Indian Air Force
Lebanese Air Force
Swiss Air Force
| Hawker Hunter | |
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| Privately-owned Hunter T.7 "Blue Diamond" | |
| Role | Fighter and ground attack |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Hawker Siddeley |
| First flight | 21 July 1951 |
| Introduced | 1956 |
| Status | Still in combat roles with Lebanese AF |
| Primary users | Royal Air Force Indian Air Force Lebanese Air Force Swiss Air Force |
| Number built | 1,972 |
The Hawker Hunter was a jet fighter aircraft of the 1950s and 1960s. The Hunter served for many years with the Royal Air Force and was widely exported, serving with 19 air forces. A total of 1,972 Hunters were produced by Hawker Siddeley and under licence.
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The origins of the Hunter trace back to the Hawker Sea Hawk straight-wing carrier-based fighter. Seeking better performance and fulfillment of the Air Ministry Specification E.38/46, Hawker Aircraft's chief designer Sydney Camm created the Hawker P.1052, which was essentially a Sea Hawk with a 35-degree swept wing. First flying in 1948, the P.1052 demonstrated good performance but did not warrant further development into a production aircraft. As a private venture, Hawker converted the second P.1052 prototype into the Hawker P.1081 with swept tailplanes and revised fuselage, with a single jet exhaust at the rear. First flying on 19 June 1950, the P.1081 was promising enough to draw interest from the Royal Australian Air Force but development went no further and the sole prototype was lost in a crash in 1951.
Meanwhile, in 1946, the Air Ministry issued Specification F.43/46 for a daytime jet-powered interceptor. Camm took the basic P.1052 design and adopted it for the upcoming Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet. The Avon's major advantage over the Rolls-Royce Nene, used in the Sea Hawk, was the axial compressor, which resulted in a much smaller engine diameter and better thrust. In March 1948, the Air Ministry issued Specification F.3/48, to cover development of the project. Initially fitted with a single air intake in the nose and a T-tail, the project rapidly evolved to the more familiar shape. The intakes were moved to the wing roots, to make room for weapons and radar in the nose. A more conventional tail arrangement was devised, as a result of stability concerns.
The P.1067 first flew from MoD Boscombe Down on 20 July 1951,[1] powered by a 6,500 lbf (28.91 kN) Avon 103 engine from an English Electric Canberra bomber. The second prototype was fitted with production avionics, armament and a 7,550 lbf (33.58 kN) Avon 107 turbojet. It first flew on 5 May 1952. As a back-up, Hawker was asked to adapt the new fighter to another British axial turbojet. The third prototype with an 8,000 lbf (35.59 kN) Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire 101 flew on 30 November 1952.[1] The two Avon-engined aircraft were duck-egg green in color, while the Sapphire prototype was speed silver.
The Ministry of Supply ordered the Hunter into production in March 1950, a year before the first flight. The first production Hunter F.1 with a 7,600 lbf (33.80 kN) Avon 113 turbojet flew on 16 March 1953. The first 20 aircraft were, in effect, a pre-production series and featured a number of "one-off" modifications such as blown flaps and area ruled fuselage. On 7 September 1953, a Hunter F.3 flown by Neville Duke broke the world air speed record, achieving 727.63 mph over Littlehampton.[2] However, the record stood for less than three weeks before being broken by an RAF Supermarine Swift on 25 September 1953.
The Hunter was a conventional all-metal monoplane. The pilot sat on a Martin-Baker 2H or 3H ejector seat. The two-seat trainer version used the Mk.4H ejection seats. The fuselage was of monocoque construction, with a removable rear section for engine maintenance. The engine was fed through triangular air intakes in the wing roots and had a single jetpipe in the rear of the fuselage. The mid-mounted wings had a leading edge sweep of 35 degrees and slight anhedral. The tailplanes and fin were also swept. The controls were completely conventional. A single airbrake was fitted under the ventral rear fuselage. The aircraft had conventional retractable tricycle landing gear. A noteworthy feature of the single seat fighter version was the armament of four 30 mm ADEN cannon. The cannon and ammunition boxes were contained in a single pack that could be removed from the aircraft for rapid re-arming and maintenance. Interestingly, the barrels of the cannon remained in the aircraft when the pack was removed. In the two seat version, either a single ADEN cannon was carried or, in some export versions, two ADEN cannon, with a removable ammunition tank. A simple Ekco ranging radar was fitted in the nose. Later Marks (Mks) of Hunter had SNEB Pods fitted. These were 68 mm rockets in 18-round Matra pods, giving a strike capability against road convoys and trains.
The Hunter F.1 entered service with the Royal Air Force in July 1954. It quickly became apparent that the new fighter had insufficient fuel capacity. In addition, incorrectly-designed air intakes produced disruptions in air flow to the engine, with resultant compressor stalls. The engine problems were compounded by ingestion of gas when the cannon were fired, which resulted in flameouts. The potential solutions of cutting fuel to the engine when the cannon fired and restricting the use of cannon to low speeds and altitudes were obviously unsatisfactory. The F 2 produced at the same time which used the Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire engine did not suffer from flameouts.
Furthermore, ejected cannon ammunition links had a tendency to strike and damage the underside of the fuselage. The original split flap airbrakes caused adverse changes in pitch trim and were quickly replaced by a single ventral airbrake. Unfortunately, this meant the airbrake could not be used for landings. Finally, the canopy suffered from fogging and icing during rapid descents.
Its short range was crippling for the new British fighter, with a maximum flight endurance of about an hour. On 8 February 1956, a flight of eight Hunters was redirected to another airfield due to inclement weather. Six aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed, with one pilot killed. One of the aircraft that landed ran out of fuel while taxiing.[3] On the positive side, the aircraft possessed good handling characteristics and even the early F.1 version would exceed sonic speed in a 30°-40° dive at full throttle from 40,000 feet and above with comparatively minor trim changes.
The first Hunter prototype was fitted with an afterburning Avon RA.7R with 9,600 lbf (42.70 kN) of thrust and other aerodynamic refinements (most noticeably a pointed nose). Dubbed Hunter F.3, on 7 September 1953 it set a speed record of 628.1 knots (722.2 mph, 1,163.2 km/h) over a 1.62 nautical mile (1.86 mile, 3 kilometre) course.
To address the problem of range, a production Hunter F.1 was fitted with a new wing which featured fuel bladders in the leading edge and "wet" hardpoints. This increased the internal fuel capacity from 337 to 414 imperial gallons (404 to 497 US gal, 1533 to 1833 L). In addition, a single 100 imperial gallon (120 US gal, 454 L) external fuel tank could be carried under each wing.[3] The resulting Hunter F.4 first flew on 20 October 1954, entering service in March 1955. A distinctive Hunter feature added on the F.4 was the pair of blisters under the nose, which collected spent ammunition links to prevent airframe damage. Crews dubbed them "Sabrinas" after the contemporary movie star. The Sapphire-powered version of the F.4 was designated the Hunter F.5. Although the Sapphire did not suffer from the flameout problems of the Avon and had better fuel economy, the RAF elected to persevere with the Avon in order to simplify supply and maintenance, since the same engine was also used by the Canberra bomber.
To deal with surging and flameout problems, Rolls-Royce fitted the Avon with a new automatic fuel system and redesigned compressor. The resulting Avon 203, producing 10,000 lbf (44.48 kN) of thrust, was fitted to Hawker P.1099, which became the definitive Hunter F.6. The other crucial revision on the F.6 was the new "Mod 228" wing, which had a larger area, a distinctive "dogtooth" leading edge notch to alleviate the pitch-up problem[4], and four "wet" hardpoints, finally giving the aircraft a good ferry range.
The Hunter F.6 was retired from its fighter role in the RAF in 1963, being replaced by the English Electric Lightning. However, many F.6s were given a new lease of life in the close air support role, after being converted into the Hunter FGA.9 variant. This had a further strengthened wing and greater external fuel and weapons capability. The FGA.9 saw front-line use from 1960 to 1971, alongside the closely related Hunter FR.10 tactical reconnaissance variant.
Two-seat trainer versions of the Hunter, the T.7 and T.8 remained in use for training and secondary roles by the RAF and Royal Navy until the early 1990s.
In December 2006, the Hunter re-entered RAF service with two ex-Swiss examples leased from a private operator to act as targets for a surface to air missile program.[citation needed] They were allocated RAF serials ZZ190 and ZZ191. This was followed by a two-seat aircraft in April 2007, which reverted to its original RAF serial XF995.
Perhaps the most enthusiastic Hunter users were Switzerland and Singapore, who used it from 1958 to 1994, both improving it in service and often choosing to retain it in lieu of newer aircraft.
The Swiss AF for some years ran a display team using Hawker Hunter Mk.58s, which performed internationally. Some Hunters in private hands are ex-Swiss AF. (The aerobatic demonstration team of Swiss Air Force is the Patrouille Suisse, which now flies six Northrop F-5E Tiger II jets).
In the early 1950s, the Swedish Air Force saw the need for an interceptor that could reach enemy bombers at a higher altitude than the J 29 Tunnan that formed the backbone of the fighter force. A contract for 120 Hawker Hunters was therefore signed in 1954 and the first one were delivered in August 1955. The model was designated J 34 and was assigned to the F 8 and F 18 wings that defended Stockholm. The J 34 was armed with four 30 mm cannons and two Sidewinders. The Swedish Air Force's aerobatic team Acro Hunters used five J 34s during the late 1950s. The J 34s were gradually replaced by supersonic J 35 Draken and re-assigned to less prominent air wings, F 9 in Gothenburg and F 10 in Ängelholm, during the 1960s. The last ones were retired in 1969.
A project to improve the performance of the J 34 by installing a Swedish-designed afterburner proved successful in 1958.[citation needed] However, the cost turned out to be prohibitive, so the project was shelved.[citation needed]
During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Hunters of No. 1 and No. 34 Squadrons based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus flew escort for English Electric Canberra bombers on bombing missions into Egypt for just one day before being put on local air defence due to their lack of range.
In 1967 during the Six-Day War, Hunters of the Iraqi air force gave a good account of themselves. While flying a Hunter from Iraqi Airbase H3, Flt. Lt. Saiful Azam of PAF shot down two Israeli jets including a Mach 2.2 Mirage IIIC. Some missions were also flown by the Jordanian AF, but most of the Jordanian Hunters were destroyed on the ground on the first day of the war. A total of 16 were lost in air-to-air battles. Iraqi Hunters flew from Egypt and Syria also but many were lost in combat.
In Aden in May 1964 Hunter FGA.9s and FR.10s of No. 43 Squadron RAF and No. 8 Squadron RAF were used extensively and effectively during the Radfan campaign against insurgents attempting to overthrow the Federation of South Arabia, predominantly using 3 inch high explosive rockets and 30mm Aden cannon. Both squadrons continued operations with their Hunters until the UK withdrew from Aden in November 1967.
During the Brunei Revolt in 1962, the Royal Air Force deployed Hunters over Brunei to provide support for British ground forces. In one event, several Bruneian and Expatriate hostages were under threat of execution, however several Hunters overflew the rebel compound which prevented any executions from taking place. In the following Borneo Confrontation, Hunters were deployed along with other RAF aircraft in Borneo and Malaya.
Hunters played a role in the military coup that overthrew the socialist president of Chile, Salvador Allende, on 11 September 1973 Chilean coup d'état. Hunters of Squadron No 7 of the Chilean Air Forces bombarded the presidential palace, Allende's house in Santiago, and radio stations loyal to the government.
The regime of Siad Barre used Hunters for indiscriminate bombings during the civil war in Somalia in the late 1980s.
The Rhodesians (now Zimbabwe) used their Hunter FGA.9s extensively against ZANU/ZAPU insurgents in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, including cross-border strikes.
Zimbabwe used its Hunters (inherited from the Rhodesian Air Force) to support Laurent Kabila during the Second Congo War and they were supposedly also involved in the fighting in Mozambique.
The Lebanese Air Force operated Hawker Hunters from 1958. A Lebanese Hawker Hunter shot down an Israeli jet over Kfirmishki in early sixties, its pilot was captured by the LAF [5]. One Lebanese Hawker Hunter was shot down on the first day of the Six-Day War by the Israeli Air Force. They were used infrequently during the Lebanese Civil War, flying their last sorties in a period from 1 September to 15 September 1983.
On 20 August 2007, reports indicated that the Lebanese Armed Forces may restart using them after the conflict with Fatah al Islam militants in the Nahr el-Bared camp north of Tripoli.[6]
Further statements have since been made indicating that Lebanon is currently in the process of returning eight FGA.70 and T.66C Hunters to airworthy condition for operational combat sorties against guerillas.[citation needed] However, the programme has been held up in recent times by lack of certain spares for the aircraft, most notably cartridges for the Martin-Baker ejection seats.[citation needed]
On the 12th of November, 2008 the Lebanese Air Force succeeded to return the Hawker Hunter back into service after 50 years of service. In fact, all Lebanese were surprised to see two Lebanese Combat Air crafts flying in its skies on this memorial day. The Hawker Hunter Fighters of the Lebanese Air Force participated in the aerial show over the Lebanese skies on the 22nd of November as part of the 65th anniversary of Independence.
According to official statistics of the Indian Air Force, a total of 18 Indian Air Force Hunters were destroyed in the air and on the ground by Pakistan Air Force during the 1965 war.
The hunters participated extensively in the war of 1971. The audacious attack of the Pakistani 51st Infantry Brigade backed up by the 1st Armoured Brigade on the Indian outpost of Longewala that became famous as the Battle of Longewala in which the Hunters played a crucial role in blunting the attack. The hunters destroyed several Pakistani tanks (notably T-59 of Chinese Origin).
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Belgium
Chile
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Iraq
India
Jordan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Netherlands
Oman
Peru
Qatar
Rhodesia
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Somalia
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
ZimbabweBelgium and Netherlands produced the Hunter under licence, through Avions Fairey and Fokker respectively
A total of seven Hunters are based at Thunder City at Cape Town International Airport in South Africa:
The latter two aircraft belong to Johannesburg lawyer Ron Wheeldon.[12]
This company, based in Quebec City, Canada, owns and operates 12 Hunters (mainly ex-Swiss F.58 variants) for a range of military co-operation duties such as FAC training, radar calibration, radar target facilities and missile simulation.[13]
There are a large number of surviving Hunters in private and museum collections.[14]
Data from The Great Book of Fighters[15]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Avionics
Related development
Comparable aircraft
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