I suspect that this one...

[petermcleland]

...was made the same way as I made my cover picture:-

[dodger]

Hello Peter,

Looks real that , nice picture. the Hunter was a superb looking aircraft i think.

Roger.

[aeroart]

I think so, too, Roger.

Art

[Filonian]

I don't care if he did knock your cap off - he wasn't below 1500feet!!!

Agree entirely about the Hunter, most graceful looking aircraft made


Graham

[Tomliner]

Peter, did the Hunter fly as well as it looks? You know the old adage which says 'if it looks right....' Etc EricT

[petermcleland]

Peter, did the Hunter fly as well as it looks? You know the old adage which says 'if it looks right....' Etc EricT

Yes Eric it flew better than any other aeroplane that I flew, by a long chalk...That is not to say that it was perfect from the beginning! The F1 had a serious "Tuck In" at the stall which if you did not catch it in time would stall the compressor and the jpt would rise rapidly, necessitatiing closure of the throttle immediately. The forward bulkheads began to crack in turn when we first fired the Aden 30mm gun pack and the muzzle blast again caused engine compressor stall. The endurance was so short that sortie times maxed at about 40 minutes.

The next Hunter mark that I flew was the FGA9...ALL of the above snags had now been cured...The Tuck at the stall was now gone, thanks to the "Saw Tooth Leading Edge". Compressor stall did no longer occur because of the spring loaded "Letter Boxes" on the top and bottom surfaces of the air intakes. The forward bulkheads had now been strengthened and you could fire the Aden guns at will. When you pressed the gun firing trigger there was an immediate fuel bleed that prevented any compressor stall. "Sabrinas" had now been fitted to collect the ammo belt links to prevent any being sucked into the intakes. The range and endurance was now superb due to extra tanks fitted in odd places and the ability to carry external tanks...The FGA9 with a pair of 230 gallon droptanks on the inboard pylons and a pair of plastic 100 gallon droptanks on the outboard pylons, had a range of 1400 nms (previously unheard of numbers for a British fighter)...Yes I loved flying the Hunter!

[Tomliner]

Many thanks for that information Peter.It does seem to confirm that old adage doesn't it? However I have to say that firing the Aden cannon at Will must have become a bit tiresome for him! EricT

[petermcleland]

LOL!...Yes I expect it would be Eric...Especially as the Gun pack of 4 Aden cannons fired 80 high explosive 30mm shells every second. The receiving end of just a one second burst was an awesome and deafening sight to behold