The Hawker Hunter is one of Britain's classic postwar jet aircraft.
Initially introduced in 1954 as a swept-wing, transonic, single-seat day
interceptor, it rapidly succeeded the first-generation jet fighters in
RAF service such as the Gloster Meteor (see Flight Craft 13) and the de
Havilland Venom. Powered by the then newly developed Rolls-Royce Avon
turbojet, the Hunter's performance transformed the RAF's day fighter
squadrons from the mid-1950s until the advent of the English Electric
Lightning from the early 1960s (see Flight Craft 11).Even then, as
successively improved variants of the type were produced with
increasingly more capable engines and expanded fuel capacity, the Hunter
successfully transitioned into a strike/ground attack fighter-bomber and
fighter reconnaissance platform. Two-seat variants were developed for
training and other secondary roles with the RAF and the Royal Navy and a
few remained in use until 2001, albeit with specialized MoD Test and
Evaluation units - well over forty years after the type's initial
introduction. Hunters were also famously used by two RAF display teams,
the 'Black Arrows', who looped a record-breaking twenty-two Hunters in
formation, and later the 'Blue Diamonds' as well as the Royal Navy's
'Blue Herons.'The Hunter saw combat service with the RAF in a range of
conflicts including the Suez Crisis as well as various emergencies in
the Middle East and Far East. The Hunter was also widely exported,
serving with many foreign air forces, in which it also saw active
service, which unfortunately lies outside the scope of this particular
publication. Almost 2,000 Hunters were manufactured by Hawker Siddeley
Aviation, as well as being produced under license overseas and will
remain one of the UK's most iconic aircraft designs of all time.
