Hawker Hunter FR Mk10
Fighter Reconnaissance Aircraft
These pictures were taken on Wednesday 28th January 2004 while this Hawker Hunter was waiting to be moved to it's permanent display site, in the open, next to the Grahame-White Factory. This factory, with green frontage, can be seen in the background of one of the photographs. I am indebted to Mr. Richard Simpson, Aircraft and Exhibits Manager for allowing close access to this Hawker Hunter.
Click Pictures to Enlarge ......
History
The aircraft depicted on this page was a gift to the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon from The Royal Air Force of Oman. Originally thought to be an aircraft that had been constructed under licence abroad, this Hawker Hunter FR Mk.10 was later confirmed as having been built by Hawker Sidderly for the Royal Air Force as an F Mk6, fighter. In this guise, carrying the serial number XF426, it entered service in 1955 eventually joining 208 squadron, in Cyprus.
In the late 1950's a programme was started to convert F Mk6 fighter versions of the Hawker Hunter for photographic reconnaissance work and they became the FR Mk 10. They were employed mainly by the 2nd Tactical Air Force in Germany and Royal Air Force Squadrons in the far east. XF 426 was part of the re-equipment programme for 2 Squadron, which started to receive it's Hunter FR Mk 10 aircraft in April 1961. The Squadron flew Hunters for ten years out of various bases in Germany, eventually ending up at RAF Gutersloh.
After spending a little time with 229, Operational Conversion Unit XF 426 was presented to the Royal Jordaian Air Force In March 1972. They, in turn, passed the aircraft on to the Royal Air Force of Oman in 1975. It remained in service
until October 1993.
On the 14th October 2003, XF 426 arrived at the R.A.F. Museum in Hendon, having been presented to the collection by Air Vice Marshall (RAFO) Yahya bin Rasheed Al-Juma.
For more information about the Hawker Hunter, click here to visit the 'thunder-and-lightnings' website.
Click this link to visit the RAF Museum's Hendon website 
