The Hunter Hawker

Today the local Aviation Museum put on an air show. We had a very noisy jet doing loops and swoops and dropping nose first from great heights. Curiosity got the better of me and I called the Aviation Museum and asked them what the hell it was.

Its a Hunter Hawker.
A Hawker Hunter T75 was collected from Ardmore on the weekend of the 12th/13th March 2005. Surely the most beautiful jet fighter ever built, the Hunter was a massive success worldwide and its representation at our Museum is a great coup for the team who achieved it.

Our Hunter is ex-Singapore Air Force and we found it a bit tatty after its years of storage but in very sound condition.

Now safely on display in the Classic Flyers Museum, it looks very different after much TLC, and getting it back in the air is not out of the question. Such a venture would be expensive, but the addition of a two-seat Hunter to the NZ classic aviation scene is a strong pull. It will be carefully investigated, at the very least.

This aircraft was built as an FMk4 single seat fighter and was delivered to No26 (F) Squadron RAF on 23 May 1955. It was rebuilt by Hawker as a TMk8 two-seat trainer and delivered to 764 Sqn Fleet Air Arm at Yeovilton, England on 12 March 1959. Another visit back to the manufacturer saw it converted to a TMk75 for the Singapore Air Force who took charge of it in September 1970. It was retired in the mid-90s and brought to New Zealand as a private venture. Although it has the serial 500 on it, it was actually serial 516 in SAF service.