The Hunter was the last trans-sonic British jet fighter with a long service life and a successful export record. This new addition to the very popular Fight Craft series provides a host of magnificent specially commissioned full colour drawings and a great selection of photographic images, many never before published. – Most Highly Recommended
NAME: Flight Craft 16, Hawker Hunter, in British Service FILE: R2830 AUTHOR: Martin Derry, Neil Robinson PUBLISHER: Pen and Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 96 PRICE: £16.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: single seat fighter, two seat trainer/fighter, Cold War, FAA, RAF, British service
ISBN: 1-52674-249-7
IMAGE: B2830.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/y3ct7sbn LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The Hunter was the last trans-sonic British jet fighter with a long service life and a successful export record. This new addition to the very popular Fight Craft series provides a host of magnificent specially commissioned full colour drawings and a great selection of photographic images, many never before published. - Most Highly Recommended The Flight Craft series is specifically aimed at model makers and this new addition includes a section of specific models made from available kits, together with some enhancements that are available to those kits. However, this volume has good text and a wealth of illustration that is outstanding, making it a great buy for anyone with any level of interest in this popular and long lived aircraft. When the Hunter entered service, it was a major step up for the RAF. It was designed from the start for swept wings. It was an unashamed pilot's aeroplane, It looked good and it was good, making it also a very successful export product. When the Black Arrows formed for a display season, it was spectacular and anyone lucky enough to see it displayed by the team will remember it as the outstanding display aircraft. Even though the Red Arrows later formed on the diminutive Folland Gnat and then transitioned to their current Hawk trainers' to become one of the leading display teams in the World, the Black Arrows were spectacular. However, the Hunter faced a few challenges as it was introduced. There is a continuing debate about the decision to arm British fighters with four 30mm canon. The RAF view at the time was that the 20mm canon was not adequate to deal with potential Soviet massed bomber formations. Some have suggested that aircraft, including the Hunter, should have had four or six 20mm guns. Whether this would have been adequate in a major threat scenario will never be known, but it would certainly have saved a lot of effort in early development. Equally, Hunters could have carried unguided missiles to ripple of salvo fire as was the intention for many other fighters of the period in combating mass nuclear bomber formations. The Hunter was transonic and this introduced some new unknowns. The 30mm canon provided some real challenges and the first aircraft suffered damage from empty shell cases being ejected. The solution was to be shell case collectors as bulges under the forward fuselage. There were also other challenges and the Hunter proved very adaptable with a huge number of modifications through its working life, including some local modification at squadron level. Pilots loved the Hunter as a responsive aircraft with high performance, but still a very stable gun platform. It went to war at Suez and was used extensively by the RAF. The Royal Navy decided to adopt the Hunter as training aid to accustom the Fleet to attack by modern jet aircraft and it continued on in that role with great success. Today, the RAF has some very effective aircraft but in very much smaller numbers than in the prime days of the Hunter. Low observability has also encouraged very muted colours. This is graphically demonstrated by the large number of specially commissioned full colour side views of the Hunter, with 16 pages of profile and 2-views. A beautiful aircraft, long may it continue to fly.