The Hunter was the most successful British fighter built after WW II. A total of 1972 Hunters were build (445 build in Belgium and The Netherlands) In some small air forces the Hunter is still in service in the 1990’s. The perfect fighter came from the need of the RAF to replace the old Gloster Meteor airframes by a type that had a more advanced engine and could reach transonic speeds.
The first prototype (P.1067) flew for the first time at July 20th 1951, followed after a month by the first Hunter F.Mk 1 pre-production aircraft. The first production Hunter flew in May 1953 and the Hunter Mk 1 came into service in July 1954.
The Hunters were powered by the Rolls Royce Avon turbojet, but the Hunter F.Mk 2 used the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire Mk 101 turbojet. Further developments led into the identical Hunter F.Mk 4 and 5 witch had brackets under the wings to carry more fuel and weaponry.
The Hunter F.Mk 4 was fitted with the Avon Mk 115/121 engine and the Hunter F.Mk 5 with the Sapphire Mk 101.
The Hunter F.Mk 6 got the Avon Mk 200 series turbojet in the models Mk 203 up to and with the Mk 207, more fuel capacity under it’s wings and the weaponry of the Hunter F.Mk 4. The Hunter F.Mk 6 was later changed/develop into the Hunter FGA.Mk 9 ground attack fighter with the saw tooth-front and the Avon Mk 207 engine.
Based on the FGA.Mk 9 there were also tactical reconnaissance models in the shape of the Hunter FR.Mk 10 and the PR.Mk 11 for the RAF (FR.Mk 10) and the Royal Navy (PR.Mk 11)
A different new model was a two-seater trainer with the seats beside each other, mid 1955 the first prototype of this variant flew as P.1101. The production-version were called Hunter T.Mk 7 and 8 for both the RAF (T.Mk 7) and the Royal Navy (T.Mk 8)
Export versions of the single and double seater Hunters were numbered in Hunter Mk 50, 60, 70 and 80‘s.
Hawker Hunter F.Mk6
- Developing Nation: United Kingdom
- First Flight(s): July 20th 1951
- Crew: 1
- Wing Span: 10,25 m.
- Wing: 32,42 m².
- Length: 13,97 m.
- Weight empty: 6505 kg.
- Fight weight: 8051 kg.
- Engine: 1x Rolls Royce Avon Mk 207 turbojet (45,68 kN)
- Max. Speed: 1002 Kph. at 10.975 m.
- Max. Height: 14.630 m.
- Max. Range: 789 km. (on internal fuel only)
- Weapons: 4x 30 mm. Cannons and various rockets, bombs and missiles
