Classic British Flight Sim

Peter and Toby,
It was good to see that film of J-4201 in action (again) as it has a connection with the museum at Tangmere. Built originally in 1955 as a Hunter F4, WV332, it was bought back in 1972 by HSA who removed the original single-seat nose section and replaced it with a two-seat nose to convert it to a T68 for the Swiss Air Force.

So what happened to the original nose? It came into the possession of No 1254 Squadron ATC who now display it permanently at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum.



It's very popular with the kids (and some 'big kids') who can climb in the cockpit and have their photo taken, hence the 'bone-dome' on the cockpit canopy.
Pete

One learns something new every day! Were they still able to fabricate new Hunter noses that late or did they graft the nose of an otherwise defunct T.7 on?

A very interesting question, Toby - I'm sure one of our Hunter experts will be along with the answer very soon!
Pete

Or, on the other hand, maybe one won't. Must all be watching the Olympics, Toby.
PP

Wasn't there something with Hunters that the fuse split into front and back for heavy maintenance to get to the engine and not always the same bits went back together again as they could rejoin a good front and rear if the original pairing need some work on one half?...it would make a conversion easier.

Just something hazy form the distant past make me think that

I'm pretty sure that a Single Seat Hunter has a different rear half from a Two Seat Hunter and I would be doubtful that melding one half of a single with the other half of a double would be possible.

I did supervise the splitting of a Hunter FGA9 for an engine change once...It was at Nairobi and we borrowed the BOAC Nose Hangar for the job. The job took all night and at its completion I had to dash home to my flat in town, grab my gear and straight back to the airport to fly one of the Squadron hunters from Nairobi to Khormaksar as we deployed on a detachment to Aden. The Station Commander from Eastleigh came over to Embakasi Airport to see us off and he complained to our Boss Ramirez that "McLeland hasn't shaved!"

petermcleland wrote:I'm pretty sure that a Single Seat Hunter has a different rear half from a Two Seat Hunter and I would be doubtful that melding one half of a single with the other half of a double would be possible.

Well, I'm no expert, Peter, but I did do some research when I was writing the story of "our" nose section - you can see it in in the black frame just behind the bench - and I think you'll find that's exactly how they did do it. One thing is for sure; all the Swiss T68s were conversions from single-seaters - 4 from ex-RAF F4s (including WV332) and the other 4 from ex-Swedish F50s.

Looking at photos of both types, to my untrained eye, the only external change apart from the new front section is the addition of a fairing to meld in with the original spine. The fuselage itself from the wing roots back looks to be unchanged but I'm sure there'll be someone here who knows the answer for sure.

If DaveG's model is accurate (I'm sure it is ) then he should know, or perhaps be able to deduce. I would tend to agree with you Pete, that it should be possible. I was looking around last night for some of my hangar shots from St Stephan last year as they have various Hunters in "kit form". I think they're all on my external HDD.

The Hunter T7 XL563 that was assigned to the Institute of Aviation Medicine at Farnborough in the 70's & 80's was I believe the second T7 & it was a converted F4.
The nose section is indeed spliced onto the normal fuselage just ahead of the wing. The Prototype T7 had originally a smaller fairing behind the cockpit, but it caused some turbulence and was redesigned to be a bit larger. XL 563 was originally assigned as a chase plane for the Bristol 188 programme so had very low hours when reassigned to the IAM. She ended her days on a pole outside the RAF Officers Mess at Farnborough........
A lot of experimental installations & developments of Pilots clothing , NBC wear, Anti-G systems & oxygen systems as well as OBOGs installations were fitted & designed by me there...Not to mention the later airborne recording system........ Happy days!
Keith

Well, you live and learn!...I felt sure that there were differences behind, but I'm obviously wrong