I finished my R.A.F. service as a Lightning Simulator Instructor on the Mark 2 LSU at Leconfield but I only flew in the two seater version from Middleton St. George so I don't really qualify as "Flying Both" but I certainly preferred the Hunter and flew many Solo Aerobatic Displays in it and many Formation Aerobatic displays as number 4 in the B.F.A.P. Aeroes Team. I thought the FGA9 was a superb aircraft in all respects and a remarkable transformation from the rather unsatisfactory Hunter F1s that I flew at Pembrey.
BTW I had a look round that FGA9 at Ardmore some years ago and thought it looked in pretty good nick.
flaps down?? FLAPS DOWN?????
Have you gone mad newt??????
Have you gone mad newt??????
Those excellent QFIs at Valley and Brawdy told us that, if you were in a high speed dive and the jet didn't seem to want to recover, first thing was to check flaps were at zero. Too easy during a tailchase to leave them at 23 and set off downwards....
Best ever Hunter for fun? As Jindabyne will probably agree, the 4FTS 'GT6' model...
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BEags: As they say in F1, for sure!! 
Arthur: Can't recall, but there might be something on this very informative and interesting site - Radfan and the Hawker Hunter
Arthur: Can't recall, but there might be something on this very informative and interesting site - Radfan and the Hawker Hunter
Last edited by jindabyne; 23rd Aug 2009 at 14:32.
nipva
"For me (6 years on both) nothing can beat the sheer exhilaration of the Lightning's out and out performance but the Hunter had character plus the added joy of being able to fly al fresco."
Exactly..
"For me (6 years on both) nothing can beat the sheer exhilaration of the Lightning's out and out performance but the Hunter had character plus the added joy of being able to fly al fresco."
Exactly..
nipva
"For me (6 years on both) nothing can beat the sheer exhilaration of the Lightning's out and out performance but the Hunter had character plus the added joy of being able to fly al fresco."
Exactly..
"For me (6 years on both) nothing can beat the sheer exhilaration of the Lightning's out and out performance but the Hunter had character plus the added joy of being able to fly al fresco."
Exactly..
At present we have in the poll:
No1 Lightning, massive thrust to weight and great top end but no SA, fuel and puny weapons.
No2 Hunter, al-fresco flying with a beautiful blue note at high speed but definately low SA and just a gun.
No3 Tornado, second to none at low-level chase down and stacks of weapons matched to a good radar (eventually!) but not enough performance to pull the skin off a rice pudding at medium to high level.
No4 Phantom, great multi-role sea fighter but with dubious handling characteristics at high AOA.
No5 Harrier, great at airshows for flying backwards but only good against 2nd generation jets until AMRAAM came along (and even then they couldn't bring more than 2 back to the boat!).
No6 Meteor, first British jet fighter but not allowed into combat until the opposition had MiG15s - scored 14 kills in WWII against V1 flying bombs.
No7 Vampire, jet fighters on the cheap?
No8 Hawk, a trainer until they put an APG66 in the front but only an IR missile on the wings?
(none of the nations that bought it were allowed AMRAAM at the time!).So there you have it. We could change the poll to "What's the best RAF post-war fighter we didn't buy?" - the F15...
Finally, why didn't they include Typhoon?
The B Word
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jindabyne: thanks for the link, only been able to have a quick look at it at the moment, sadly have no photo's left from my time there, my ex first wife had them.
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Back in the dim and distant past in RAFG, we were told to remove the underwing tanks from our trusty FGR2s - our steeds were already no slouches at LL, but in clean-wing config they were awesome. Airborne by the approach-end cable, we could fight on equal terms anything around at the time, including GAF F-4s, Eagles, Vipers and Hornets, etc. The most fun jet I've ever been in (mind you, I'm waiting for my Tiffie trip....)
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B-Word, ref your list of 8 a/c, I've been fortunate enough to flown every one, albeit just the odd back seat in a Harrier and F3; not much in the Meteor and Vampire but plenty in the others. My top 3 would be:-
Lightning--just nothing like it
Hunter--lovely to fly
Meteor--it's living history
Lightning--just nothing like it
Hunter--lovely to fly
Meteor--it's living history
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Worked on both the Lightning and the Hunter, never flew in a Lightning, but did fly in a hunter, (t-bird in Oman) flew it for a while as well. But of the Lightning I recall an old story:
Back in the dark distant past at RAF Valley, at about 07:30 hrs they used to fly a weather flight, a Gnat, (nobody ever trusted meteorologists) Just before the Gnat took off, a Voodoo from our cousins would fly low the length of the runway then go into a steep climb, naturally the Gnat couldn’t do the same, then one day Lightnings arrived at MPC, and were asked to do the weather flight the next day, possibly arranged in the officers mess the night before, anyway it sat on the runway waiting, sure enough, in came the Voodoo, same as normal, off went the lighning, full re-heat and over took the Voodoo on its climb. They never came back.
voted for the Hunter though, pity the Vulcan does not count
Back in the dark distant past at RAF Valley, at about 07:30 hrs they used to fly a weather flight, a Gnat, (nobody ever trusted meteorologists) Just before the Gnat took off, a Voodoo from our cousins would fly low the length of the runway then go into a steep climb, naturally the Gnat couldn’t do the same, then one day Lightnings arrived at MPC, and were asked to do the weather flight the next day, possibly arranged in the officers mess the night before, anyway it sat on the runway waiting, sure enough, in came the Voodoo, same as normal, off went the lighning, full re-heat and over took the Voodoo on its climb. They never came back.
voted for the Hunter though, pity the Vulcan does not count
This RAFBF Poll is like "Whacky Races" as the positions are now:
1. Hunter
2. Tornado
3. Phantom
4. Lightning
Still, 12 days to go before the final result and I am sure there is some cheat voting going on.
The B Word
1. Hunter
2. Tornado
3. Phantom
4. Lightning
Still, 12 days to go before the final result and I am sure there is some cheat voting going on.
The B Word
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I am sure there is some cheat voting going on
People certainly haven't contacted the Hunter Association and the Lightning Association to drum up votes. I'm sure they haven't!!!!
Cheating!!!
Must be too many politicians around these days!
There is only one proper fighter aircraft on the list and thats the Lightning.
Flack jacket on and off to the bar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Must be too many politicians around these days!
There is only one proper fighter aircraft on the list and thats the Lightning.
Flack jacket on and off to the bar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Typical Rubbish Poll
First - Lightning was an interceptor, not a fighter.
Second - this poll is just like a political poll - biased! Where is the Jaguar? With overwing missiles and proper calibre guns, it matches or outguns many of the contenders. It went very fast, without having to move its wings. And it could certainly outlast a Lightning. Not great at hovering, and not as good sounding as a Hunter. But at least it didn't waste fuel capacity carrying unwanted freight.
Second - this poll is just like a political poll - biased!
Where is the Jaguar? With overwing missiles and proper calibre guns, it matches or outguns many of the contenders. It went very fast, without having to move its wings. And it could certainly outlast a Lightning. Not great at hovering, and not as good sounding as a Hunter. But at least it didn't waste fuel capacity carrying unwanted freight.