Hunter XL573
 

Afternoon all


Cheers

Hunty

8 Jan 1976 was the only day when I flew XL573. At the time, Valley had even more appalling weather than usual. So the Boss of 3 (Hunter) Sqn, 4FTS decided that 13 (Hunter) Refresher Course would all go to Leuchars for the day. I was allocated to fly with him.

I don't recall much of it - the trip there took 1:15 with 0:10 actual IF (at Valley!). We went hi-lo; on the way there some Air Trafficker asked a Nimrod to fly exactly overhead Machrihanish. "That'll give your navigator something to do!", he remarked. "All 3 of them!", quipped the Boss.

LU was very accommodating to us, as I recall. A short break for lunch and then off again for the trip back to Valley - a spot of LL Nav, then up to high level and back for a QGH to PAR and 5 circuits. Total sortie time was 1:15 again, of which 0:20 was IF. That was my FHT; all went fine and 4 days later I said goodbye to Valley and drove down through Wales to Brawdy with all my worldly possessions (and my flying kit) squeezed into my MG Midget with me.

In case anyone was thinking of hauling their logbooks out of the loft, just to narrow the search a bit, here is a brief history of 573. The units are all correct, but some of the dates are a bit woolly:

1958 CFE West Raynham, code letter L

10.62 CFE move to Binbrook

12.65 229 OCU Chivenor, code no. 97

1971? (possibly earlier) 4 FTS Valley, code no. 97

1980? 237 OCU Honington

? Laarbruch Stn Flt

? 237 OCU Lossie

1993 Storage Shawbury

Sold to Barry Pover, Exeter

1994 Flying again as G-BVGH

Hoping that this rings a few bells....

Inability to spell "Honington"....
 

Here's a couple of my piccies for you:


At Honington in August '83, still in "Training Command" colour scheme worn at 4FTS

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...573Hon9883.jpg


Seen whilst on deployment to Waddington in the summer of '87

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...XL573Wad87.jpg


Hope you like them.

Never had the Pleasure, :{

I remember ...
 

Fg Off Tichband was captain on 28 Feb 66 when we went to do WA-1 from Chivenor. The trip was DNCO'd for a u/s radar, but we still did 1 hr 10 mins. Not that I can recollect anything else, and I've nearly choked to death from the cloud of dust ...

Chair, We like your piccies very much, thank you.

It looks like 12 Squadron should be added to the list of units that 573 served with, or were the Lossie Hunters all pooled on to OCU charge- does anyone know?

BEagle and grobace, thank you for dusting off your logs.

Please could you help the uninitiated: what exercise was WA-1? I note that scrubbing it still didn't stop you having 1hr 10 of quality time...

Air-to-air gunnery exercise 1, if I recall correctly?

Attempting to shoot at the flag towed by a Meteor. At least, that's what it was when I was at Brawdy in 1975/6.

In those days we needed the radar for ranging - we weren't taught 'pegged' ranging.

WG was strafe, WB was bombing and I think WR was SNEB rocketry? WC cine weave, and WBG was composite strafe and bombing - can't remember whether there were composite strafe and rocketry exercises.

573 at Honington
 

Just a bit of info from a PPRuNE newbie about Hunters at Honington.

My first (and only) posting as an Airframe Technician was 237 OCU. The ex-4FTS 'frames (including 573) arrived in 1979 as a result of the Buccaneers being grounded following the Nellis crash. They were brought in to keep the pilots current.

I applied for aircrew duties whilst at Honigton, and my farewell gift from the OCU was an hour long trip in sister ship XL609, with the American exchange pilot, Capt Ken Alley. Brilliant!

Got a couple of slides of this A/C when it was coded "WC" with 237 OCU at Lossie. Dates on slides are March 85 and May 86.

573 stories
 

Thanks to all the guys who have taken the time to help with my project.

The photos taken at Honington and Waddington were very helpful and all I need now are a few more stories from pilots who flew her.

Cheers

Hunty

Flew it lots of times on 79 Sqn, 229 OCU, Chivenor, 68/69 but nothing exciting happened thank goodness.

I know it's a matter of personal opinion but I think that the Hunter is one of the few aeroplanes that looks better in the 2 seat configuration than the single seat.

Here is another piece of the jigsaw. When the Hunters were retired from Valley (1979 I think) they were put into deep storge at 5 MU, RAF Kemble. Following the Buccaneer fleet grounding in early February 1980 many T7s and F6s were then recovered from storage and delivered to RAF Honington and RAF Laarbruch for pilot currency. I had completed the Buccaneer OCU course 3 days before the Nellis accident and managed to get detached to 5MU to help with the airtests and deliveries (I had held there before the Bucc OCU and had bought the UTP, Mike Lawrance, many beers! A thread on stories from pilots who held there would be interesting!). My logbook shows that Mike and I airtested XL573 on 10 March 1980 and then I delivered it solo to Honington 2 days later. I remember nothing special about either sortie and there is no mention of a second airtest before delivery so I assume that it was in good shape after the first one. 208 Squadron then kindly flew me back to Kemble in XF995, the T8B now operated by HHA at Scampton.

I never flew XL573 again during my time on 208 Squadron (June 1980 - Dec 1984), either at Honington or Lossiemouth, and as the photograph posted was taken at Honington in August 1983 when the only Buccaneer unit was 237 OCU I suspect that it remained an OCU aircraft until the OCU disbanded and then it went to 12 Sqn. I cannot confirm if it was ever operated by the Laarbruch wing, but there were many 'RAF Germany liaison visits' from Honington to Laarbruch when it could have been seen parked at VAS.

Booklet
 

Afternoon

I would just like to say thanks to ALL the guys who took the time to answer my request. The booklet is coming along nicely and I'm sure Duncan Simpson TP, will appreciate it.

Cheers

Hunty

12(B) Sqn had three Hunters on strength in the eighties (whilst I was there) tail codes were X, Y and Z.

IIRC XL573 was Z, and was the only Hunter I flew in, with Cas Capewell as the Pilot, smashing trip down the Lecht ski run, even if we were upside down at the time. 4 minutes from Aviemore to shutdown at Lossie.

The sqn was on a detachment at the time, so minimum manning left at Lossie, Cas volunteered to act as brakeman whilst the aircraft was pushed back into the HAS, one of the gentlemen aircrew out there.

Might be this one..
 

According to my logbook, I flew XL573 82 times in the early 80s. There is a 50% chance that this is it (if not, it's the photo jet). Also, 573 might have been the jet that dropped both wing tanks on Holbeach. About 800 at 6, I think.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...hunter0002.jpg

Only once, 79Sqn 229 OCU 21st Sept 1967. 55 minutes. The first trip of the FR (Fighter Recce) course with that gentleman of the recce world, George Cole. He was the perfect 'good guy' to B*** A******** 'bad guy'! Not surprisingly, I saw very little of the targets, whilst George reported an unbelievable amount of detail. Of course, he had probably 'done' these targets many times before!!

Once only - 29 June 1966.

WR1 - first rocket dual on the DFGA course with Trevor Nattrass as the instructor.

50 minute sortie - - oh and BEags - they were 3 inch drains in 1966, not Sneb.



Ahhh those were the days when my trousers fitted me!!!!

:O


By the way - whatever happened to the days when you could claim - - "Oi - I joined the DFGA world - nobody said I had to fly at night!!!!" ;)


(Edited to say "Oops, don't post without checking wot yer fingers triped into the window fingee!!")

Hey, Wholi' - you actually duelled with 3" twirlers back then....:eek:

Respect!

I quite liked the SNEB. As it wasn't long after my degree course when I did my first TWU course in 1976, I could still remember some calculus. So I worked out the error in horizontal range with respect to pitch error (dx/dθ) and found that it was inversely proportional to the square of the dive angle. Hence if you waited a tadge after the ideal pitch in and came down steeper, you would get much better scores...

Armed with this, I poked off to Pembrey and came back with a couple of DHs :ok:. Mentioned my theory to the PAI in the cine room afterwards ('Clack clack clack, clunk...."Ride up, early pickle"...scrabble with plotting jobber...OK, just about allowable...wot didya get? Clack, clack' - remember that?) and was told "Hmm, that's why we used to scrub anything over 20 degrees on 79 Sqn - the old buggers knew how to cheat!".

Weaponeering really was the sport of kings back then - but wasn't quite as much fun on the Hawk without a decent sighting system. God knows how, but I managed to win the Viking Trophy on my post-Vulcan pre-F4 TWU. "Did you do much live weaponry on the Tin Triangle", someone once asked. "No, there would have been too many complaints", I responded. "Why?", he persisted. "Because a 950lb HEMC bucket of sun makes quite a bang, I understand" was my riposte!

Just to fill in some background on the photo at Waddington, the three Buccaneers squadrons from Lossie (208, 12, and 237 OCU) had boltholed to Waddington while the runway was being dub up. I was on 208 groundcrew at the time, and we ran a joint line with 12 sqn while 237 were across the other side of the airffield.

It was normal for 12 and 208 to have a couple of two seat hunters on the books each, which were fitted out with the same nav kit as the Buccaneers. Aircrew check flights were flown in the Hunters with one of the QFI's, with the occasional jolly for anyone interested.

Ogre

Whilst at Waddington, one of 12(B) Sqn Hunters had an intercom problem.....

..The bottom of cockpit (between the seats) was a bit wet, the water was 12" deep, it had rained for the first 17 days of the bolthole.

Ogre, did you take part in the groundcrew food fight in D/E dispersal, when JEngO 208 nearly crapped himself, but SEngO 12 just said "I think I will have an Inspection soon"....

Also, the Pilots used to take the aircraft home on a Friday, with the pretext of 'using the Sim first thing Monday, and at the end of the Bolthole were surprised that nothing had been laid on to get any of the boys home during the bolthole.

Happy Days.:)

ZH875

Sorry, it must have been "the other shift" that had the food fight. I remember the rain though, and complaints in the local papers about "the Scottish Air Force". Waddington had been on care and maintenance for a while and bolthole was not long after the guv'ment of the day had cancelled AEW Nimrod, I seem to remember 10 or so completed AEW jets parked on the airfield waiting for someone to decide what to do with them (but that's another story...).

The Hunters were regularly used as aircrew taxis on weekends, and we got quite adept at packing sets of golf clubs into the avionics bay "just in case they had time for a few holes after the briefing/sim sortie/<official reason for flight>". Also I remember one jet arriving back on the Monday morning, and after it had been chocked and locked opening the avionics bay to find a couple of plastic bags full of jock pies. Seems some of the senior engineers could not do without the little esentials and had organised a pie night at the SNCOs mess

Ah Memories
 

I got about 30 hrs in this great Lady on No 12(B) in the late 80s and every one of them was a pleasure. I still have vivid memories of meeting a Nav School JP as I coasted out at Spey Bay - cheeky s*d decided to turn in!

Better late than never
 

I would like to have a higher def image of XL573 please

Hunty

XL 573: though I was on the same DFGA course as Wholigan, I did not fly 573 then. However....... in Jan 67 I did the Hunter IRE course, a whole bag of fun - flying from the right seat but using the left instrument panel. I still have that crick in my neck. Seven of the 17 trips were in XL 573, three of them mutual with Horace Farquhar-Smith (the other half of 135 IRE Course), the other 4 with Pete Maillard, the QFI/CIRE who ran the course alone.

My logbook confirms that the Chivenor fleet number was 97.

Kenparry
Good to see you are still alive and kicking !
Like you, I haven't got XL573 in my log book during my DFGA course (106).
After a tour on 54, and during my tour on 4, I returned to Chivenor on 163 PAI course, and I seem to have flown it a few times, with such worthies as Sam Toyne and Tony McKeon.
No pics of XL573 I am afraid Hunty
X767

If a mere Navigator can join in this DFGA stuff, XL573 spent some time at Honnington serving on the Lead In Training Flight of 237 OCU. This was a short lived experiment to replace the then TWU course with a dedicated pre Buccaneer course for pilots and navs using two seat Hunters (nothing at all like a flying club). I have it in my log book in spring 1983.

My first ever Hunter flight was Jan 83 in XL573 with S/L J** R***** (sim boss and gent) - trip one on the Lead In Flight for the Bucc OCU. My first ever weaponry sortie was in the same ac on the same course. A few other trips during the course (couple of bounces in there). Suspect that I flew with Timelord both on the LIT and subsequently on the OCU and Sqn (for which he has my commiserations as I almost certainly slowed his progress!).

DH

DH

I suspect you are correct - Please PM me, I would be delighted to catch up.

TL

Just a bit of info from a PPRuNe newbie about Hunters at Honington.

My first (and only) posting as an Airframe Technician was 237 OCU. The ex-4FTS 'frames (including 573) arrived in 1979 as a result of the Buccaneers being grounded following the Nellis crash. They were brought in to keep the pilots current.

I applied for aircrew duties whilst at Honigton, and my farewell gift from the OCU was an hour long trip in sister ship XL609, with the American exchange pilot, Capt Ken Alley. Brilliant!

Klubman sorry but your timescale is wrong the Nellis crash occured in January (or early Feb) of 1980 it was of course an XV aircraft with the loss of the two crew of Ken Tait and Rusty Rustom you are maybe mistaken the Nellis crash with a 16 sqn loss the year before, sadly also with the loss of the crew.

XL573 stories
 

Keep the stories coming guys

Hunty

Diecast model of 573
 

Corgi have released a diecast model of XL573 (AA32714) in 237 OCU markings. Its a limited edition (1,200) and cost around £34.
Very handy if you have a birthday coming up. :ok:

Hunty

XL573
 

I bought XL573 today. Although she has not flown for 4 years I am confident that Hunter Flying will have her ready for the 60th anniversary display at Kemble this year! Fingers crossed!!!!
I will keep you all posted.
Mark Stott (a very average PPL)

May 02 1977
 

Did my famil trip at 4FTS with Mike Sa*****s in 573.

Then with Bob W***man doing GH on the 19th and 24th.

Did my Prog Check with Pat K****ll on Jun 24th and then more with W**ers on the 27th.

Last trip was a LL nav with Dan "Go to war with a w@nker" W on 14 Jul 77.

3 trips in XL573
 

Nothing spectacular: Identified 3 sorties in XL573. 1969 March 14 flew passenger McConnel to Wyton and back. 1973 January 8, flew Buck Buckinghams IRT. Grand chap with the smoking habit!

8th Jan 1969 XL573

FAC famil flight with Lt Mills (pongo) in right seat. After usual bumble with simulated a/g and r/p let down to 100ft ish and 540 kts over N Devon (this is what DFGA guys do) when in the corner of my eye a bird appeared. Bang !! Canopy shattered, cockpit filled with cloud, instinctively pulled up and realised that Mills who fortunately had his visor down was covered in blood and bits of seagull but unhurt. But more to the point his pigtail was disconnected and his ejection seat handle was flapping loose. Careful slow rtb. He didn't know how close he'd come to an early departure from the aircraft.

Congratulations on your purchase, Mark! Great to know that this wonderful old lady will soon be back in the air again.

Maybe some photos as the restoration progresses? I do hope you'll use a representative military colour scheme and not some flying drinks can abortion.

I'm sure that you'll enjoy flying her as much as everyone else who's flown her before you will have done over the years.

Three years
 

Mark

Its only three years since 573 flew. April 17th 2008 when George Begg and Brian Grant flew her on the 50th anniversary of its first flight. Hawker's test pilot Duncan Simpson was also there that day.

We will all have a beer when she gets airborne again.

Hunty :ok: