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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1258.PDF
372 FLIGHT HAWKER AIRCRAFT, LTD. Canbury Park Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey Telephone : Kingston 1044 Hnnter The Hunter will be represented at this year's S.B.A.C. display not only by individual demonstration aircraft entered by the manufacturers (including the Hunter two-seater) but by a sizeable R.A.F. formation and an R.A.F. aerobatic team. The type is now well established in the United Kingdom and abroad, in three marks. The F.I has the Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet and the F.2 the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire; the F.3 was a proposed re-heat version, now abandoned. Marks F.4 and F.5 are similar to the F.I and F.2 respectively, but have increased internal tankage. The so-called "Hunter variant" which made its debut at last year's Display was, in fact, an F.I airframe adapted to take a more powerful Avon and is regarded as a prototype for the new F.6, to appear this year. This newest fighter mark has a yet more powerful mark of Avon. A number of Hunters are now flying with pylon-mounted finless plastic under- wing fuel tanks and it is known that under-wing armament loads are possible. The Hunter two-seater, which has been on test since July 8th, but has not hitherto been demonstrated, is "intended to open up opportunities for even wider tactical roles." Hunter fighters (which are on order not only for the R.A.F. but for Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden also) are popular with their pilots and the following excerpts from Flight's report from a visit to an R.A.F. Hunter station speak for themselves. "One of the most impres- sive aspects of the Hunter—and there are many—is the way in which it has been accepted by the squadron pilots. It is remarkable that an aircraft which introduces in one step so many new features should, in fact, prove to be so easy to handle. Everything seems as straightforward as one could wish. One of the aircraft's most important qualities is that, while being easy to fly, it gives the pilots a performance which they have been longing for these many years. At last they can face the Canberra with the sure knowledge that it cannot get away from diem— stiQ less be able to indulge in the highly shaming quarter attack on the fighter which has been known to Meteor pilots. Before the Hunter reached the squadrons a number of its handling characteristics took on the proportions of bogies, but when it arrived the bogies did not materialize. Careful briefing, well-learned drill and, above all, happy experience, showed them for what they were. . . . The slow-speed flying characteristics of the Hunter are such diat a G.C.A. approach in close pairs is quite comfortable at a very moderate air speed." Power plant ... RoHr-Rarcc A.S. Sapphire Span 33ft 8ID Length 45ft 3in Above, Hunter FJ, 2, 4 and 5 Below, Hunter Two-Seatet Power plant ... Kalb - Rojree AnnSpan 33ft 8in Length 48ft' "
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