Fly a Hawker Hunter

Hawker Hunter history and records

Hawker's chief designer, Sydney Camm, developed the Hunter in the late 1940s to replace the Gloster Meteor as the RAF's day fighter. It combined a swept wing with the new Rolls-Royce Avon engine, and the prototype first flew on 20 July 1951 with test pilot Neville Duke at the controls.

On 7 September 1953 Duke flew a modified Hunter to a world air speed record of 727.63 mph off the Sussex coast. The Hunter entered RAF service in 1954 and became famous with display teams such as the Black Arrows, who looped 22 Hunters in formation at Farnborough in 1958, and the Blue Diamonds.

When the supersonic English Electric Lightning took over as the RAF's interceptor in the 1960s, the Hunter moved to ground attack and reconnaissance. Two-seat Hunters trained RAF pilots into the 1990s. In all, 1,972 were built for twenty-one air forces, and Switzerland retired its last military Hunters in 1994.

Hawker Hunter armament

The Hunter's main weapon was four 30 mm ADEN cannon, carried in a removable gun pack that ground crews could swap in minutes to rearm the aircraft quickly. Four underwing pylons carried up to about 3,400 kg (7,400 lb) of bombs, unguided rockets or drop tanks.

Later Swiss Hunters were modified to carry AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missiles. The two-seat Hunters used for passenger flights are unarmed.

Hunter armament

Hawker Hunter vs its rivals

The Hunter flew in the same era as the English Electric Lightning, the French Dassault Mystère IV, the Soviet MiG-19 and the American F-100 Super Sabre. It was slower than most of them in level flight, but it was more forgiving and more adaptable, which is why it outlasted most of them in service.

Hawker Hunter vs English Electric Lightning

The Lightning replaced the Hunter as the RAF's interceptor because it could fly at Mach 2, more than twice the Hunter's top speed, and climb far faster. It was the only all-British fighter capable of Mach 2. The trade-off was range and flexibility: the Lightning was a short-range point-defence fighter, while the Hunter adapted to ground attack, reconnaissance and training.

Hawker Hunter vs Dassault Mystère IV

The Mystère IV was France's swept-wing fighter-bomber of the 1950s, slightly smaller than the Hunter and armed with two 30 mm cannon. It was built in far smaller numbers, around 420 against the Hunter's 1,972.

Hawker Hunter vs MiG-19

The MiG-19 was the first Soviet production fighter able to fly faster than sound in level flight, reaching about Mach 1.35 against the Hunter's Mach 0.94. It had twin engines and three 30 mm cannon, but it carried a much lighter external load.

Hawker Hunter vs F-100 Super Sabre

The F-100 was the first US Air Force fighter capable of supersonic level flight, at about Mach 1.3. It was a little larger than the Hunter, carried four 20 mm cannon and served widely in the Vietnam War as a fighter-bomber.

Top speed and numbers

Hawker Hunter variants

The Hunter was built in more than twenty versions. The F.6 was the most numerous RAF fighter, the FGA.9 was the ground-attack version flown in the Middle East, and the FR.10 carried cameras for reconnaissance. The F.3 was the specially modified aircraft that set the 1953 speed record.

The two-seat T.7 and its export versions seat the pilot and passenger side by side, which is unusual for a fast jet. Switzerland's two-seater was the T.68, and side-by-side two-seat Hunters of this kind are what fly passengers from Sion.

Hawker Hunter Mk 58: the Swiss Hunter

The Hunter Mk 58, or F.58, was the version built for the Swiss Air Force. Switzerland ordered 100 in January 1958, closely based on the RAF's F.6. The first 12 were ex-RAF F.6s and the rest were new-build, delivered between April 1958 and April 1960.

A further 52 refurbished second-hand aircraft, designated F.58A, and eight two-seat T.68 trainers took the Swiss fleet to 160 Hunters. They were armed with AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles from 1963 and AGM-65 Maverick missiles under the Hunter 80 upgrade in the early 1980s. The Patrouille Suisse display team flew Hunters from 1964 until the type retired from Swiss service in 1994.

Many ex-Swiss Hunters went on to civilian owners. In the United States, Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) flies ex-Swiss Hunters as adversary aircraft in military training, and in Switzerland the Amici dell'Hunter association has flown a two-seat T.68 from Sion in the Rhône valley.

The Swiss Hunter

Fighter jet experiences in the UK

Most fighter jet experiences sold to UK customers fly abroad, and the Hawker Hunter is no exception: Jetify's Hunter flights depart from Sion in Switzerland. Geneva is the nearest major airport, a short flight from London, and Sion is about two hours from Geneva by road or rail.

If you want to fly in a jet fighter from a British airfield, Jetify's only UK departure is the de Havilland Vampire in South West England, a first-generation RAF jet fighter that entered service in 1946.

How much is a fighter jet experience in the UK?

Jetify's UK jet flight, a 25-minute sortie in a two-seat de Havilland Vampire from South West England, starts from £4,750 per person. Hunter flights from Sion start from about £6,400, and the most affordable jet flight Jetify offers is a 20-minute MiG-15 flight from Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic, from £2,400. Flights in current frontline fighters such as the F-16 or Typhoon are not available to civilians in the UK.