Hunter endurance anybody?
 

Depends on Hunter type, F6/9 or T7(smaller engine),then on aircraft tank fit,internals +2 x100 gal/4 x100g/or 2x230 /or 2x230+2x100.Then depends on how far you want to go,preferably high,then remain orbiting,or are you following,possibly, What are the upper winds,what is your diversion options,ie down-route,or RTB..?A C130 will cruise at about 300-320kts max,and fuel for about 7-8 hrs internal appx..A Hunter in max fit will have about 8200 lbs fuel and at low level will use about 4500lbs/hr,reducing to about 2500 l/hr at 30000ft.So if it`s a `chase` and then RTB at high level ,I would reckon airborne for about 2.5 hrs max.
I`m sure a Hunter expert will be along shortly to correct my `guesstimate`....!!

As Sycamore has stated, it depends on the drop tank fit. From Chivenor an FGA9 would normally have 2 x 230gal drop tanks whereas an F6 would have had 2 x 100 gal tanks. Fitting of extra tanks was quite involvedand time-consuming . It also required airborne flow checks so it is unlikely that this would have been done for a short notice launch from Chivenor. From practical experience (Gibraltar to Brawdy) with 2 x 230s plus 2 x 100s a sortie length of about 2¾ hours was just possible landing with minimums. This was flying at Range speed of 0.8M. You could probably add an hour to this if flying at Endurance speed. I regret that I no longer have my Hunter FRCs (Flight Reference Cards) to give you more accurate figures but I am sure that someone out there will have and thus be able to give you a definitive answer.

In 1961, my Squadron was tasked with reinforcing ops in the Middle East. Iraq threatened to invade Kuwait, (Gulf War Minus 1?) and we provided additional Hunter FGA9s to the supporting squadrons on Bahrain. My flights between UK and Luqa and Nicosia and Tehran were of 2hrs55mins duration. We had 2x230gal and 2x100gal tanks fitted.

On a Hi-Lo-Hi exercise strike from Stradishall on Saxa Vord, we took 2hrs15mins, with an RTB stop for fuel on Leuchars.

Sorry, no info on Endurance.

I did training on them in the late fifties and without tanks an hour was it.

If it was the piece on BBC Radio4 this morning, my understanding was that the Hunter came back with an empty gun, intimating that the Hunter shot down the C-130. They also said that the C-130 was heading across the Channel, that the French QRA had been alerted too, which means the unqualified guy flying it did not know his west from his east.

Since there appears to be sparse info on the aircraft ,the `fugitive` would have had to have an idea of the fuel reqd. to reach the USA,or possibly Canada,unless he was aiming for the Azores US base.(very doubtful,unless you are a good navigator.)Distance to Newfoundland would be ~2400nm,.to nearest bit of USA~ 2900NM,and accepting a nominal 40 kt headwind average would require an aircraft with at least 60 k lbs of fuel,giving a flight time of about 12 hours . Maybe he had got this info,and previous flight plans,otherwise he was not going to get very far.Anyone have any more info..?
With regard to the Hunter returning`without stores/ammo`,it may have been that once the externals were empty,the were dropped,all the ammo was fired off,and the aircraft climbed to 40/45k.ft. for return depending how far it had gone ,etc,etc....only whoever flew it will know...or maybe someone who remembers which aircraft it was,and what is recorded in the log/auth.sheet..if they were completed ,of course...!!! or the ATC log...

effortless,

On Dec 8th, 1965, I flew from Jeddah to El Adem, a time of 2hrs:40mins, in a Mk9. I agree with nipva that, deftly flown with full tankage of 230's and 100's, an endurance time of 3:45 should have been possible - interpolating from my old Mk 6 Pilot's Notes.

But I most certainly wouldn't take heed of anything put across on the airwaves by Jeremy Vine. If you read the post by 'fixed cross' in ORAC's reference to Vine's show above, he puts forward the reality of things!

The C-130 took off at 05:10 and crashed 1:45 hours later. Which means at around 06:55. The chances of anyone at Chivenor being rounded up to generate a Hunter at that time on a Friday morning, in time to be armed, take-off and make a visual intercept are zero.

Ball ammunition was invariably used for range firing, rather than HE. F6 only flew with one gun available, although the FGA9 might have had two available. So spotters, sorry but no way would a Chivenor Hunter with 4 x 30mm Aden cannon with HE rounds have been available at that time of day!

The Hunter myth is clearly total bolleaux!

'The chances of anyone at Chivenor being rounded up to generate a Hunter at that time on a Friday morning, in time to be armed, take-off and make a visual intercept are zero'

Quite apart from the fact that the Chivenor Commcen was not usually manned overnight.

The Radio 4 version of this story is even less likely IMHO. They claim that QRA-South was phoned and told to expect an american to drop by, who would relieve the QRA pilots. They then say that the american duly arrived, and shortly afterwards flew a QRA lightning on a mission. The different versions of the story they told then claimed that said Lightning returned with or without some/all of its missiles.

...because of course the USAF had a plentiful supply of current, Lightning-qualified pilots and trhe RAF routinely handed over aircraft and stood-down QRA to foreign officers on the basis of a single phone call. Happens every day...
:suspect:

PDR

My take was that the American took over the 'Ops' side of things and left the steely eyed Brit QRA pilot to do the biz. Nice to hear 'Lightning boys' and 'G+10' get a mention, the piece was entertaining if slightly far fetched... ;)

Well.............on the subject of American pilots and the Lightning and daft conspiracy theories.....

I've always been surprised that the fantasy theorists have never tried to make a connection with this story and the incident the following year involving USAF exchange officer Lt.Schaffner who was killed when the Lightning F.6 he was flying crashed into the sea in mysterious circumstances, involving claims of UFO intercepts and the like...on the basis that Schaffner must have been the USAF QRA Lightning pilot that came back with a missing missile in this story and thus had to been later eliminated by the US Govt to cover this deed up, hence the mysterious circumstances of Sept 1970.... :p :E
Surprised Hollywood haven't turned it into a film yet :)

Wasn't Wattisham holding southern Q that day? There was of course a US exchange pilot on base.

To go back to the OP I was rereading the Putnam history of Hawkers - many pages on the Hunter of course but hardly a single mention of range..................and nothing in the performance tables - astonishing really......................