Tag: hunter

Hunter Production at Dunsfold

A number of interesting images from the early 1950’s has been recovered recently. Many thanks for the contribution by Russell Powell.

Hunter 1. Hunter Erection Line No. 2 Bay Left hand view, neg number H2453 21-06-1954.
Hunter 2. Hunter Erection Line No. 2 Bay Right hand view, neg number H2452 21-06-1954.
Hunter 3. Hunter Erection Line No. 1 Bay, neg number H2451 21-06-1954.
Hunter 4. Hunter Aircraft cleared Flight line preparing for Delivery, neg number H2454 21-06-1954.
Hunter 5. Production Apron aircraft preparation for flight tests, neg number H2450 21-06 -1954.

 

In this last photo it looks like WT591. Aircraft on charge of the RAF DFLS (Day Fighter Leader’s Squadron). It skidded on ice on landing on 24/1/1957 at RAF West Raynham, Norfolk. Aircraft overshot and hit the boundary fence, shearing off the starboard undercarriage leg.

Struck off charge as Cat5(G/I): Allocated to Ground Instructional Airframe use as 7411M at 1 SoTT at RAF Halton on 23/4/1957. Not used as such, instead re-classified as Cat.5(c) at 19 MU RAF St. Athan on 26/4/1957. Re-classified Cat.5(scrap) struck off charge and moved to fire dump 17/5/1957.

WT581 is at the back left. A tragic story is associated with this aircraft. It ran out of fuel at the end of an air test including aerobatics and manual landings. Crashed 1 mile west north west of Leuchars after the engine cut on final approach. Pilot – Flying Officer Alan MacKillop-Watkinson – ejected too low (at 250 – 500 feet) did not separate from the seat, and was killed.

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Could Red Arrows ‘come home’ to Dunsfold?

Many will have seen the news last week that the RAF is closing Scampton – the airbase which, among other things, is the home of the iconic Red Arrows display team. Those with an interest in UK aviation history, including neighbours living around Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, will probably also know that the Hawk trainer jet which is used by the Red Arrows was developed, assembled and first flown at the Dunsfold Aerodrome in 1974.  More than a few people are therefore asking the question – is now the time to consider offering a new base for the Red Arrows, at the historic home of the Hawk, Dunsfold Aerodrome?

Hawk 168 in 1985 over Dunsfold: Image by Andy Lawson/ BAe Systems
Red Arrows and BAe aircraft in 1985 at Dunsfold: Image by Andy Lawson/ BAe Systems
Red Arrows at Dunsfold 2010. Photo courtesy Karen Sutton www.limelight-marketing.co.uk

By coincidence (or may it be providence?), a rare example of a Hawker Hunter fighter jet which has for many years been on public display in a shopping street in Woking, is also looking for a new home. ‘XL623’ was the last Hunter T.7 to be built, and it is believed it first flew at Dunsfold.

T7 Hunter XL 623 as art in Woking
T.7 Hunter XL 623 as art in Woking Photo Courtesy Neil Randell
T.7 Hunter XL 623 being removed from Woking, July 2018 Photo Courtesy Carol Fenton-Balch
XL623. Royal Air Force Hawker Hunter T.7 at RAF Leuchars. Image copyright Jim Cain

Having been donated to Brooklands Museum, and with the help of the Hawker Association, restoration of Hunter T7 XL623  is about to begin – very fittingly at Dunsfold Aerodrome! How good would it be if that aircraft could also find a permanent home at the Dunsfold site?

Dunsfold Aerodrome is also the semi-permanent home of the Brooklands-owned VC10 aircraft, which although not fit to fly, regularly starts up its engines for a short taxi round the runways. In addition, it is a base frequently used by a WW2 Dakota painted in D-Day landing colours.

In the past year, the Aerodrome has benefitted from a flurry of Listings of buildings on the near-intact and still operational airfield.   During 2017, Historic England listed as Grade II;

VSTOL Blast Pads

Engine Running Pens

Royal Observer Corps Monitoring Post

Canadian War Memorial

So are we about to see a resurgence of interest in Dunsfold Aerodrome becoming a living museum as the home of a VC10, Hunter XL623, and – possibly? – a base for the Red Arrows flight of Hawk jets?    Well, while the threat of obliteration of the aerodrome under housing development remains, this would seem a remote dream. But, surely, the site owners, who often cite their interest in the flying history of the airfield, would do well to consider how popular such a proposal might be, and how many tourists the new museum could attract? It may, just, be time for the planes to come home to Dunsfold.

Banner Image: Red Arrows at Dunsfold 2010. Image courtesy of Gareth Stringer

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Hawker Aircraft Ltd took over the lease of Dunsfold Aerodrome in 1950 . Hawker Aircraft Ltd went through many new names over the next half century, and as BAe Systems ceased activity at the aerodrome in 2000. The Aerodrome was sold to the Rutland Group in 2002.

By the early 1950s, Hawker’s were developing jets for which the short, grass landing strips then available to them, were not sufficient. They needed long, hard-surfaced runways, which was what Dunsfold could provide.

On taking over the Aerodrome, Hawker Aircraft Ltd “built up a final assembly and experimental test facility in the two T-2 hangars as a basis for expansion. Dunsfold is associated with several types of aircraft including Hunters and Hawks, but the Aerodrome is best associated with the Harrier. We now look at each of these in turn.

The Hunter

The Hunter could be regarded as the beginning of Dunsfold Aerodrome’s role at the cutting edge of military jet aircraft development. Hunters were early jet fighter aircraft: the first flew in 1951.

WB188 the record breaking Hunter

In 1953, Dunsfold was the base for important speed tests. In January of that year the speed of sound was achieved and on 7 September a Hunter, piloted by Squadron Leader Neville Duke, broke the world air speed record off Littlehampton achieving 727.6 m.p.h. Later the same month, the 100km world record — 709.2 m.p.h — was established from Dunsfold by Duke. The plane is on display at Tangmere Military Aviation Museum.

As a result, complaints about the noise started; test pilot Neville Duke reported “At Dunsfold we hear tales of people being flung off bicycles by the bangs—but I don’t believe them”. By 1954, the noise issue had become serious. A local farmer, Col. du Boulay, issued a writ, but was persuaded to withdraw it by assurance that the nuisance would be abated by technical means. However, the Ministry of Civil Aviation immediately took action to prevent any future writs so as to protect the production of military aircraft.

Hunters were put into service by the RAF in 1954 and were used until the 1990s. They were employed in the 1956 Suez Crisis and numerous other conflicts. As well as being used by the RAF and the Royal Navy, they saw service in Abu Dhabi, Belgium, Chile, Denmark, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Netherlands, Oman, Peru, Qatar, Rhodesia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Sweden and Switzerland. In fact they were in military use somewhere in the world until 2014.

The Hunter continued in production, or refurbishment, until 1980 by which time almost 2,000 had been produced. It is reported that “the Hunter cost £100,000 in 1956, which is not far off £450,000 in 1974 money” ; and about £16,000,000 when estimated at 2011 prices. That clearly represents a great deal of money!

The Harrier: the “Jump Jet”

“Jump jets” are, technically speaking, vertical (or short) take-off and landing (VTOL or V/STOL) aircraft that can also be used on short runways. They can operate from clearings in forests and small aircraft carriers. The Harrier is unique in that it is the only aircraft using vectored thrust so that it can take off, fly and land either vertically or conventionally. BAe proudly says “The Harrier was the only true STOL (short take-off and landing) aircraft in the world.”

In October 1960, the Hawker Siddeley Group’s P.1127, “the world’s first operational vertical take-off strike aircraft, made its first tethered flight at Dunsfold Aerodrome” which led to the Daily Express running the front-page headline “The Jumping Jet” . The plane is now on display at the Science Museum in London.


The P.1127 evolved into the Kestrel and then the Harrier.  In 1967, Flight International announced “HARRIER World’s first fixed-wing V/STOL weapons system”, with a nine-page article describing its history and novelty.  By 1969, the RAF was using Harriers. The potential for use at sea was recognised from the start with the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 landing on HMS Ark Royal in 1963. However, it was not until 1978 that the prototype “Navalised-Harrier” took to the air over Dunsfold. The first Sea Harrier joined the Royal Navy in 1980.

Military impact

The Falklands War started on 2 April 1982 when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory some 300 miles off its east coast and some 8,000 miles from the UK. The British Government dispatched a Task Force on 5 April. The resulting conflict ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982, returning the islands to British control.

Dunsfold Aerodrome immediately went on to a war-footing. The three Harriers based at Dunsfold for trails were commandeered and one was to be seen on HMS Hermes ski-jump as it sailed from Portsmouth.  Dunsfold went on to double-shift working to modify Harriers and Sea Harriers for air combat and ground attack roles in the South Atlantic and played a crucial role in ensuring that the Royal Navy was in a position to send a second Sea Harrier- equipped carrier to the Falklands, though the conflict ended before this was necessary.  Dunsfold test pilot Taylor Scott volunteered to return to the Royal Navy to help form and train an additional Sea Harrier squadron, 809. It is reported that 42 Harriers and Sea Harriers were deployed.  BAe comments “The usage in the Falklands was probably the most high profile and important success recorded” as “it was the only fixed-wing fighter available to protect the British Task Force.” Sea Harriers shot down at least 28 Argentinian aircraft, without loss in air-to-air combat (although there were losses on the ground). The Harrier was vital in winning this conflict.  When reporter Brian Hanrahan worked around the reporting restrictions by saying, “I counted them all out, and I counted them all back”, he was counting Harriers. As a result of this success, the British Government immediately ordered more Sea Harriers.

Harriers were also important in the 1990-91 Gulf War and in NATO’s action in Kosovo in 1999 and elsewhere.

Economic impact

The Harrier – technically the AV-8A – made export history when 112 were sold to the US Marine Corps (USMC) in 1971. (This was the first time the US had bought a foreign built military aircraft since the First World War.) They had to be freighted to the US, which meant that large cargo carriers had to land at Dunsfold.

The Harrier II, a follow-on to the AV-8A, was designed by McDonnell-Douglas in St Louis USA with Hawker Siddeley Aviation/BAe, and was built on a roughly 50-50 work share basis by the two companies. Dunsfold built the centre and rear fuselages and reaction control systems for all the aircraft delivered, and McDonald-Douglas built all the wings and front fuselages. These items were shipped across the Atlantic for final assembly as the RAF Harrier GR5/7 at Dunsfold and as the AV-8B for the USMC at St Louis.

Manufacturing of the Sea Harrier ceased in 1998 with the last aircraft retiring from the Royal Navy in 2006 and from the RAF in 2011. The Sea Harrier was in service with the Indian Navy until 2016 and the AV-8B remains in service in the USMC; and in the Spanish and Italian navies in 2017.

AV8B

It is claimed that 278 Hawker Siddeley Harriers were produced, plus 111 Sea Harriers79, 347 AV-8As80, and 143 Harrier IIs . That comes to 879. Costs are difficult to come by but it is suggested it could be of the order of $24-30 million (£19,000,000 – 24,000,000) each.

Summary

In 1985, Ashworth reported that, “Starting with the P.1127’s first tentative hover on October 21 1960 up to the current Sea Harrier, all British development, assembly and testing of this family of vertical take-off aircraft has been at Dunsfold”. However, the technical legacy of the Harrier lives on today in the F-35 Lightning II STOVL variant. Delve wrote: “This fantastic British aircraft is enough for Dunsfold to have a place in aviation history”.

The Hawk

The Hawk started life as the HS 1182, “intended to replace the Gnat, Jet Provost and Hunter as the RAF’s jet trainer”. It is also used as a low-cost combat aircraft. In 1971, the cost was put at £450,000 each. In 1972, the RAF “ordered 176 to be assembled and test flown from Dunsfold”. The first Hawk flew from Dunsfold Aerodrome in 1974, piloted by Duncan Simpson.

Hawk 200 in Engine Running Pen (1980s) (courtesy Brooklands Museum archive)

An important derivative of the Hawk was the T-45 Goshawk, produced jointly with McDonald Douglas, starting in 1981. The T-45 Goshawk was designed by BAe and McDonald Douglas in California. British designed components were shipped across the Atlantic for final assembly for the US Navy. When production ceased in 2009, 221 had been delivered. It is still in use as a carrier-capable advanced trainer.

Most famously, these are the planes used by the Red Arrows. From their inauguration in 1964, the Red Arrows had flown Gnats. But the last Gnat to go to the RAF was delivered from Dunsfold in 1965. In the winter of 1979/80, the Red Arrows graduated to Hawks.

Some 1,000 Hawks have been produced and they have been delivered to 18 countries. They are still in production. It is reported that they cost £18,000,000 each in 2003.


 
39 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War 40 McCue, 1991: p213.
41 Ashworth, 1985: p85.
42 Dunsfold Park, 2017.
43 McCue, 1991: pp 213. 44 Ashworth, 1985: p85.
45 BAe, 2017a.
46 Flight, 1953b; Daily Telegraph, 2007.
47 See http://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/museum-aircraft/hawker-hunter-mk3 48 Flight, 1953b.
49 Flight, 1952.
50 Flight, 1954.
51 BAe, 2017a and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hunter#Royal_Air_Force 52 McCue, 1991: p254-255.
53 BAe, 2017a.
54 Flight International, 1971a. 55 Fighter Aircraft, 2017a.
56 BAe, 2017b.
57 Flight, 1960b.
58 See http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/plan_your_visit/exhibitions/flight 59 BAe, 2017b.
60 BAe, 2017b.
61 Flight International, 1967.
62 BAe, 2017b.
63 McCue, 1991: p 238: BAe, 2017b.
64 BAe, 2017.
65 McCue, 1991: p260; Lawson, 2002.
66 Lawson, 2002.
67 McCue, 1991: p261: Flight International, 1987.
68 globalsecurity.org (2017)
69 BAe, 2017b.
70 BBC, 2010.
71 Guardian, 2010.
72 McCue, 1991: p260-261: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_air_services_in_the_Falklands_War and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Aerospace_Harrier_II [Accessed 25 January 2017]
73 globalsecurity.org (2017)
74 Flight International, 1971b, McCue, 1991: p245. 75 Private communication and McCue, 1991: p245. 76 BAe, 2017b.
77 Private communication.
78 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_Harrier [Accessed 25 January 2017]
79 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Aerospace_Sea_Harrier [Accessed 25 January 2017]
80 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_AV-8B_Harrier_II [Accessed 25 January 2017] 81 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Aerospace_Harrier_II [Accessed 25 January 2017]
82 Fighter Aircraft, 2017b.
83 Ashworth, 1985: p85.
84 BAe, 2017c.
85 Delve, 2005: p81.
86 Flight International, 1971a.
87 McCue, 1991: p248.
88 Flight International, 1974; McCue, 1991: p248.
89 Boeing, 2017.: McCue, 1991: p259: private correspondence.
90 BAe, 2017e.
91 McCue, 1991: p258.
93 BAe, 2017d.
94 BAe, 2017d.
95 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Systems_Hawk [Accessed 25 January 2017]

Visits: 691

Hunter

The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engine and the swept wing, and was the first jet-powered aircraft produced by Hawker to be procured by the RAF. On 7 September 1953, the modified first prototype broke the world air speed record for jet-powered aircraft, achieving a speed of 727.63 mph (1,171.01 km/h; 632.29 kn).

The Hunter flying from Dunsfold

The Hunter in use with the RAF

The RAF Black Arrows formation team, 111 Squadron:

The single-seat Hunter was introduced to service in 1954 as a manoeuvrable day interceptor aircraft, quickly succeeding first-generation jet fighters in RAF service such as the Gloster Meteor and the de Havilland Venom. The all-weather/night fighter role was filled by the Gloster Javelin. Successively improved variants of the type were produced, adopting increasingly more capable engine models and expanding its fuel capacity amongst other modifications being implemented. Hunters were also used by two RAF display teams: the “Black Arrows”, who on one occasion looped a record-breaking 24 Hunters in formation, and later the “Blue Diamonds”, who flew 16 aircraft. The Hunter was also widely exported, serving with a total of 21 overseas air forces.

During the 1960s, following the introduction of the supersonic English Electric Lightning in the interceptor role, the Hunter transitioned to being operated as a fighter-bomber and for aerial reconnaissance missions, using dedicated variants for these purposes. Two-seat variants remained in use for training and secondary roles with the RAF and the Royal Navy until the early 1990s. Sixty years after its original introduction it was still in active service, being operated by the Lebanese Air Force until 2014.

The Hunter saw combat service in a range of conflicts with several operators, including the Suez Crisis, the Aden Emergency, the Sino-Indian War, the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Rhodesian Bush War, the Second Congo War, the Six-Day War, the War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War, and the 2007 Lebanon conflict. Overall, 1,972 Hunters were manufactured by Hawker Aircraft and its successor, Hawker Siddeley, as well as being produced under licence overseas. In British service, the Hunter was replaced in its principal roles by the Lightning, the Hawker Siddeley Harrier and the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.

How to fly a Hunter:

For a comprehensive history of the Hunter.

Banner image: Hunter from Team Viper at Waddington, credit www.steviebeats.co.uk

Visits: 1868

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