Hawker Siddeley Hunter FR10 - Hendon, London
N 51° 35.902 W 000° 14.353
30U E 691203 N 5719980
This Hawker Siddeley Hunter aircraft is located in the grounds of the RAF Museum at Hendon in London. The plane was presented to the museum by the Royal Air Force of Oman in 2003.
Waymark Code: WMNF99
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/04/2015
Views: 5
The information board, next to the plane (see photos), tells us:
Hawker Siddeley Hunter FR10
This Hunter was formerly part of the Royal Air Force of Oman and was presented to the Royal Air Force Museum "... in furtherance of the strong ties of friendship and co-operation that exist between our Nations and our respective Air Forces."
(Air Vice-Marshal Yahya bin Rasheed Al Juma)
This airframe had a long and colourful life. Hunter FR.10 '853' started life as F.6 XF426 in 1955 and served with No.208 Squadron RAF in Cyprus.
A number of Hunter F.6 airframes were converted to FR.10 standard in the late 1950s and early 1960s to provide the 2nd Tactical Air Force in Germany and Royal Air Force units in the Far East with a modern tactical reconnaissance platform. After conversion this aircraft
was flown by No.2 Squadron and then No.229 Operational Conversion Unit.
In March 1972 it was presented to the Royal Jordanian Air Force who in turn presented it to Oman in 1975.
The aircraft was flown by the Royal Air Force of Oman until October 1993.
it was presented to the Royal Air Force Museum in 2003.
Wikipedia has an article about the Hawker Hunter that tells us:
The Hawker Hunter is a subsonic British jet aircraft developed in the 1950s. The single-seat Hunter entered service as a maneuverable fighter aircraft, and later operated in fighter-bomber and reconnaissance roles in numerous conflicts. Two-seat variants remained in use for training and secondary roles with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy until the early 1990s. The Hunter was also widely exported, serving with 21 other air forces. Fifty years after its original introduction it was still in active service, operated by the Lebanese Air Force until 2014.
On 7 September 1953, the modified first prototype broke the world air speed record, achieving 727.63 mph (1,171.01 km/h). Hunters were also used by two RAF display teams: the "Black Arrows", who on one occasion looped a record-breaking 22 examples in formation, and later the "Blue Diamonds", who flew 16 aircraft. Overall, 1,972 Hunters were produced by Hawker Siddeley and under licence. In British service, the aircraft was replaced by the English Electric Lightning, the Hawker Siddeley Harrier and the McDonnell Douglas Phantom.
The RAF Museum has a history sheet about this aircraft that cn be seen here.