RAF's First Sonic Boom
|
The
Hawker Hunter was the Royal Air Force's first transonic fighter.
It broke the World Speed Record in
1953. It has been described as the world's first genuinely
multi-role jet combat aircraft, and it was the last of a long
line of fighters to come from the drawing board of Sir Sydney
Camm and from the Hawker production lines before the company
was absorbed into the nationalised Hawker Siddeley, which later
produced the Harrier and the Hawk. |
'The Pilot's Aeroplane'
|
Regarded
by many as the most aesthetically pleasing jet fighter ever built,
the Hunter has also been described as the 'pilot's aeroplane'.
It is simple, sleek and stylish, the most beautiful of all jet
fighters. It is a delight to fly, precise, positive controls,
and very manoeuvrable with no real vices. |
21 Nations
|
The
total number of Hunters produced was just less than 2000 between
1951 and the early 1960's. It was an aircraft which enjoyed long
service in 21 nations, from the Omani deserts, to the jungles
of Malaya, to the high Andean plateaus of the Atacama in Chile
and the icy Swedish winters of Northern Europe. Wars in Pakistan
and India have truly bloodied her history, as have her flights
over Somalia and Zimbabwe and surrounding African Nations. |
Recommended
Articles
|
- Air International Magazine, July 1981,
"Hunter... Thirty Years Young" by Roy Braybrook
- Flightpath
Magazine, May-July 1999, Vol. 10, No.4, "Bargain Hunter" by Phil Smith
- Surviving Hunters, 2001, by Ray Deacon
- "The Hawker Hunter" video, 1992, produced by ARTV
|
