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Callin Hawker Hunter experten....


Radish

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Hi,

Does anyone know of an all-white Hawker Hunter, preferably an F.6 or one based on that if foreign.

Any help gratefully accepted!!

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Nope, nearest I can think of would be some of the RAE aircraft which were white, but with a blue or red cheatline. There was an F6 at Llanbedr which was all-white but with a blue spine/tail and cheat line on the nose. Only other option might be the Swiss aircraft which was white but with black lettering all over it (faithfully reproduced on another Hunter too). Think that's as near as you'll get to all-white.

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Not pure white, but the Institue of Aviation Medicine flew a T.7, all-white, with red fin, wingtips, nose flash, and droptank flashes. There was a white Swiss Mk.58 (FGA9) J-4015 "Papyrus," which was covered in "newsprint." There was another, somewhat removed from your remit, which was half red/half white, split lengthways. Well it was red/white for half a day, but, due to "budgetary constraints" (cheapskate officialdom,) it was painted in washable paint, so, when it rained at midday, they had a beautifully clean grey & green Hunter, with a pool of red/white/pink water underneath it.

Edgar

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Yep, I think Edgar is right.

XL563 ?I believe? A T Mk7 of the Inst of Aviation Medicine would be the closest to all white.

There was also a much modfied F Mk6 of the RAE which was mostly white with blue and red trim - not raspberry ripple, just cheat lines etc. It had a lengthened, quite rounded nose late on. Maybe that was the Llanbedr mavchine Tim mentions?

I wondered if the prototype T Mk 7 might have been white at one stage - it looks it in some B/W photos. That's the only other possibility. Anyone know or have a colour photo somewhere ?

Later Edit : Found it. WW598 was all white early in its career. As a P1109, it was first used for Firestreak trials, hence the lengthened pointednose, with radar. Two cannon were deleted. Later she was used by RAE High Speed Flight for tropical low level gust trials. It had a lengthened pointed nose at first, with a black anti-glare panel. Odd bulge in that - not sure what for, presumably an IR sensor to aid Firestreak or cross check on its acquisition capability?

Later on it seemed to acquire the more rounded nose profile (maybe that's just my poor interpretation of old printed photo info.)

Edited by John B (Sc)
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Later Edit : Found it. WW598 was all white early in its career. As a P1109, it was first used for Firestreak trials, hence the lengthened pointednose, with radar. Two cannon were deleted. Later she was used by RAE High Speed Flight for tropical low level gust trials. It had a lengthened pointed nose at first, with a black anti-glare panel. Odd bulge in that - not sure what for, presumably an IR sensor to aid Firestreak or cross check on its acquisition capability?

Later on it seemed to acquire the more rounded nose profile (maybe that's just my poor interpretation of old printed photo info.)

She was converted to P1109.A standard, with extended nose, but kept the straight F4 type wings.

Later shot (She was overall blue at one point) http://tinyurl.com/374ktk - the nose still seems pointed here.

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Yup, that's the machine I was referring to. As for it ever being overall blue, are you sure? Not heard of this before. The latest shot I could find of the machine (before being refurbished for export) it was still in the white scheme at Llanbedr. Nose profile didn't change, just different photo angles I guess.

Lemme know where you heard about the overall blue - I'm intrigued!

Tim

Edited by Tim
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Yup, that's the machine I was referring to. As for it ever being overall blue, are you sure? Not heard of this before. The latest shot I could find of the machine (before being refurbished for export) it was still in the white scheme at Llanbedr. Nose profile didn't change, just different photo angles I guess.

Lemme know where you heard about the overall blue - I'm intrigued!

Tim

There is a B+W shot of her in an overall dark scheme (It might not be blue, but it looks like it!) whilst on the Aero Flight at Bedford in Arthur Pearcy's book on Bedford. Unfortunately undated.

Same book has the shot of her in overall white (i.e.no blue fin or spine) dated 29/8/1960

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Blimey - this is interesting. Any chance of a scan of those photos? Would be fascinating to see pictures of the aircraft in all-white or blue!

I'd be careful placing much faith in the drawing mentioned above. It looks right - assuming the blue trim was simply added later, but when the title refers to the "Royal Aeronautical Establishment" you have to take everything with a pinch of salt!

Edited by Tim
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Blimey - this is interesting. Any chance of a scan of those photos? Would be fascinating to see pictures of the aircraft in all-white or blue!

I'd be careful placing much faith in the drawing mentioned above. It looks right - assuming the blue trim was simply added later, but when the title refers to the "Royal Aeronautical Establishment" you have to take everything with a pinch of salt!

See what I can do

Apart from having the serial too high on the fuselage side, the profile (I beleive from one of the old Aircam series) is pretty accurate compared to the photo.

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I've never seen a colour shot of WW598 in the overall white scheme, but the b/w shots I have of her seem to indicate the roundels are faded rather than full colour versions?

ww598.jpg

Above shot was taken in March/April 1961 and appears to show either the underside was a different colour (from below the bottom intake lip) or there was a stripe low on the fuselage there.

Edited by DamienB
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I've never seen a colour shot of WW598 in the overall white scheme, but the b/w shots I have of her seem to indicate the roundels are faded rather than full colour versions?

ww598.jpg

Above shot was taken in March/April 1961 and appears to show either the underside was a different colour (from below the bottom intake lip) or there was a stripe low on the fuselage there.

One point of interest (ands something I noticed on this aircraft a while ago) is the canopy, and particulalry the rather interesting arrangement under the canopy. I beleive this relates to the 'visibility' trials on the TSR2, and is in fact a replica of the cockpit windo arrangement for the TSR.

Note also the dark (blue) canopy frame.

I'll scan the Bedford pictures later, which shows a subtle difference again

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Correct - they mocked up 5 different layouts, from black tape applied inside the Hunter's windscreen, quarter panels and canopy. The gunsight was removed from the aircraft for all these trials, and the standby compass after the first couple of flights in the second of the five configurations.

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Heavens.

This is amazing...thanks guys.

Yes, I tracked down the profile in the TSR2 site, and am looking for as much info as possible.

I'm thinking of doing a model in 1/72nd, but wouldn't a 1/32nd Hunter look amazing!

Thanks again

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Fascinating stuff guys, only ever seen photos of WW598 in standard RAF fighter colours but she looks soom much better in the white.

Oh well, there's another conversion to plan. Guess I'd better buy another Revell kit...

As for all-white Hunters, didn't they paint one up for filming The Right Stuff?

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Hmm, fascinating stuff - thanks for posting the photos. First time I've seen shots of that machine in anything other than the white/blue scheme. Something different - yippee!

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